Redundancy & Mortgage

AJ1982

Get as much money as possible out of them (nice one on the increase btw) , sign the agreement and get out.

They dont want you, they are offering you 50k. Take the criticism, cry for a bit, have a beer, and take the money!

d3liberate

Thats the plan! I wasn't entirely satisfied with the 50k, so went back in for another bite :j

But that door was firmly closed with 'we are comfortable with our position' hint to say take us to tribunal and we will twist everything around to suit us. I'd rather take a punt and put my 50k on Arsenal winning at the weekend to double up.

The reference is my only sticking point now. They will only confirm dates worked termination by means of redundancy, it really is pathetic. Any future employer will ask so you worked there for 10 years and they didn't give you a reference? What did you do? My honest answer would be I don't really know.

Anyone have any tips on what legally a company can write on a reference when their policy is usually only to confirm dates. I really don't know what to ask them to put on it, but just feel it doesn't look good how it is after so long.

elsien

If their policy for everyone is just to confirm dates, then that is all you can expect.
You are likely to hit problems if that is not their usual policy - as a recruiter that is something I would be phoning up to check. If they usually give more detailed references but haven't for one person, that would be sounding alarm bells.

I don't understand though what makes you think their position is open to negotiation just because that's what you want. They're paying to get rid of you (sorry if that sounds harsh, but that seems to be what you're saying.) What cards do you think you hold to get any more than that, reference or otherwise?

uptomyeyeballs

You can't force them to give you an enhanced reference (but they aren't giving a negative one either). Just say you were made compulsorily redundant and that company policy was that references only came with dates. That's all you can really do.

d3liberate

elsien wrote: »

If their policy for everyone is just to confirm dates, then that is all you can expect.
You are likely to hit problems if that is not their usual policy - as a recruiter that is something I would be phoning up to check. If they usually give more detailed references but haven't for one person, that would be sounding alarm bells.

I don't understand though what makes you think their position is open to negotiation just because that's what you want. They're paying to get rid of you (sorry if that sounds harsh, but that seems to be what you're saying.) What cards do you think you hold to get any more than that, reference or otherwise?

Thats exactly what they said, it would look strange to a recruiter, but at the same time having been there for such a long time, I don't see anything wrong with a bit more blurb on factual information on what I did for the business, and why my position was made redundant due to an organisation restructure, which is partly true.

Where I feel I have a position to negotiate is that I was dismissed unfairly and I am signing a compromise agreement, and part of the negotiations were that they would provide me a revised reference.

What they have come back with is nothing more than dates, and a line to confirm the reason for termination was redundancy, as opposed to a summary dismissal for which they have no real justification for, given the circumstances that surrounded my dismissal. They also ended the reference with wish you all the best in the future, which I find very odd in a reference.

My negotiating position still remains that I haven't signed the settlement and their is still a fear that I might drag this out to a tribunal, which is still a consideration for me.

getmore4less

Depends what you do but in a lot of sectors the better jobs are found by networking and the reference is just a confimation you worked somewhere.

In my experience of people "moving on" and there have been a few over the years most knew why they no longer fitted in.

Andy_L

d3liberate wrote: »

What they have come back with is nothing more than dates, and a line to confirm the reason for termination was redundancy,

That's pretty much all you get for a reference these days. Companies/managers don't want to spend the time/effort of saying more and are concerned with the risk of being sued by you or a future employer if they say any more

gettingtheresometime

And of course you won't be taking redundancy cover will you?