To tell her she’s going to lose her job?

[SunsetBeauregarde]

My work colleague called me last week, she’s having a very hard time on a particular project and she was in tears. She was threatening to hand her notice in due to a number of issues but mostly, she’s just completely sick of this particular project that will be ongoing for another couple of years.

My advice to her was to protect her mental health, take a couple of weeks off and then come back with a fresh set of eyes. If she still wants to leave, then at least she’s making such a big decision without emotion and anger. I thought this was good advice

Except today I’ve been told in strict confidence that the project has been terminated and everyone with over 80% of their time on it is going to lose their job in a couple of months time. This includes my colleague. She has 15 years so could get a decent redundancy if she doesn’t hand in her notice. If she does, she’ll miss it.

The person who gave me this information is my boss and he’s confided in me and me alone. He’s the CEO, if he ever found out I’d warned my colleague I would 100% be sacked for misconduct. My role is in finance so I’ve been told only due to half year end stuff I won’t bore you with.

WTF do I do?? I love my colleague, she’s lovely and I trust her but it’s such a massive risk to tell her. WWYD?

when the process starts it's shit, but it's business not personal.

If this is true, why do the people who make the shit decisions leading to redundancy never make themselves redundant?

It may not be personal in the sense of "we hate Caroline in accounts, let's make her redundant" but it sure as fuck always targets people who weren't responsible for the situation. People lose their jobs because higher up people are incompetent at theirs. Is that a purely business decision?

Can you persuade her to get signed off work with stress by her GP so that when she returns the consultation talks would have started or statutory notice letter would have been served by HR.

Probably?
Every woman between 18 and 70 isn’t a member of MN you know…

@DrSbaitso I do know people who ran the numbers identified that someone had to go and threw themselves on their sword. People at all levels of business go it is shit, but if business don't make these decisions they don't survive and no one has a job.

You need to compartmentalise your role from your friendship. In finance you will come across lots of confidential information I’m sure.

its too much of a risk to tell your friend. She then would not be considered treated fairly against other colleagues who will also be at risk. There’s legal consequences to this too.

Also these things often don’t go to plan and there could be delays and dependencies as your friend progresses forward in thr project and the business moves toward their end date of the project. Presumably your friend won’t leave without having something to move to ? Let her figure out how she needs to move forward and I wouldn’t get involved tbh.

I do know people who ran the numbers identified that someone had to go and threw themselves on their sword.

I'll pretend to believe that since it is possible for some people to have the decency to resign or be forced into it. But the fact you have to say that you know of it happening is proof that it generally doesn't. The exception that proves the rule.

My point is that redundancies usually aren't a business decision, much as those responsible like to try to sound all Marlon Brando about it. A business decision would be to axe or at least review those people in power who made all the shit decisions that led to the company flailing in the first place. They're the problem!

But instead, seniors cock up their jobs and decide that the answer is to cut someone else's. This is many things, but a cold, impartial, business decision it most assuredly is not.

It's far from the only insanity in modern working practices (I talked the other day about the weird way people get into management - basically by being good at anything else and then stopping doing it) but really, it isn't business. I know it sounds more palatable to term it that way, but it isn't.

Why would he?

If you watch her resign and lose the redundancy money, you will never forgive yourself. Cant you just tell her to hang on with the resignation until whenever it is. Tell her you cant tell her why, just to trust you?

She won’t hand her notice in without another job to go to will she? I’d probably try and persuade her to stay, but not say why. But ultimately these things happen. A previous workplace of mine turned into a toxic pile of shit but I had a feeling redundancy would come if I clung on and sure enough it did. I’d decided I was going nowhere without my payout. Other colleagues found other jobs and left a few weeks before we were put at risk.

You can't risk telling her. But I would do what I could, without implicating yourself, to keep her from resigning. I don't know how you do that.

I’d have to strongly encourage her not to leave, I just wouldn’t be able to do anything else. Maybe just say you think job market is wobbly and you’d advise her to stay out the year but take regular breaks

Say due to confidentiality you can't say anything but it's in her best interests to stick it out until the new year and you can't say anymore.

Tell her.

@DrSbaitso so changes in customer spending and lack of it, economic circumstances of the country, rising interest rates and impending recession have no impact at all.
If you think all redundancies are due to poor decision making you are deluded often there are external circumstances that the business leaders have no control over they make a bold decision that costs some people their job, but saves a far greater number of jobs in the long run.

It depends how close you are with her.

If you're that high up that you're making these sorts of decisions, you're supposed to have some degree of foresight and business acumen. It is always blamed on external factors and the seniors claim they had no control over it. But when it's actually looked at, you always see mismanagement, lack of foresight, overstretching, very often a performative need to look like you're doing something and basically a load of shit decisions... and the people who made these shit decisions always decide that the answer is to axe someone else.

Sure it saves jobs in the long run...their own! And then there are usually second rounds of layoffs because they continue to get it wrong. Isn't it so weird that the people who got you into that situation are never up for redundancy or even review?

It's OK, I don't expect you to admit it. But when senior management makes long term crap decisions, don't kid yourself that it's hard business acumen that's making you axe anyone except yourselves. God knows you aren't fooling your staff!

Years ago I worked in HR and our company had some majoring “restructuring” planned with lots of staff being made redundant.

one of those people was someone I ate lunch with. I was so torn but kept my mouth shut, and when it happened she abused me for not telling her… I was gutted, I didn’t know what to say and I was only young at the time.

in hindsight and reflecting on this post, I actually didn’t know her well. I had never been invited out of work hours, I don’t remember knowing where she lived and certainly didn’t visit her nor her to me.

so I would ask you how much do you interact outside of work hours? Is she really a personal friend ?

Difficult as it is, you never know how people will act if they are angry or upset when getting bad news about jobs. She could throw you under the bus- either accidentally or deliberately- if she made a formal complaint/ grievance.
I would concentrate on the mental health aspect with her and encourage her to not make any rash decisions.

What advice you have already given her still stands, let her return from leave feeling a bit fresher. If she sounds like she’s about to leave why not say ‘give it till the end of the year’ and if still unhappy leave in time for Christmas. She should definitely have been told by then. The company would have to prove you told her the full facts and that’s difficult to do

Isn’t trying to convince her to stay arguably a misuse of the confidential information? Not sure, but it’s tricky.

I’d tell her. But I’m not privy to such information at work and the OP recently had to play hard ball to get her employers to honour her contract so I suspect it’s a stitch up. They’ve told her and if she then tells her friend they’ll sack her (the OP) for gross misconduct.
@SunsetBeauregarde keep schtum and join a Union.

Tell her indirectly. This project had trashed her mental health and clearly wasn't working so give her at least the chance to get decent redundancy. You will feel bad forever if you don't and she will probably find out anyway.

While it would be wonderful to be able to do this, in reality she’s likely repeat that to other colleagues “x said such a thing, what do you think she means? Promise you won’t tell anyone because I don’t think she meant me to say anything..” until it’s pretty much out in the open that you said it. Someone will guess correctly and your boss will find out.

Id just stick with what you said before your boss told you. Suggest she takes a few weeks off sick, uses leave up and gets her head together, then that she keeps an eye out for something that might make her happier if she still feels the same, but not to just leave until she’s sure she’s got something good to move to. Tell her she shouldn’t throw away 15 years without good plans. That might delay her enough until it’s announced. It’s not really that long until October.

I would definitely tell her.

Don’t do this! As a boss they will just see it as a way of saving 15 years redundancy money. They won’t be persuading her to stay.

you need to pursued her without actually telling g her why. I sort of trust me hang on for a bit longer chat.