Trying to get voluntary redundancy

cja37_2

Hello Everyone,

My firm has announced that they are going to make 250 people redundant and we are now in our consultation period. My department will lose about 30% of the team and I know this number is higher than our managers were hoping (they have been given the numbers from our central management).

We have been told that the firm is not intending to accept voluntary redundancies as everyone will be judged by the performance criteria that they have worked out and that will be it.

I have been thinking about leaving my job for a while now as I do not like the industry and would love to do something different. I am not sure whether I will be in the lowest 30% of my team performance-wise so I was wondering whether to broach voluntary redundancy with my managers regardless of the firmwide policy. Because so many people must leave from my team I get the feeling that they might prefer to have one less hard decision to make and so I might be doing them a favour by stepping up.

Has anyone had experience in this area? I guess I would be intersted to know if these types of decisions take place even behind the firm policy. I am also wondering whether it is risky to put myself on the line in this way as, if they say they won't make me redundant they will know that I am not 100% committed to my job and this could lead to negative treatment??

I would really appreciate any helpful advice, experience or suggestions as I don't think I can cope with staying in this job long-term but I wouldn't be able to leave without some sort of payout while I figure out what to do with my life.

I hope this isn't insensitive to people who are worrying about being made redundant and who knows I could be top of the list to go anyway!!

Thanks in advance,

Clara

flea72

if you take voluntary redundancy you wont be entitled to claim JSA, so unless your pay-off is good enough to last a while, or you have another job lined up, its a bit risky to put yourself forward. If you are planning on leaving anyway, i dont see how it can hurt, but on that basis they may keep you on, knowing that you are planning to leave, so that way they wont have to pay you any redundancy, but still get to cut down on staff

Flea

reheat

Not sure if JSA automatically precluded by voluntary redundancy, or whether it depends on circumstances - best to check.

What you do have to be very careful of is if you have any payment protection insurance (typically mortgage), intended to pay out if you lose your job - these policies usually do not pay out if you opt for voluntary redundancy.

It is of course about the worst time to be looking for work, so you must consider how easy/difficult/desperate your circumstances would become if you cannot find a new job in reasonable time. I've been looking 7 months now - thought it would be difficult ... but not this difficult.

mistermoneysaver

flea72 wrote: »

if you take voluntary redundancy you wont be entitled to claim JSA, so unless your pay-off is good enough to last a while, or you have another job lined up, its a bit risky to put yourself forward. If you are planning on leaving anyway, i dont see how it can hurt, but on that basis they may keep you on, knowing that you are planning to leave, so that way they wont have to pay you any redundancy, but still get to cut down on staff

Flea

That is incorrect. The OP can claim CONTRIBUTION based JSA if they have paid enough NI contributions in the last 2 years.

piggeh

Make sure you have enough savings to fall back on, job hunting is pretty tough at the moment!

IMO approach your manager tactfully saying you need a fresh challenge and are willing to accept redundancy if he wishes to score as such, etc.

p00hsticks

cja37 wrote: »

Hello Everyone,
We have been told that the firm is not intending to accept voluntary redundancies as everyone will be judged by the performance criteria that they have worked out and that will be it.

Given the numbers involved, then the performance criteria will have had to have been discussed (and ideally agreed) with staff representatives and/or union officials - so I don't think you can really ask your immediate management to just ignore it - it's out of their hands.

flea72

mistermoneysaver wrote: »

That is incorrect. The OP can claim CONTRIBUTION based JSA if they have paid enough NI contributions in the last 2 years.

not if you make yourself unemployed - they treat putting yourself forward for redundancy in the same way

However, if you are' made' redundant, then yes you can claim JSA

Flea

reheat

flea72 wrote: »

not if you make yourself unemployed - they treat putting yourself forward for redundancy in the same way

However, if you are' made' redundant, then yes you can claim JSA

Flea

This Website says an awful lot about JSA, and in section 5.1.2 states: "A person who has accepted voluntary redundancy is not treated as having left her/his employment voluntarily". So far as I can tell this is saying a person will not be sanctioned (I think they are saying will not be prevented from claiming JSA) if the reason for leaving was voluntary redundancy.

sunshinejoclaire

flea72 wrote: »

not if you make yourself unemployed - they treat putting yourself forward for redundancy in the same way

However, if you are' made' redundant, then yes you can claim JSA

Flea

No they don't. Accepting vol redundancy is the same as a compulsory redundancy.

I know because my partner has been there in recent months. He got JSA instantly, even with 3 months PILON.

ceridwen

...and a point that hasnt been raised to date is that I have the feeling that firms may not legally be allowed to make people compulsorily redundant - without having gone through asking who wishes for voluntarily redundancy first. I know my firm operates that way, ie "voluntary first, then compulsory redundancies - IF they havent been able to find enough volunteers". I've a pretty good idea that they do so - because the law says that that is what firms have to do.

Worth checking the law on that.....

It would make sense too for the firm to operate that way......as otherwise you upset two lots of people (ie those kicked out against their will on the one hand and those forced to stay against their will on the other hand).

reheat

ceridwen wrote: »

...and a point that hasnt been raised to date is that I have the feeling that firms may not legally be allowed to make people compulsorily redundant - without having gone through asking who wishes for voluntarily redundancy first. I know my firm operates that way, ie "voluntary first, then compulsory redundancies - IF they havent been able to find enough volunteers". I've a pretty good idea that they do so - because the law says that that is what firms have to do.

Worth checking the law on that.....

It would make sense too for the firm to operate that way......as otherwise you upset two lots of people (ie those kicked out against their will on the one hand and those forced to stay against their will on the other hand).

I don't think that is the case, though I'm not certain. What they do have to do is enter into a consultation period, the minimum length of which depends on how many people are at risk of redundancy, as I understand it. Issues such as voluntary redundancy could presumably be raised during this period I would think.

The problem for companies offering voluntary redundancy is lots of people requesting it who they don't want to lose ... and risk hacking off if it's refused them.