What should we do?

banana1975

Not sure if I am posting in the right place but just wanted some advise.

My husband has been advised that he is up for redundancy. He works for HBOS Corporate and they have been advised that there will be a company restructure and as a result he will have to reapply for his own job with 6 people at the same level as him but now only 2 positions.

The dilemma is that he has been offered an enhanced redundancy package which would be around 12,000 pounds.

However if at the end of the process he is chosen for redundancy this figure would be reduced by at least half. However there is a rumour that if no positions can be found in HBOS then they would honour enhanced package but this has to be confirmed.

We are a family of 5 with 3 young children. My husband is not the sort of chap to not find another job but his current job does have an excellent benefits package on top of his salary.

Part of me thinks that he should take the money especially with the HBOS shares falling at a rate of knots but husband things that he should at least reapply as he does sort of like his job (his words not mine)

Can I ask what you would do in this circumstance?

DigitalJedi

What does he think about his "competitors" for the job? Statistically he has a 1/3 chance but if he has much better experience, qualifications and/or is held in higher regard, he could stand an even better chance.

Given that he also seems to like his job, if he thinks he's in with a good chance, i'd be tempted to go for it.

On the other side of the coin, if he thinks the others stand a better chance than him then it might be seriously worth thinking about taking the money.

AJ1982

Cant hurt to apply for the job I suppose... He should check the companies redundancy policy for exact wording, depending on what grade he is could affect payments, seems to be the general rule. Im too young (hopefully) for redundancy yet so dont know much, if he doesnt get the job, then from what I know , unless there are other posts he is technicall redundant.

Paul_Herring

However if at the end of the process he is chosen for redundancy this figure would be reduced by at least half.

Sorta OT: Is this sort of company behaviour actually acceptable?

vaio

Paul_Herring wrote: »

Sorta OT: Is this sort of company behaviour actually acceptable?

In my view not but legally yes

As long as they comply with the statutory and contractual obligations then anything over that is discretionary and can be altered or withdraw at any time

banana1975

thank you for your replies.

still unsure as what to do. If it were just the two of us we would take the money and run but we have the children to think of.

Hubbie thinks he stands a good chance of getting his job and has thankfully kept a portfolio of all "good works" carried out.

We are tempted with the money but should we think longterm not short? that is the question???

Cruiksl

Does HBOS still have a non-contributory pension ? If it does, I'd think twice about going for redundancy. Simply for the reason that if he stays in the financial industry there's very few companies that offer that now.

Also - while £12,000 seems a huge amount of money at the moment, it doesn't really go that far if he was out of work for a while.

Lastly, if he takes voluntary redundancy, I think that he's not able to sign on. If it's compulsory, then he'll be able to claim job seekers allowance - ok it's not a huge amount but it's something.

I know when I got made redundant from RBOS - it made no difference to the money whether it was compulsory or voluntary.

belfastgirl23

If he likes the job and has a reasonable chance of getting it then I think he should go for it....that said if I were him I'd also be applying for other jobs as well...