Another question re suitable alternative employment

Newbeginning

My company is restructuring my team at work, and they need less people in my current role, which means redundancy/alternative employment for some of us.

My position is that it could be a good time for me to move on and this could be an opportunity for me to break out of the rut that I am in career wise. If I was made redundant the settlement would be enough for me to live on for a while and I have savings so I am not too worried about the financial implications at the moment.

I have told my company that I would prefer to focus on looking for alternative opportunities within the company or to take redundancy than compete against the other candidates for the job that is on offer. The powers that be were very positive about this, I suppose because it helps make the decision for them, and they all seemed to accept what I said as fair and logical.

What concerns me is that at the moment the management team are asking me if I am interested in various things that are coming up internally but they are presenting everything in a very casual way – eg if you are interested in this, let me know, etc etc. They are not pressuring me into anything at all. They are not offering me a job as such, they are just asking me if I am interested in applying. I have applied for one job but was told I am not suitable (it is too senior but they originally thought that there may be potential to adapt the role). There is another job available internally that I do not wish to apply for and nobody is putting me under any pressure to do so although they have asked me if I am interested.

I have formally withdrawn from the selection process for the restructured team (ie my current job) in order to focus on other internal job vacancies. I did this in writing (after being asked to by HR), adding that I was withdrawing on the understanding that it would not affect any redundancy payment that I may be due if I am unsuccessful in my search for alternative employment within the company.

I was never offered a job on the restructured team as all potential candidates are going to be scored against selection criteria. If I do not wish to apply for any further jobs internally, will this affect any redundancy payment? Or will this only happen if I am given a formal job offer which I then unreasonably turn down? Management are being so nice about everything and not yet putting any pressure on me to apply for things and the paranoid part of my brain is wondering if they are waiting for the consultancy period to run out, at which stage they plan to say that I turned down lots of jobs and refuse to pay any redundancy.

SarEl

You told your company this - did you do it all in writing? And did you get their agreement? Which you needed to do.

But I suppose that at this stage they may be relaxed because they knew somebody had to go and someone being equally casual about going may be exactly their cup of tea. Nobody can tell you what they might do - I think you have to wait and see what they do do! You are probably worrying needlessly, but if you are not - well I am not sure what we could tell you to do that will change anything right now. You hardly want to go and ask them if they are planning on doing something nasty to you, can you?

Newbeginning

Thanks for responding so quickly.

I told them that I thought it may be better for me to move on and focus on other internal opportunities in a meeting. They then asked for confirmation (that I was happy to withdraw from the selection process for my current role) in writing, which I gave them, adding the proviso that I was doing so on the understanding that it would not affect redundancy settlement, which I had also said in the meeting.

I suppose I am just worried that withdrawing and not applying to every suggested role could be grounds to not give redundancy settlement- or does it have to be a formal job offer which I then formally turn down for a company to be able to do this legally?

SarEl

Refusing to apply can be grounds - but if this has all been put in writing then you should be fine. Sounds to me like they were more worried that you would sue them for not giving you a job you didn't want!

getmore4less

I think it is wise to think about the possiblities just so you are prepared if something does come up.

One thing I would do is look at the restructure and see if you think it is viable especialy the pool you woiuld have been in.

I know one case where they got the numbers wrong and realised in the last week of 12 weeks notice that they were going to be short of skills so ended up giving people their old jobs back.


I guess as soon as the selection proceess for your current roll is over your job has gone(or will do some time in the future) so they could/should issue you with notice of redundancy at that point.

You continue to look at other options as potential suitable alternatives but not finding any.

Newbeginning

Thanks for your reponses.

I think the restructured team looks sensible, given what they have said about how they plan to rearrange the work that we do. It is a small team and I think what they have planned will work fine. So I can't see them increasing the number of posts on the restructured team.

The selection process for my current role should be over today, I believe.

I will continue to look at alternative positions - I am slightly worried because there is a job that that they have suggested and I really don't want to go for it. It looks slightly more junior than the role that I am doing now but the main reason (without going into too much detail) is because I used to do a related job for a different company and I had an awful experience at that company that basically destroyed all my confidence and left me a nervous wreck. In the job that my company is suggesting it is entirely possible that I may have to deal with the company where I had the bad experience. The thought of this makes me feel really sick. But I don't feel comfortable having this conversation with HR as I don't want to appear weak and I don't want to dredge the past up again, although I recognise that I might have to if I get desperate.

I just don't want to apply for this one job - I am being very positive in general about other opportunities within the company where the above does not apply. I suppose I am just trying to establish whether in legal terms not applying for a job is the same as turning down a formal job offer when it comes to trying to find alternative employment within a company.

getmore4less - please could you clarify what you mean in the last sentence of your post?

getmore4less

You continue to look at other options as potential suitable alternatives but not finding any if you would prefer to leave.

If happy to stay for the right job then I would only apply for those you want to do if the job, T&C are right.

I would ignore the job you don't want, and if asked again find some negatives, like a bit of a step down, no prospects etc. while being more positive about others.

AIUI unless they push a job on you as being suitable then you should be ok to just go for the ones you are interested in.