To think I should be made redundant?

[revell]

Companies merged 2 years ago. I was employed by Company B as Head of ... let's use Quality as an example but it's something similar. On merger I remained part of the SLT/C-suite. Used to report to CEO and now report to Group Director of 'Quality' who in turn reports to CEO. Company A had a Group Head of Quality already. We are paid the same (approx £60k) and actually I receive a pay rise on merger to align my salary.

Over the past 12 they have dissolved SLT at a local level, a lot of my work has naturally then gone to Group Head or Group Director. My role is now effectively admin.

I have asked for redundancy as the role I was doing no longer exists. HR are refusing as they consider my terms and conditions to be the same if not more favourable. I can't afford to just resign but I can't bear to be effectively demoted. My days are increasingly frustrated by not being able to do the things I used to or people ignoring my requests as they don't see me as a senior manager. I have no projects at the moment with strategic impact- it's all operational/low impact.

My DH can't understand why I don't just suck it up- his view is I'm getting paid a lot of money to do very little and if they are happy with that I should just get on with it. I can't.

Anyone who can give some advice as to how I convince them this is a redundancy?

Well I must admit I'm with your DH on this one but that's not very helpful! I'm not sure you will be able to convince them though as it's not technically an automatic redundancy situation. I think all you can do is start looking for another job really.

How old are you if you don’t mind me asking?

Legally they are correct. Redundancy isn't a choice. They say you aren't redundant, and your terms of employment have stayed the same or improved. So you have no chance of persuading any tribunal that it's against the law to not use your skills / experience enough. You don't have to "just resign" - do what everyone else has to do when they don't like their job - get another one.

Whilst I understand your frustrations you have said yourself that you can't afford to resign..... The job market is incredibly tough at the moment and likely to remain so even a redundancy payout wouldn't last that long especially if they go for the govt minimum rather than a enhanced package.

Search and apply for a new job until you have been accepted my advice would be to sit tight, suck it up and hopefully more stuff will come your way soon

What do your annual objectives look like compared to before? If they are downgraded compared to your previous role, then you have a nice paper trail to support redundancy. If, on the other hand, they describe a senior level role with responsibility, then it's tricker as technically you won't meet objectives, which isn't a redundancy situation.

If you don’t have much to do why would you not just use your free time to look for another job? Or is it actually a nice payout you’re looking for?

There is no "should" in this, you aren't owed redundancy.

They don't have to make you redundant regardless of the situation.

I wouldn't be trying to find ways to convince your employer to make you redundant or you might find they will find a way to let you go without a pay off.

A similar thing has happened/is happening to me. My job title and t&c's say that I'm a senior "Manager", but in reality, due to recent informal restructures and staffing changes (and 2 maternity leaves, coincidentally) I'm now a glorified administrator.

It's incredibly frustrating. I can literally do a day's work in about an hour or two.

No advice, I'm afraid, just sympathy. I'm trying to think of it as a bonus in the current climate, as in I have more time to do home-schooling etc. When things normalise a bit, I fully intend to look for a new job.

No I can’t see how you should be eligible for redundancy. Either embrace your 60k admin role or look for a job elsewhere are surely the options?

Of course you are being unreasonable, no one can expect to be made redundant just because they ask to be.

If the role isn't one that you want to do you'll have to look for another job or grit your teeth and put up with the boredom because the money is good

It sounds to me like you'd qualify for redundancy, but I'm guessing they need someone to do the (lower) job you're doing snd you have the knowledge to do it, so if they're happy to pay you over the top for the work you're doing, they're not going to make you redundant.

I think you have 3 choices

. If you have the paperwork to prove your job has been 'downgraded' push legally fir redundancy (but it's risky)

• accept things are how they are and use the spare time/energy/brain power to upskill/retrain/take up a new hobby

• look for a new job.

Remember though. You are not your job!

That’s not redundancy.

• get active in being promoted within the new organisation
• get active externally, enjoying the fact that the merger pushed your salary up before joining the market place
• enjoy the money (I get why you don’t, though - it’s soul destroying being under employed)

You don’t get to go find another job AND walk out with a big redundancy payment. That’s just wishful thinking.

You could resign and look to go down the constructive dismissal route as they've forced you out the role by effectively demoing you, but you'd need strong evidence of this to be in with a chance. You also need to pay and it's a lot of stress to go through that process.

From what you've described I'd be frustrated, but at the end of the day if you get your head around it, the 60k admin part is pretty nice just now. You still have the senior title so when applying for new roles elsewhere it won't go against you. On balance, I'd suck it up and start job hunting /doing courses etc in my spare time to enhance my career in the next role.

I am also in a similar position. The company made my team (and the manager) redundant last year, keeping just two of us because of the skills we have. However, my job role has now reduced to solely using that skill (glorified English comprehension really: understanding regulatory requirements) and not any of what made my previous job interesting / stretching, such as the application of the knowledge and developing strategic responses. I am being paid a ridiculous salary for very little.

So I am looking for another job. Being underutilised can be as bad as being too busy for your mental health. And I want a career that stretches and challenges me, which is why I applied for my previous job in the first place!

Depending on your area of work, I've been pleasantly surprised at the number of job opportunities being advertised right now. I hope it's the same for you.

You could resign and look to go down the constructive dismissal route as they've forced you out the role by effectively demoing you, but you'd need strong evidence of this to be in with a chance. You also need to pay and it's a lot of stress to go through that process.

Given that she was recently given a pay rise, it would be very difficult to show constructive dismissal!

As others have said, you're not really entitled to redundancy. Your job still exists. Unless your new job description and contract are significantly different to your previous one, HR are right. Use your free time to look for another job if you're that unhappy.

You need to stop trying to get them to fix it for you. Start applying for other jobs if you’ve not done so already and move on.

I get that an effective demotion when it's not due to your performance or even anything you can control is mentally tough. Not just boredom and frustration but it dents your self image and self esteem. It's a loss of something you worked hard for and were proud of, and feels a bit humiliating maybe.

I think those are what really make it hard to embrace the "high pay for an easier time" sort of approach that it's easier for your husband to advocate.

I don't think pushing for redundancy is the best use of your energy. If people who should be following your instructions aren't then that is worth raising. And if they're not required to anymore then that's not a slight against you.

You're not trapped, you can look for work elsewhere. In the meantime, remember that this doesn't diminish who you are, what you've achieved, and what you are capable of doing. It's just bureaucracy.

The best thing to do is to get a new job, or apply for other internal jobs. You can’t force them to make you redundant, and it won’t be helping your case for getting more responsibilities!

The obvious answer if you are unhappy and underutilised at work would seem to be to find a new job - you can't force a company to make you redundant! Why is there no mention in your post of looking for a new job/promotion elsewhere?

If you’re the sort of person who is on the slt then of course you don’t want to suck it up as you’re more career orientated than that.

Get an opinion from an employment lawyer. Sounds like you should get a leaving package (but they may not want to call it redundancy)

Thanks for your comments.

I am actively looking for other work but this is not easy at the moment as most jobs in my field are on hold.

My understand if redundancy is that the role ceases or diminishes- it's has most definitely diminished!

I don't want redundancy- I want a meaningful job and for them to redesign my role so I can do what I'm qualified to do. This could be as easy as adding Group to my job title so there were 2 Group Heads - a lot of work is redirected to my colleague (who I get on well with!) as her job title is snazzier and people perceive her as more senior. She then delegates the work back to me but this isn't appropriate; she's not my line manager and I'm actually better qualified and more experienced in the job.

I'm 36 for the PP who asked - I have 14 years service with the company. My redundancy would be about £10k + 3 months so not a huge payout.

I'm with your husband. I'd suck it up for now and use the time to look and apply for others roles.

If you can't afford to just resign, how can you afford redundancy?

Most packages from privy companies aren't that generous.

I would suck it up and if you feel that strongly about it start apply for other jobs. That is the standard approach, not trying to make yourself redundant.

Ah, so you want the role to be made redundant, and for you to be assigned to another role within the company.

Obviously this is a bit frustrating, but assuming they want to keep you, surely you will be assigned other work in the future.

From what you described I think you can get this resolved if you can get the business to provide the rest of the company with a onogram and a description of the split. Also be seen as equal levels within meetings.
You might need to get your colleague to support on this but given you get on and actually you would be saving them time as well its reasonable to do so.

By the sounds of it there is a requirement for 2 people but its the communication within the company tjat has caused the confusion and making it feel like a demotion position to you.