hanging my head in shame

worried_jim

Have been enjoying a day in the sunshine and have just received a phone call from my boss to advise me that the scythe of redundancy has finally swept through our office. The bank is laying off another 1650 people today and although no one in my dept will loose their job about half the dept is being downgraded if they are unable to find another role somewhere else. From what I can gather a lot of my colleagues are quite naturally upset although for most is just means a pay freeze so in the cold light of day it could have been a lot worse. For me it means progression in the dept will be a lot, if not impossible, harder. If I am honest this is not the end of the world as I didn't think that there were that many opportunities anyway unless you are willing to move to another area. I am very happy where I am, 3 miles from work, free parking, great atmosphere, great boss(really great), I now have a good salary which I can still increase with out having to move, I get bonuses a lot more than I did in 2008. From next week I will be just working 4 days a week, I really don't have a lot to moan about (although I do on a daily if not hourly basis). In a way I am kind of relived (not glad) that this has happened. None of my friends will loose a job, I will not loose a job , there will be more variety of tasks in the office as we take on work from those unfortunate dept that will have to close and and I will be more equal with a lot more people as we are all on the same grade. Hopefully there will be no more changes and we can all be a bit more secure in the office.
The phone call didn't half !!!!!! me up though....

zhatorna65

Hi Jim,

You're not alone by any means - we just had "the talk" at work last week.

I lecture in a university and it looks like we will have to lose 20 staff out of 80 people just in our department, due to an ongoing deficit (there's that bl*** word again). They're going to finalise the details by October... so a nice black cloud hanging over us all summer now.

And then, there's gonna be big Government cuts in the autumn too.

Worrying times for the public sector now.

miggy

Well, I'm glad you & your friends aren't going to lose jobs, though it must feel a bit close for comfort and it's horrible for those who will lose out. :eek:
Things have moved on a lot for you, haven't they?! Especially since your first post here. And now it sounds as though there might be a period of stability... giving you time to keep us entertained

miggy

zhatorna65 wrote: »

I lecture in a university and it looks like we will have to lose 20 staff out of 80 people just in our department, due to an ongoing deficit (there's that bl*** word again). They're going to finalise the details by October... so a nice black cloud hanging over us all summer now.

I'm very sorry to hear this, zhatorna. We too have had experience of management ruining peoples' personal time by crass placing of announcements. There seems to be a policy of keeping people waiting as long as possible.:( All summer is possibly a record-breaker, though.
Wishing you all the best.

worried_jim

One of my colleagues was also a lecturer Zhatorna, (he worked two jobs) and was let go last year and has been unable to find another teaching post since. I hope you have a back up plan if needed. I've formulated mine today...I will sell up and move back to Leicester where I shall buy somewhere outright in cash with the profit from this place.It will be in a very grotty city centre area but it will be paid for then I shall go on benefits and strt selling the big issue by the bus station from 7am to 11 am when witherspoons opens and then spend the rest of the day drinking the cheapest stale ale they do and smoke rollies out the front with the other dossers. Oh, I shall grow a beard as well and get a mongrel dog.

savingwannabe

Petal i might have to copy you. I can howl with the dog and pretend to strum guitar and become a busker. Funding will be cut by 25% in our college noone is talking about it but we all know what is going to happen.

Why is it that the private sector bankers caused this shoite and they are letting us carry the can?

worried_jim

back to the office today so I will pick up the full story and find out how bad it is. Don't bother with the busking practice, just stand and say "big issue" every 30 seconds-should do the job nicely.

zhatorna65

worried_jim wrote: »

I hope you have a back up plan if needed. I've formulated mine today...I will sell up and move back to Leicester ... I shall go on benefits and strt selling the big issue.

Lived in Leicester for 8 years, in the 90s. Liked it there.

Benefits - err, that thing that govt is cutting at the same time as making 600,000 jobless?

Very scary thing I saw in Leicester once when I was teaching there: walking down street with a mate, guy sitting on pavement asking for change. Friend told me: yeah, he was a lecturer at our place until recently. There but for the grace of god go we etc... can happen to anyone.

miggy

zhatorna65 wrote: »

Very scary thing I saw in Leicester once when I was teaching there: walking down street with a mate, guy sitting on pavement asking for change. Friend told me: yeah, he was a lecturer at our place until recently. There but for the grace of god go we etc... can happen to anyone.

That really is scary! :eek: Poor chap.

worried_jim

Well the entire floor where I am situated has been wiped out except for us. Thirty roles in our dept are being downsized to just seven positions but the 23 unlucky candidates will have their pay frozen for 3 years so they will not really loose out and most of them are fairly happy with what they are doing so not a massive worry for most. I think everyone realises that this could have been a lot worse and hopefully we will now be a lot stronger in the future. For one or two this maybe the motivation they need to move on.
I know many of the people who have lost their jobs, fortunately they have been there for years and will get about six weeks salary for each year worked and those that have already lost there jobs previously have already found new jobs so there is no great panic. I am looking forward to the return of some normality and boredom in the office now.