To jump ship or wait to maybe be pushed?

AlwaysPondering

I'm posting this just to get some other peoples viewpoints.. to look at it from a different point of view, so whatever you think please let me know..

Currently I'm employed in a large-ish company, over the last few months we have made a fair few people redundant. Now in terms of my role, it's prob (at the moment) as safe as any other in the company (some say slightly safer as I've got some knowledge of the design of a company system that really only me and one other has (and they are a contractor), although others are getting to know bits of it). However in about 6 months when the work is due to be finished on this system, who knows.. the company say they have plans, but they seem to change on a hourly basis...

In the past the company redundance package has always been very good, my wife took redundance a few years ago (and she got about 7 months pay =- 6 months + 1 week for each year).

I've started looking around for other jobs - there are a few I'm interested in, however for them I would have to relocate - not sure how easy it would be to sell my house (2 bed semi - with lots of DIY jobs to finish), because I cannot afford to rent and pay a mortgage (also the wife's job's local-ish to where we live at the moment)

Normally I would take the view that I'll just keep my head down, work hard, save as much as I could and pray that this all blows over and we return to a more normal state of affairs.. As far as work goes we are running late with the project (because we started late - but are not allow to use that as a reason why we are late - go figure), we have some major issues - which I warned management about 2 years ago, but was told to ignore them.. and now they are major and hence very costly to fix... and it's my name that's been given as the cause of the problem, so I'm getting it in the neck as to why I didn't fix it or predict it.. grrr

At the moment my wife wants to take me to the doc's and get me signed off on stress.. I'm not sleeping, I'm always grumpy, cannot think of anything else other than work, have zero motivation to do anything (lots of DIY to finish, and normally I don't like sitting on my backside doing nothing, but that's all I feel I can do at the moment after work), I have broken into tears on a number of occasions (both at home and at friends houses).. At this point I should say I'm a 30 year old male, who isn't known for showing emotions publically..

I've spoken to my boss about both the work and stress issues, and although I get on with my boss (new guy only been doing it a few months) and he is generally supportive, however his view is - these are tough and stressful times, we are all feeling like we would like to get out..

I also don't really see the point of trying to get signed off, as a) really do believe that this would stand against me when they create the next 'to kick out' list... and b) it would be unfair on the guys left, because they would just have to pick up my workload as well as theirs..

Lots of rambling, hopefully it all makes some sense...

Thanks for taking the time to read this..

SandC

If they have good redundancy packages then I would not jump ship but wait to be pushed.

It's the other stuff that is the problem. If you were signed off sick, would that really help? It's the root of the problem that needs fixing and a couple of weeks off might, as you suspect, prove a hindrance rather than a help. But of course we can't ignore that fact that stress at work can be very damaging indeed and time away from the situation is often necessary for your health and well being.

In view of you already speaking to your boss I really don't know what the best course of action would be. I would talk to him again and be really honest and also reiterate that the delay in the project was not down to you and wouldn't have happened if action had been taken on your advice earlier.

This may fall on deaf ears. I do know how you feel. With my last employers I always tried to be proactive. I could spot a potential problem months before and would recommend something be done about it. I was always ignored until it became a major problem and then it suddenly became urgent priority number one on my part. Things like that and other issues caused me to jump ship from there. However, that was then and this is now and the jobs situation is the worst in many years for anyone to leave a job.

Could you look around for alternatives whilst staying where you are?

piggeh

I'm in the same position as you with regards to redundancies etc as well - my employer last $200m in Q3 08 (Q4 to be announced). We've had some redundancies already and every month forecasts get worse. I am fearing the worst but it's out of our control of course. In a previous job I also went off sick for 2 months as I had an oversupervisory boss and the pressure (along with debts) was just unbearable. I did find a new job after a few monhs whilst still signed off, although I guess it was a little more difficult trying to explain my situation.

Really it's only you who can decide how stressed out you are and whether being signed off will alleviate this. If it is really unbearable then you need to put your own wellbeing above other people's workloads. Check out if the company has a grievance procedure or anything else so you can do something formally. Maybe ask for a reduction in hours - I know at my company they would probably welcome the chance to reduce costs and avoid redundancies so if you were willing to do a 4 day week for example, maybe it would benefit both of you (although make sure the shorter working week is time limited as otherwise redundancy payments would be affected). I would add - when I raised a formal grievance they atacked my personality as being negative and tried to make me the problem. You need to try and always show a positive attitude in resolving issues so that the ball is always in their court.

If you are able to cope for the time being, then keep your head under the radar and apply for other work.

Oh, and maybe try and do something else in the evenings to take your mind off things a little. If you can find a hobby to give your mind a bit of a break it will help!