to think that being made redundant means you are no good at your job

[user1498911470]

If somebody is made redundant, would you automatically think it's because they are no good at their job? I mean if only 3 people are being made redundant then presumably they are the 3 people that the management consider to be the weakest members of the team?

I was made redundant. I was the only person. Because my role was being outsourced and I was the only person in that role.

I've never had anybody since then assume or suggest that it was because I was no good. It's not been an issue with employers.

At the time though it was a shock and it did make me question myself.

OP, sympathies for your redundancy. I hope you get a decent pay off.

As dino says, it is the roles that get made redundant, not the people. That said, for larger scale redundancies, if the 3 people are doing the same role as others in a pool who were put at risk and they were the ones picked, then something in the scoring criteria counted against them in that pool. It could be absence record, performance or any other objective criteria which the company selected. The criteria is a blunt tool and does not always result in the right people being let go but it gets numbers down, which is the point of the redundancy exercise.

When interviewing for new roles, I think redundancies are so common nowadays that it does not automatically count against the candidate. The interviewer themselves may also have been made redundant in the past. Just have a good reason why the role was made redundant.

It is the job that is redundant, not the person.

However there are many ways to orchestrate the removal of problematic/pregnant/over paid/dysfunctional staff. Normally by tweaking the JDs of the staff they want to keep.

My old company merged with another. As a manager I would have had to travel 6 hours to head office several times a week. I took redundancy instead.

Do you understand your employer's redundancy policy?

Not being goady either - but you need to be aware of this, tbh.

No, we have recently had mass redundancies. The jobs were awarded based on who scored highest on 5 essay questions, a statement on how you met the job spec and an IT test on systems that the majority of staff did not use! Were the people who left rubbish at their job? Nope, just unlucky.

problematic/pregnant/over paid/dysfunctional staff

Nice grouping

outsidecontext: I’ve hired a couple of people who had been recently made redundant and they were both great.

This is a good point. Picking up people who were made redundant is a good way to get people with valuable skills who would otherwise stay within their organisations. It is difficult to prise good people from their current employer, well not unless they were forced out.

In my company, candidates who were made redundant in mass exercises actually count positively in their favour.

I found the Acas helpline really helpful in terms of helping me understand how the law works on redundancy and what my rights were, etc etc.

Once I got my head round all of that it was easier to process and accept that it wasn't actually a reflection on me. As someone else has mentioned, you can't use redundancy to get rid of poor performers, that's not how it works.

Any future employers will be up to speed on employment law in this area, so they won't make that assumption about you.

Certainly feels like it. :(

There could be lots of factors though. In my case, I'm sure my request to work part time had a lot to do with it. In hindsight, I'm damn glad I'm out of it.

Massively depends. Sometimes the whole department might go. Depends on selection criteria - last time I was at risk, it included length of service, formal qualifications, performance reviews, and a couple of other categories.

It can be used to get rid of people if you use the criteria carefully, but it's certainly not guaranteed. It's definitely not always the case here. We've lost some very good people through redundancies over the years, and there not being other vacancies for them to transfer to. Plus, sometimes people have the option of volunteering.

I wouldn't assume it was because someone was less competent.

No of course not! teams get let go because of lack of funding among other reasons. My husband was made redundant and he is the smartest person I know who was the best at his job - his whole team was made redundant.

I’ve never been through redundancy but my employer has done phases of it during my time there (just lucky that my role wasn’t one at risk). Usually due to the kind of work that team does drying up or an area relocating. At one point it was felt that we were too top heavy so all management grades were put at risk and lots did end up redeployed to non-management roles or leaving the company.

I know lots of very capable people whos role has been made redundant and they were redeployed so are still working for the company many years later, objectively and subjectively good at their jobs.

Some people choose redundancy if they get a generous settlement or it comes at a good time for them to retrain or start a business or look after grandchildren.

So no, I wouldn’t assume redundancy means you’re not good at your job. If you were that shit then they would’ve sacked you and saved themselves the cost of the redundancy package!

No not at all. If someone’s crap at they’re job they’re either fired or paid off.
This ^^.

I got made redundant because the company I worked for closed.

There are other means to dismiss poor performers OP.

As others have said, roles are made redundant, usually.

It's a confusing time and.unsettling, I know.
Remember what you are good at and things will work themselves out.

I used to think it was random/luck of the draw. But DH has had to manage some redundancies and we've both learned that it's definitely not random: it has to be quantifiable and fair but wouldn't just be picking names out of a hat.

So now when he's hiring and finds that someone was made redundant he asks. Worth knowing whether they took VR rather than relocate 100 miles; or if the entire department was outsourced overseas; or if the company had to make 5% redundancies and they were the only one in their team to go; etc. How they talk about it can be enlightening as well e.g. "it was really unfair" v "it was unlucky but I've enjoyed the opportunity to take the time to look for a role that will be a great fit".

Agree with pp that you need to know how the process is being managed. If you think you're at high risk and have an opportunity to go for VR (esp if enhanced) then that can work well.

Larger companies will review individual performance ratings to let go of ‘lowest’ performing staff. But in a large company there is also the opportunity to apply internally.

I’ve been involved in a few redundancy processes. Whilst it isn’t legally correct, it isn’t unusual for the weakest/most troublesome members of the team to be selected. Even if it is points based, a selection method would typically be created to ensure that those people scored lowest.

Not usually but Redundancy criteria can be massaged to get rid of people who aren’t wanted
I survived 3 rounds of Redundancy at one company because my ex immediate boss had been promoted and was in overall charge of the sales team and she wanted to keep me. Once the whole North was reorganised around me NOT being made redundant, on paper it was legit but we all knew what had happened. My territory went but as the best performer she wasn’t going to lose me and keep someone who didn’t bring in half as much £ as I did
Before the process and criteria were announced we knew who was going and who was staying

My department was restructured, I was PT and was told the only jobs going in the new set up would be full time (including some weekend working) - so I declined and they made me redundant. Id just won an employee of the year type award.

They took me back on freelance almost straight away.

I was made redundant as I had an agency job and we lost a key client. That client was the only client that required my specialism. Being made redundant was very hard and I had a lot of feelings of inadequacy OP. It's completely normal to feel this way (as it seems you are) It's horrible.

However, it's important to remember that you're probably just a victim of circumstance, and please talk to someone so any feelings of being sub par don't affect your confidence looking for your next role.

No, I think sometimes companies use it as an opportunity to shake things up. I've seen safe and steady workers made redundant whilst less experienced keep their roles. In many cases though, the roles just don't exist anymore due to restructure or consolidation.

It’s roles that are made redundant, not people

This.

I've been made redundant and it was one of the hardest periods for me. I was the only one made redundant which made it worse, the company said it's because I had a different job title but your jobs were so similar.

I felt it was because my job had a vendetta against me. I knew I was good - the numbers speak for themselves. But if bosses don't like you they will find a way.