Is Xmas the time for redundancies ?

mro

Noticed there a lot of threads about redundancy.

Is Christmas the normal time for making redundancies ?

mgdavid

yes . . . .

whitewing

I was told that it is a good time because people have Christmas to focus on to help them through it...

wymondham

suppose it just happens to be before the new year.....

pjcox2005

I think for a lot in retail or connected industries, they try and hold out hoping a good pre-Christmas trading period will save them but it rarely does when things are already that serious.

TheGardener

In the public sector - budgets for the coming financial year have to be signed, sealed and delivered by February at the latest - this means that with the statutory 'consultation' period for redundancies with the Unions and affected staff and the haggling between councillors - redundancies are announced just before Christmas so that there is time to get budgets though the committee system (usually 10 to 12 weeks) in time for the implementation at the start of the New Financial year.
The new financial year probably applies to a lot of private sector businesses as well.

Pennywise

Christmas-time is also the usual quarter day for payment of rents, so if the company has rents to be around 20-25th, and can't find the money, then that can be a trigger for closure. Even if it can find the rent money, Jan-Mar is a traditional quiet period, especially in retail, so the business may simply not be viable, and one of the legal responsibilities of directors is not to let the company take on liabilities they can't pay.