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?

For the poster who implied that it was somehow unethical for an employee to hang on so as to collect a redundancy payment, I disagree. The person mentioned here has worked at the company for 15 years and, although she is struggling at the moment, I would assume that her work has been largely satisfactory. I would certainly hang on in these circumstances because who knows how easy it will be to get another comparable position.

You cannot tell her or even hint.

Can you encourage her to sign off sick for as long as possible?

Stay well out of it. She needs to make her own decisions. You are not her carer.