Feeling Down.. bad news at work today

[Tillysmummy]

My boss called me in for a chat today and basically said that all management were taking a pay cut and that would have to include me and that I needed to go away and think about it. He said that he was very happy with what I was doing but that there was no product marketing and I explained that this is because I am not a product marketeet and it's a specialist skill etc. He said they though they needed to get a product marketeers help a couple of days a week. The long and the short of it is that he told me to go away and think about it and talk to DH and let's meet again next week and in one breath he says it's not definite and in another he says that if they can't reduce my operating costs then they will have to replace me ! He even suggested that I consult for one day a week with another IT company and reduce my time and therefore costs here. The market is so bad though there's nothing.

I feel thoroughly depressed. DH and I can't afford for me to drop a day. My mum has had to go part time on her job to help us with looking after DD and I need to pay her because she still has a mortgage to pay etc so we agreed that she would go part time and I would pay her instead of a nanny. Just recently she's increased it by another day so that dd doesn't go to Jigsaw anymore and my mum has her. This makes me feel awful because not only will it affect our finances but my mum's too. It's such a mess. I feel so fed up.

I know we can cut back I am just not sure we can do enough to make the difference. My salary still pays half the mortgage.

Thanks for listening ladies, I needed to vent.

[bundle]

tillysmummy, I feel bad that no one has replied to you..it all sounds so complicated that I suppose it's hard to know what to advise. I have no experience of this as dh is the main breadwinner, I'm part time and don't feel that awful pressure you do. sorry to be so useless and not come up with anything practical at this difficult time for you, but I am thinking about you, x

[gillymac]

tillysmummy,

what a rotten thing to happen! I feel so sorry for you and know what it's like to be the main breadwinner as I was when dh went back to being a student.
Unfortunately I can't offer you much practical advice apart from saying that maybe you should go and see your boss again, sooner than next week anyway, just so that you can get it clear in your mind exactly what's happening. From what you're saying you came away from the meeting not quite sure whether you're going to get your hours reduced or whatever. At least if you know for definite what he has planned, you can make your plans accordingly.
Good luck and thinking of you.

[Tillysmummy]

Thanks ladies for your advice. I feel a bit better today.

KS im not a consultant, I work part time. I went from full time to part time when I had dd and now he wants to cut my time more.

I don't quite know what im going to do yet but we are going to sit down and do finances this weekend to see where we can cut back.

The thing that is the most difficult is my mum and the responsibility for her. She will start looking for another job that she can do 3 days because dd was at nursery one day and mum had her 2 days but then because dd wasn't settling at all we took her out of nursery which was only possible because mum asked her boss to do one day less and he didn't mind because her job share person luckily wanted another day. Now it's all a mess because we were convinced that we wouldn't be able to do ask for one day less for me because they wouldn't accept it and we couldn't afford it yet now it looks like that'll be forced upon me anyway so if only I'd known a week ago my mum wouldn't have given up her extra day !!!

What a mess it is.

Thank you all for your support. I think you are right about speaking to him before but I want to work out exactly where we are financially first.

[grommit]

Tillysmummy - what nightmare for you! Did you speak to your HR consultant for advice? If I was you I would start looking for another position as your current one does not seem secure..

[Tillysmummy]

I wish it was that easy grommit. It's really bad out there in IT at the moment and it's not easy to find a part time job that pays so well.

[grommit]

I know - my dh will probably be made redundant at the end of the year - he is in IT (we both are)and is currently looking for another position but as you say there isn't much out there - especially part-time. Sometimes it makes you feel better just to keep looking anyway...Good Luck

[Bozza]

Unfortunately it is much easier to go from full-time to part-time and to start a new job part-time. You have my sympathies Tillysmummy because I do feel as though I am chained to my desk here (I work in IT too) because there is nowhere to move to either within or without the company. But it sounds as if you are being discriminated against for being part time - I bet they haven't asked any of the full-timers to reduce to 4 days, have they?

[Tillysmummy]

No they haven't Bozza but they have asked 4 other management to take a pay cut without even reducing their days !

[SoupDragon]

I must say that I thought it sounded a bit like discrimination too.

I don't think that "if they can't reduce my operating costs then they will have to replace me !" is a legitimate cause for dismissal is it??

[Tillysmummy]

Dont' know. I am looking into it. Dh is a lawyer but doesn't specialise in employment but is looking at it. I think that if they are cutting back as a company and reducing other people's salaries then they can reduce mine or make me redundant and look for a cheaper alternative.

[Scatterbrain]

Hi Tillysmummy - just a quick question - any chance you could keep your hours if you agree to train yourself up in product marketing ?

It's not rocket science - just common sense and there are loads of good books out there ! I always thought marketing was very complicated until I did an MBA and found that the marketing module was fascinating and totally made sense to me ! I'm more on the relationship marketing side myself - but I'm sure you could pick up product marketing quite quickly.

Of course - you may not want to ! It's just a thought that's all.

[tigermoth]

tillysmummy, sorry you are going through this. It sounds like the company you work for is going through a rough patch so don't take things oo personally.

Can I just add this to the advice you're been given? Ignore if you have reduncancy insurance already.

At the moment, you have no formal reason to think your job is any more at risk than others in the company or indeed in the IT industry. No formal procedures have been set in place, if they ever will be.

If you haven't got redundancy insurance, I'd say get some asap. You will feel a lot more secure if, by some chance, the worst happens in the coming months. By taking it out right now, before any s* hits the fan, you should be OK, depending on the policy. Look very carefully at the terms and conditions. If the whole worry blows over in a few months, you can review the need for the policy and stop it if necessary. If your mother is employed by you, she could also possibly take one out too.

Good luck

[Tillysmummy]

Hi Scatterbrain

That's a good idea but I know how to roughly do it but they are looking for a magic solution to packaging our products and making them more sexy / sell better. Because we are selling services this makes it really hard. I think he is looking for someone to constantly churn out great ideas and that could probably be me but I would have to get rid of some of the work I currently have because time is an issue for me these days and I always end up doing some work on my days off which I don't get paid for which also isn't fair.

Hi Tigermoth, where do I look into that ?

[tigermoth]

Phone up an independent financial advisor - look in yellow pages for a list - or talk to whoever your mortgage is with, but I think they will only offer a limited range of policies.

[Scuba]

Tillysmummy really sorry to hear about your situation. I may wish I didn't have to work sometimes but I'd feel bad if it happened to me. Haven't got any advice but lots of sympathy and hope you get sorted.

[Cityfreak]

Tillysmummy,

Sorry to hear about your problem. I don't know about your profession, but why don't you ask for some formal marketing training, and say that you are prepared to learn some new skills, in order to keep up your hours and salary? If the company is having financial difficulties, they may be reluctant to pay for such training, but there is no harm in asking. Would you consider doing some training at your own expense, as an investment in your career? Also, although I know it is hard to find part-time work and it sounds like you like your job, remember that you have the option of looking for new work elsewhere. If he wants to vary your contract in terms of pay, that is not possible without your agreement. However, from a practical perspective, that does not help you, because it looks like a potential redundancy situation anyway. Can you (without anyone from work finding out) do a bit of investigation into what other jobs you might be able to get, and at what salary level, and what hours? It always puts you in a position of power to know what your skills are worth on the market, and what options you really have. Now that dd is getting a bit older, would you consider taking a full-time job, which might give you the ability to send dd to Jigsaw again, or combine Jigsaw with care from your mother? Best wishes

[Cityfreak]

PS This is my own controversial view. You say you are part-time but end up working on your days off. I think that part-time work is often a con for working mothers for that very reason. If you have enough authority at work to say, "I'm going home now," then I think working full-time is much better because you can actually show your face each day, get paid for all your hours, not get sidelined as being part-time only, go home at a decent time in the evening, and there are no extra days in the week for people to expect you to finish work off. However, I know that many full-time workers end up working in evenings and weekends too, so it just depends on where you work.