Thetownend.com

Got a phone call yesterday from my boss, informing me that all Competency Trainers (My job) have been called to Regional Office on Thursday and that representatives of Head Office HR will be in attendance.

The only times Head Office HR ever venture out of their cosy offices in Manchester are when the Co-op restructre and redundancies occur.

He finished the call by telling me not to worry (Yeah).

Has anyone on here ever been made redundant? I know I'll be offered alternative employment, but I was wondering what package I'm likely to get if I took redundancy. I've been with them for ten years.

Depends on their policy and what's in your contract.

Some companys will give you a weeks wages for each year you've worked there as a lump sum and you will be paid in full for your notice period once you are given notice, regardless of whether they put you on garden leave or not. Also your lump sum could be tax free but this depends on what is in your contract of employment.

A shit situation to be in. The company I work for recently merged with someone else and I had to let 2 people go and now I am being told to look at my team again. Not a nice thing for anyone involved as more often than not the managers being asked to look at their teams are pretty much forced into weilding the axe and then end up looking a cunt while the MDs sit pretty thinking about how much money they just "saved".

Good luck!

I'm being outsourced or made redundant soon, we were meant to find out in September yet we still don't know now. The uncertainty is annoying and i don't have a clue what i'd do next should i lose my job

Depends on your contract and years of service for the company really. When I worked at Cellops and it was taken over by Vodafone, they decided to offer everyone the same thing as opposed to going by length of service.

I think most companies pay 2 weeks or a weeks pay for every year you have been at the company however as I say it depends on your contract and length of service.

Some companies will pay a set figure plus a week for every year you have been at the company. Depends on the size of the firm and their financial footing I would think.

If you are made redundant a lot of firms will start posting job listings for other firms or help you register with agencies etc to get employment.

I believe that if you have been given notice of redundancy if you get a job interview the firm needs to give you time off to attend an interview however that may just be a company decision.

Worst thing ever for me Steve had it twice in the last 3 years and now i work for a black man who wears gimp masks and blows up dolphins Ass's.

On a serious note the redunancy package is likely to be something like 10 xs your monthly wage

I was made redundant in 1984, I was absolutely chocked at the time, and decided to start my own company.
Was paid off in full, at the end of the day I was the lucky one, two months later the company went to wall and others who worked at the printers were not so lucky and only got the statutory payments.

Twice, and I reckon there is a fair to middling chance of the hatrick sometime in this recession, probably sooner rather than later. Bloody Telecomms industry.

How much you get will surprise you in a bad way. By LAW the statutory pay is:

http://www.berr.gov.uk/cgi-bin/er_feb07_reconner.pl

     * 0.5 week's pay for each full year of service where age during year less than 22
    * 1.0 week's pay for each full year of service where age during year is 22 or above, but less than 41
    * 1.5 weeks' pay for each full year of service where age during year is 41+

However this is capped to a limit of £330 a week regardless of how much you actually earn per week.

So, for sake of argument let's say you were 29 when you started and are now 39 earning £600 per week, the amount you would get would be 10 weeks * £330 = £3300.

Of course there is nothing stopping your company paying you an enhanced package over and above the statutory redundancy pay. But they are not obliged to.

I took voluntary redundancy three years ago - the company I then worked for decided to close the Swindon office and cease development on the project I was working on. We had a choice to fight for a limited number of jobs basically doing maintenance/support work on what was left of the project, based in Brum, or take VR. I chose the latter, one of the best decisions I ever made. Took me a while to find the right job and I ended up doing a short-term contract and burning up some of my redundancy but I held out to get the right job and it's worked out really well. IIRC we got a month's pay for each year worked (well above legal requirements) and time out for interviews etc. The last month was really bizarre - everyone going into work and just swapping notes on interviews etc, coaching each other on interview questions etc. Most odd, none of this "I've got a dentist's appointment/grandma's funeral etc" and sneaking out to take phone calls from agents you usually have. So chin up, hertha, there's always work for people who are good at what they do.

I've been made redundant twice and on both occasions it was the best thing for me at the time. It gave me a bit of time out to reassess what I wanted to do instead of what I was actualy doing. It made me look at my skills and how transferrable they were.
One bit of advice is to take either a friend or a Union rep into any individual discussions you have about redundancy and take notes. The people who talk to you are often shit scared of doing the job and screw up even thuogh they're professionals. Occasionally they offer things that they forget about - in my case 3 months paid leave. Having another person with you stops them wriggling out.
Best of luck.

Its a kick in the teeth and happened to me twice - thats why i never feel guilty about resigning from jobs.

I hope you get a good package if it comes to it.

Get pissed - mope for a week - then come back brighter. :D

Ive been made redundant 3 times

First time was the worst - company was in administration and we got dragged into a meeting got told we had lost our jobs then had 5 mins to pack our desks up and go - been there 5 years - it was totally shit - we got no redundancy and had to sign on to jobseekers allowance to get statatory redundancy fromt he goverment. signing on was HORRID!! never again!!! 

second time was better as had a month and managed to find another job - 3rd time was when the council closed the sports center but when we reopened I got my job back and its 100 x better

Its made me very bitter towards work now - I will never give a company 100% and I always keep lifeguarding as a back up

That's a great attitude and one i share. I have been made redundant, but didn't mind as i was leaving anyway, so if anything it was a bonus, as i was now gonna be paid to leave.

The fact remains that companies don't care about employees, beyond what they're legally required to, and they'll drop you like a hot potato the moment it could affect the bottom line. Few companies deviate from that and will show you little to no respect when the chips are down. The solution, in my arrogant lazy arsed opinion, is do the bare minimum you can without being sacked, whilst maintaining your own integrity. You always wake up smiling and find work can actually be fun and much like being in a real life Office Space.

The best post i have ever read from a non footy point of view...top marks.

What's wrong with signing on?

That was aimed at JFW not you Hertha.

There is nothing wrong with signing on - you pay your stamp .... and you sign on when you need help.
I think JFW is refering to some of the drongos you have to queue up with who have no intention of working.

Didn't know what to wear?

I've never met anybody other than really nice people signing on. I think that the stereotype is a bit off.

You don't really do the whole queue thing any more anyway. You have your own appointment every two weeks to lie about how you've been looking for a job. Well not really lie. Saying you'd read the jobs section in the paper seemed good enough for my meeting lady when I was signed on. Then we'd spend five mins chatting about how she was going on holiday and her daughter who was off travelling. Good times.

I need to sort out signing on again really.

I had to do it last year in Chippenham and appointments or not there were plenty of drongos there.

ha ha! no its was more what The Flash said - you are stuck with all these immigrants and lazy fat oafs and the people in the job centre treat you the same as them even though its not your fault you have to be there.

Sorry Ben I met no-one nice and the staff were so mean

Also I caught some strain of weird flu from the job centre  

and Barry you summed up my thoughts!! great post! made me feel all empowered!

Ben's a drongo

Kia-Ora

I've never signed on and I think I must have been brought up to be ashamed of doing so because when I've been unemployed I've just lived on a shoestring (which is okay for me because I don't have kids, mortgage etc) - I've never felt signing on was an option... one day it might be.

The only time I got made redundant it meant very little to me and was quite glad.

At work every other Thursday (??) we always get a couple of cocky unemployed lads come in and spend their jobseekers money on DVD's (I've heard them talking and laughing about it) - in fairness they're not all there but it's somewhat annoying listening to them and how smug they are about getting money for doing next-to-nothing.

Ive been made redundant,just got another shitty job to add to the string of shitty jobs ive had.

Bitter? Me? :D

Move and come across to midcounties, its where all the cool people are :)

Dont worry Steve, it will work out fine.

If the worst happens you will get yourself sorted with a better job (a man of your calibre with all those years of experience)

Anywho, there are laws against ageism now you know

Midcounties suck. TCG is where it's at ;)


Thanks for those kind words Fred. Ageism is indeed recognised in the new discrimination laws. I think I'm safe unless I start pissing myself and dribbling when I'm working. (Lucky they don't see me after a night out)

You will be fine mate, maybe you have indeed run out of dead aunties

I need someone to come and work for me. Money's shit, its based in Bristol and I'd be your boss. Maybe signing on isn't that bad an option after all......

Nah, sitting around all day doing nothing gets boring

I'm thinking of coming out of retirement and working again

How long has it been since your last full time job?

Just to let you all know. I had my meeting this morning, where I was told my job was being reclassified and retitled.

So no redundancy. Thank fuck!

Nice one mate

Relieved for you

Happy Xmas !!!

Thats good - Its a pain in the arse trying to find a job this time of year

Ah thats cool..

Ive had a word with you boss and as part of this reclassification your are going to have to work all Saturdays. :eek:

glad it worked out steve.

one of my colleagues was made redundant this morning...which is annoying as he owes me £20

You'll be made redundant soon if you don't pull your finger out!!  ;) :bye:

Happy for you.  A real relief, I'm sure.

i'm eating my lunch you fucker

and don't joke about that. i'm already bricking it.

Ha...I'm only pulling ya leg son. I'll buy you a beer at the quiz night.

I owe you money too sonique - five of the queens finest pounds isnt it?

I aint going to Leicester - are you going to Rovers?

nope

BLUNT ANSWER

can I pay on the day then?

yes

Good news hertha. Now, please satisfy my curiosity, what in the hell is a "Competency Trainer" anyway? And what will you be once you've been re-titled?

He shows spotty teenagers how to use a till.

I carry out training for things like: NCPLH (National Licensing exam) Retail Food Safety, technical courses on our systems and behavourial courses like assertiveness, communication and performance management.

All very exciting, I'm sure you'll agree....................

Oh, my new title is Retail Skills Trainer.

That is fucking crazy talk! If all you can think of to entertain yourself is working.....there's nothing on this planet for you.

There is nothing on this planet for me, I already knew that....

Crikey! Chin up, fella. There's always.....erm....wrestling videos and stuff.

Thanks hertha, was worried that was going to keep me awake worrying about it. But having just read that, I think I'll sleep soundly (says he with the "oh so exciting writing code" job)

Performance management is ace. If you're good at your job you get a good. if you're good at your job and your manager likes you, you get a very good. Every system works in theory and none in practice because you add the magical ingrdeient of people and it goes to rat shit.