"Suitable Alternative Employment"

lulu_92

Due to company restructure my job is being moved overseas.

I've been offered four options:

• Move overseas permanently
• Help train the new office overseas for 6 months
• Be redeployed in the UK office
• Take redundancy

I had a meeting with a manager yesterday, to talk about other areas of the business I would like to work in. Ultimately it ended in me being told that it is my responsibility to find another job, and their role is to simply facilitate this.



I was also criticised for my lack of flexibility in my working hours (atm I live 35 miles away from work, and I work 38 hours over 4 days due to childcare) and my reluctance to take a pay cut.


I'm not sure where I stand with all of this? There's about 20 of us in this position, and management have been sending the odd job description around, but stipulating that we have to apply for these jobs and they're also available for anyone else in the business to apply for.


Somebody please help with what I can do?

Spendless

Aren't you the poster with young twins? If so, are options 1 and 2 even feasible?

Whalie

If you are in a redundancy situation then you will be considered first for any suitable jobs within the company but you will have to apply.

sangie595

Whalie wrote: »

If you are in a redundancy situation then you will be considered first for any suitable jobs within the company but you will have to apply.

No, that is not true. If the posts are deemed suitable alternatives then the post should be automatically offered, unless there are more people at risk than posts available. It is only if the posts are not deemed suitable alternatives that the jobs can be applied for - and in that case the people at risk are under no obligation to apply.

indianabones

Well the good news is you have an employer who definitely cares. They've given you some alternatives. A lot of other companies don't give you such a luxury.

Moving overseas - Where exactly because this will have a huge impact on lifestyle. Language and culture etc will be major factors.

6 month stay abroad - Same questions as above. So many factors to consider that none of us can give any serious advice.

Are they trying to re-deploy to another UK office or the same one? Often this might be the easiest option, but sometimes the role they give you may not be what you want.

Ultimately there's too many unknowns here, but none of us can tell you which option to take as that is something each individual weighs up.

lulu_92

Hi all,

Sorry for the lack in posting, it's been a mad couple of months as you can imagine.

In answer to the above questions:
Yes, I have young twins so I immediately declined the relocation offers.

Work is moving to Gibraltar, but most of the staff there live in Spain as it's cheaper. Brexit was a factor in me declining to go, as who can predict what will happen once we're out of the EU (I predict another relocation..)

Here's the thing. We realised they're not offering us any alternative employment, we're being asked to apply for internal vacancies. I was criticised for not being willing to take a pay cut and work more unsociable hours.

I eventually found and applied for an internal role which would pretty much guarantee my pay and hours, but they instead offered me a job with a £5k pa pay cut, which I have accepted due to it being better than having no job at all, but I asked if I could maintain my hours as they are (full time over 4 days) because working a 5th day increases my fuel cost by 25%, which is a lot when you are already dealing with a significant pay cut, but they declined because of "setting a precedent with other staff" (which I do understand, and I know they aren't required to accommodate this request). I've also been told that after a month or so if the working hours aren't suitable for me I am unable to take my redundancy, so I'm trapped either way.

I'm feeling really depressed as I can't shake the feeling that this new role isn't right for many reasons, but I really don't know what to do.

Takeaway_Addict

lulu_92 wrote: »

Hi all,

Sorry for the lack in posting, it's been a mad couple of months as you can imagine.

In answer to the above questions:
Yes, I have young twins so I immediately declined the relocation offers.

Work is moving to Gibraltar, but most of the staff there live in Spain as it's cheaper. Brexit was a factor in me declining to go, as who can predict what will happen once we're out of the EU (I predict another relocation..)

Here's the thing. We realised they're not offering us any alternative employment, we're being asked to apply for internal vacancies. I was criticised for not being willing to take a pay cut and work more unsociable hours.

I eventually found and applied for an internal role which would pretty much guarantee my pay and hours, but they instead offered me a job with a £5k pa pay cut, which I have accepted due to it being better than having no job at all, but I asked if I could maintain my hours as they are (full time over 4 days) because working a 5th day increases my fuel cost by 25%, which is a lot when you are already dealing with a significant pay cut, but they declined because of "setting a precedent with other staff" (which I do understand, and I know they aren't required to accommodate this request). I've also been told that after a month or so if the working hours aren't suitable for me I am unable to take my redundancy, so I'm trapped either way.

I'm feeling really depressed as I can't shake the feeling that this new role isn't right for many reasons, but I really don't know what to do.

You feel like you're losing control but try another perspective...you've got a job that is paying some money................whilst you go out and find a better paid job!

lulu_92

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

You feel like you're losing control but try another perspective...you've got a job that is paying some money................whilst you go out and find a better paid job!

This is the perspective I've been trying to have, but I can't stop thinking about why this isn't a good choice.

The problem is I'm the breadwinner in my household. I already can't afford to put my children in nursery so one of the reasons I work 4 days a week at the moment is because of that and the fact my partner works nights. Going up to five days for the same amount of hours but less money would mean that my partner would not be able to work on the night before - neither of us want him to be looking after two children when he wouldn't have been to sleep for more than 24 hours, as I'm sure you can understand.

We've also got a wedding to pay for, and would lose a lot of money in deposits if we postponed/cancelled after now.

Better paid job? I've been trying non-stop since July to find something...anything. The salary of this new job would be acceptable if the job was closer to where I live (due to fuel and car running costs) but even dropping the salary expectation doesn't get me very far. I'm either unsuitable for the role or I'm required to have a lot of qualifications I don't have.

Spendless

Wouldn't you be better taking the redundancy? Could the redundancy money either pay for the wedding (could any costs be cut down?) or be used to give you some time to job hunt even if it means putting wedding off till later date?

What you've posted doesn't sound ideal, increased full costs, pay cut, and your OH going to struggle to provide childcare and not being able to afford childcare (completely understandable for twins, I couldn't afford childcare for one).

Out of the two of you, who has the potential to earn the most? Can that person not work days and the lower earner of you, work a local part-time maybe evening/weekend around them? (This is what we had to do when our eldest was a baby)