Worked a year for free, basically

[Sadandstressed26]

A year ago my employer launched a voluntary severance scheme. The scheme met the number of staff it needed to.

A year later we have voluntary and potentially compulsory redundancies.

If I am made redundant, I will have worked for free, the difference between the voluntary severance and voluntary redundancy is huge. If I am not, there are lots of people in the same boat so it will apply to some.

I take take voluntary redundancy for the same reason I couldn't take voluntary severance.

I'm not sure what I'm asking for really, just want to vent.

To top it off, we haven't been informed of any restructures, but it was published on a shared company drive.

That's true.

Oh gosh yes, what odd times those were.

Is there a union involved? If not, are you a member of one? If neither of the above you could call ACAS and see what they advise. I'm sure you'll land on your feet one way or the other but I really sympathise with this horrible uncertainty you're in.

Ms Rumpole is not corrrect, severance does exist in UK and I’ve seen several rounds where I work in the last decade! And yes, people apply and not everyone gets it.

OP, are you public or private sector? If public, your employer will endeavour to cover headcount reduction in VR as much as possible ahead of CR, subject to enough people deciding to go. All the times I’ve been around these, it’s gone that order exactly- voluntary severance, voluntary redundancy and then compulsory- which is always the lowest amount of money. It sucks, but there it is. If you don’t want to stop working (and you chose not to apply for severance I assume you do?) then you should start applying for other jobs if the risk of redundancy is not something you can manage.

I’m sure the management hoped that the first round of exits would be sufficient, but in all these situations there’s going to be a significant risk that it won’t. If you felt there was a guarantee your job would continue I’m afraid that was somewhat naive, but I have a lot of sympathy as the leadership would have been trying too stem panic and will therefore overstate the position of the company. I’m afraid it’s then very usual that future rounds are a lot less generous, as the company has gone from a bad situation to a desperate one.

I get the need to vent, it’s tough when you’ve chosen wrong or been forced to by circumstance. But once you’ve had your moment you need to start seriously considering whether your company / division is going to survive and start looking for another job.

There's such a thing as a mutually agreed resignation scheme (MARS) which is a voluntary severance scheme and is very common in the public sector. It means the NHS, for example, can get rid of expensive staff and replace them with people doing the same job but on worse terms and conditions. Redundancy means the job has gone and won't be filled. This is actually bollocks because you see 'redundant' posts being filled all the time.

Yes there are several unions, one of which has already taken considerable industrial action. The only concessions so far have been a bit more time for the first set of people to make a decision.

It's like you're saying an employer has no right to make people redundant if it is going through hard times.

I get you op and that’s the same terminology used at my place (university). We were offered voluntary severance a year ago and had to apply for it. Those of us left may be made redundant, which is a less favourable amount, although more like a couple of months different, not as much as yours.

it is always a gamble whether you go or stay. I stayed because I wouldn’t have been able to find a comparable job locally. Plus I’m happy there and believe I’m skilled. In the meantime I’m studying for an MA to improve my prospects.

I’m sorry you’re in this position op. VS was an absolute gift for people who were ready to leave / retire but not for the rest of us.

I just replied about unions.

I think for some people it's much the same, it depends a lot on age. Some of those nearer retirement are actually better off under VR than VSS.

@Sadandstressed26

I get you, we’ve had a voluntary severance scheme twice now. I applied for it first time and was turned down.

They accepted it from the people they wanted rid of anyway and those people got a huge payout.

The next lot got a reduced offer.

We’re now on less than skeleton staffing, staff are burning out. We’re having our pensions changed and it looks like there will be restructuring and potential compulsory redundancies.

So those staff who were unreliable and not very good got paid 10s of thousands of pounds where other staff have worked harder and harder only to be screwed over and end up with barely anything.

Feels unbelievably unfair.

(HE sector here too)

Sorry OP. Academia?

Not the case at my very large employer with a big HR dept. We have had rounds of VS and rounds of VR. People can definitely apply for voluntary severance and get a pay off. The union rep said it’s political….all goes over my head to be honest. Something to do with previous promises and union involvement.

I don't understand any of this but then again I am on my third G&T.

How was it free if they were paying a salary?

Solidarity ♥️

Sympathies OP

I've been made redundant twice and it's really hard, especially when you've given your all. I bounced back both times and you will too.

Get your CV updated.

This is factually incorrect. My DH had the opportunity to apply for severance last year. The time scales make me think he works for the same large employer as the OP as there are now redundancies.

You put yourself forward and they made a decision about whether or not they could afford to lose you. Some people were told their job was too important.

To add - DH originally applied for VSS but we collectively got cold feet. We don’t live in an area with an abundance of large organisations and all of his skills are in his current workplace. The VSS was a decent chunk of change but we worked out we would have burned though it in 5 months. He was looking for another job actually started a new role at the same employer in October (offer in August). The VSS would have paid out in April so we would have been no better off - we are just hoping that the current role is safe from redundancy 🙏🏻

I agree this is very annoying. I'd be enraged too.

I faced something similar, early-ish, in my career. Very generous voluntary redundancy scheme was launched, so we all applied. But only the worst performers were given it. It was basically a reward for being not very good at your job.

The big bosses were shocked and bewildered by virtually everyone applying. And it was terrible for company morale. Many of their best long-term employees were apoplectic with rage at being denied.

I did think at the time, what, on earth, did the Board expect? Those who can most easily get a new job will, typically, be the ones who are happiest grabbing the money. They should have just quietly targeted an approved list of people, who were objectively underperforming, with generous offers. Opening it up to all was very silly.

Ya boo sucks? To a woman worried about losing her job? Really?

Are you sure you are old enough to be on the internet unsupervised?

I understand what you mean!!

That’s why I would take the redundancy the very first offer. It’s not going to get any better. Sorry you are going though this x

Just the way the cookie crumbles. Similar to Covid when non furloughed people were 30% better off than folks who spent the year chilling out at home.

Honestly, your point was not hard to understand OP! I get what you mean. You could have been in the same financial position whether you had worked or not. Annoying, I know.

Yes, you should have gone when it was first offered. It is invariably shite to be the ones left behind after restructures happen. I took VR in a previous job as I gambled it would be shite to be left behind with more work/less people and it worked out fine
for all of us who chose it. But some people just weren’t brave enough and preferred to stay put. Unfortunately there’s never any guarantees with these things

They did that in my work in a different department. Only the good people applied, were told no, went to selection and the shite ones were picked. They claimed unfair dismissal, the good ones were pissed off. Thankfully they learned their lesson by the time it came to my department and they gave VR to all who applied.