Positive Redundancy Stories

newbieni

I've just had the dreaded "at risk" meeting with a 30 day consultation underway.

Does anyone have any positive stories of being in the redundancy cycle but with everything working out well?

Peter999_2

I was made redundant in December 2010 after being there for 21 years.   They gave me 1 month pay for every year I worked.

I was unemployed for 1 day and got a job for another company (had to phone the job centre, the call person couldn't believe it was that quick).

I spent two years working for the new company on 3/2s of what I earnt.   I really enjoyed the two years and learnt such a lot - it had become a bit stale at my original job.

I then left this job as my wife wanted to go back to work after giving up work when my daughter was born.   I spent two years being a househusband which were just the best.  I loved it, found it really easy and incrediby rewarding (it brought us so close together and to this day that has never changed thanks to these two years).

My wife then got a job working at my daughters school so could look after her again.    I went back to work, contacted everybody I knew and got an interview with a bank.   Luckily I got through the interview, got the job and was earning nearly 4 times the salary at my original job for a lot less work (it was the experience and skills that they needed from me).     I didn't particularly like it, but saved as much as I could.     I left the job in 2019 as my father in law needed a lot of care and I was a bit burned out.    Then covid hit and I have not worked since which has been fabulous.

If I hadn't have taken the redundancy (it was voluntary) in my old job I would still be there.    I do feel my working life got so much better because of the redundancy and everything worked out in the end (well apart from getting divorced last year, haha).    I've now retired (I am 55 next month so will be able to access my pension from the first job).

It is quite scary when you get the redundancy but it you stick with it things can turn out so much better.

twopenny

Well the first time 😄 I took different short contract jobs covering for other people which I didn't enjoy, went to Australia for 3 month and then from a job interview I didn't really want was 'head hunted' which was a great boost. 
Got a job I really enjoyed in a beautiful location.


A few years on the government decided the bright idea to get rid of experienced people because they cost too much and employ newly qualified then had to pay us a lot to cover when they couldn't cope.
I took some free courses and opened my own business doing something I loved where my customers told me I was clever and talented. 10 mins from home, 3 mins from the beach, dogs came to work with me.
Was never going to make a fortune but I loved it as long as I could.

More covering for others and took my life dream trip on the Amazon.

Took more free courses and went into different work that was 9-5 , had a lunch hour which I could take on the beach or the hills.


My technique wouldn't suit everyone and my pension isn't huge as a result but I never regretted fulfilling small dreams and enjoying a bit of life.

I agree it's a horrible time when you feel rejected and wonder if there is something wrong with you, that process is documented.
But it's all just life happening and it's not personal.
Only when you can stop and think what you want to do and not panic.
I solved the depressing business of applying for other jobs by honing my CV, presenting it well so I could just submit as necessary.
Good luck 🙂

ProcessMatters

I don’t have a dramatic success story, but I’ve seen a few people go through this and almost all of them ended up somewhere better than they expected — even if it didn’t feel like it at the time.

The uncertainty is the worst part. Once things start moving, it usually becomes a lot clearer. Try not to read too much into the “at risk” label — it’s a process, not a verdict.

Wishing you the best over the next few weeks.

vacheron

I can echo what others have said above.

I've been "at risk" many times in my career, and have not actually been made redundant once. (I am actually at risk as I type and have been for the last 10 months!). It all depends on the pressure your manager / employer is under to reduce headcount, the size of the pool and the number of positions they intend to lose. All I can say is that regardless of the size of the pool, they already know the individuals they want to lose from day 1 (and often before). It is easy to make the process reflect their desire.

If this person informally identified is you, almost nothing you do ar say during the consultation process will change that outcome (unless reversal on appeal is also part of their management gameplan), I have seen all of the above play out many times before.

In the largest example I have seen, my previous business was closed a few years ago, so things were a lot more inevitable, and approximately 150 people were made redundant. I was part of a team of just 12 who were retained at another part of our parent company.

Out of the 20 or 30 people I knew closely who lost their jobs, all of them had a new position within a maximum of 2-3 months after leaving, with many having positions to go to before their worked notice period was up, (in which case the company allowed them to work less notice, but still paid them their full redundancy).

I remember the MD saying just after the closure that he was pleased that "everyone who wanted to keep working had found themselves a new job". And the vast majority seem quite content with how things have worked out for them since.

OP, in your case, how many positions in total are at risk?, as if it is 20 or more, then there is a much more formal (and potentially lengthy) process of consultation that needs to be followed.

elsien

I was made redundant on my 50th birthday. 

Been with same company for years.
It was horrible at the time but in retrospect it gave me the boot up the backside I needed to make some changes and have a bit of a sideways move Into something a bit different.
Never regretted the change.

Some of that would depend on your personal financial circumstances. I had enough of a buffer that I could take a little bit of time and look around for the next steps. 

I took a month off to give myself a holiday. did a bit of free training and volunteer work and was back in work four months after the redundancy. 

monkey-fingers

newbieni said:

I've just had the dreaded "at risk" meeting with a 30 day consultation underway.

Does anyone have any positive stories of being in the redundancy cycle but with everything working out well?

So absolutely yes.

I've been put at risk 3 times.
First 2 times, there were other jobs available. I applied and was accepted. Both jobs were very different to the one I was doing (although the experience I had was valuable). I was moved into my final position during Covid and it seemed a good fit.

Last year, my company decided they were closing a part of the business down. Although I was working on a huge contract, that contract has been consumed into another part of the organisation so I was put at risk.

I got down to the last 2 of an interview, but someone felt the other person had more niche skills (I knew them, they did), so I was let go. I was given a healthy redundancy (I'd been there 30 odd years) as well as PILON.

The last job I'd been doing, had an awful management. It was an absolutely toxic place where people who'd done the same job for 20 years refused to change (my job was to make everyone work better, smarter and also to the audit policies that were mandated).

My immediate colleagues were great people, but weren't "Lifers".
Since leaving, around 50% have also been made redundant and another load are at risk.


So basically having been at a place for my entire adult life, it made me realise that I have some amazing skills and experiences. Despite the IT and contracting world being a really tough place right now, I had 4 x 2nd interviews within a couple of weeks. I'm now a dirty contractor, earning twice what I was earning before.

Things to take away:

If you're at risk, utilise EVERYTHING you can - I was lucky that we had partnerships with some vendors that offered free training and exams. Use the time to make sure you have industry qualifications - In IT, there is tons of free training and I did a load of Microsoft exams that were £25 or something each. I did some AWS courses that were free, but I think the exam was $100.

Forget work. You don't have a role. Apply for roles internally, but start looking at external roles.

IF YOU'RE LET GO

Don't doom scroll jobs. Work out what you want to do and focus on it. One thing that helped me was to approach specialist recruiters on LinkedIn (I paid for the full subscription which allows you to do that).
Most LinkedIn jobs are either bobbins or have millions of applicants. Throwing CVs at recruiters is useless if you can't actually get in front of them. They're using AI to score the CVs.

If it's a professional job, your company will often give you access to a company who will help you write your CV, give you interview techniques and get you into jobs fairs etc.

The most important thing I would say to you is to not take it personally. Your CEO doesn't give 2 hoots about you and you don't owe them anything. You've got experience, which is something that many people applying for the same jobs as you won't have.

Apparently, the people I'm working for spent 6 months recruiting for my role. They're already talking to me about a permanent position.

tacpot12

I have been put on notice of being made redundant three times. Every time worked out very well for me. 

The first time, I was made redundant, I got a job that started the Monday after I was made redundant. The job paid 1.5 times the salary I had been on!

The second time was as part of significant number of redundancies in my department, but during the consultation period I mentioned that I thought that the company were being too aggressive with their cuts of one particular role. It wasn't my role, but it was a role that my role relied heavily on, and by being over agressive, I said I thought that the remaining people in my role would struggle to deliver because of this gap. I was suprised when the company did change their mind and kept 10 more of that role on, and 4 more of my role, including myself!

The third time, I had already decided I would be retiring at the end of the year and was going to hand my notice in on 1st July. (I was contractually obliged to give them three months notice, but wanted to give them six because I was involved in a project that would end in December so I could finish it off and leave without having to do a handover.) Fortunately, I had heard they were about to make some redundancies in my department, so I held off giving my notice in to see what would happen. I was 'selected' for redundancy, after letting my manager know I would have been resiging at the end of the year. The result was that they paid me to start my retirement three months early, with more money than I would have had, even if I had worked until December! 

So my experience of redundancy has been very positive. However, I have always worked in an industry where you could always get a job if you had kept your skills upto date, and I was always careful to do this.