Redundancies - I'm a wreck!

[BrexpatInSwitzerland]

The crisis has hit home. I'm going to have to make 20 of my people redundant tomorrow. I'm a wreck! I'd rather take redundancy myself than let a single one of them go (not an option, yes, I did ask ... my boss says to grow the fuck up and not be a martyr). I've until 8am tomorrow to decide which ones.

Some are really good. Some are rather mediocre. I've parents, people who send remittances to their country of origin, those born into privilege but who work their bums off ...

Someone please say something uplifting! I'm in tears (and I'm not even the one out on the street come tomorrow!)

Is the job retention scheme of no use to you?

Oh shit. I feel for you. I really do. Have a handhold.

But, nobody will be out on the street tomorrow as a result of being made redundant if the UK.

Take a deep breath, breath, let the tears fall...

Sending some very unmumsnetty hugs.

I’m sorry it’s always tough. 20 people is collective redundancy though?

I feel you I really do. It's sickening at any time but now even more so.

There is no easy way but you need to try and do it factually and logically.

Do you do regular performance reviews with gradings? Use those.
Remove the personal and look at facts.

Performance
Sickness records
Skills and experience
Timekeeping

Create a spreadsheet or similar and weight each one one.

Salary, age etc doesn't come into it.

You'll need facts to back up the inevitable questions and emotional outbursts. Try not to take those personally.

It's dreadful but unfortunately needs must to ensure the business.

Good luck

See above ... not in the UK at present.

It's really rather simple: we've lost deals and we can't keep them all.

They'll all get payments and they'll all be fine financially (unemployment around here is rather decent and they're all on very decent salaries).

But it's still shit to be getting the sack. It's soul destroying. It only happened to me once (student job, I hated it, and I was still devastated).

Can’t you use the government scheme to pay them?

... and, yes, I know which ones.

I'm trembling and sobbing. But I'm good at my job. And my job is to run and protect this business.

Come tomorrow, I'll be calm, collected, empathetic but firm as I have a few horrible conversations. And utterly professional.

But tonight, as I'm sitting here alone, I'm in tears, feeling guilty and like the worst boss on the planet for failing to protect them.

Sympathies OP, having to make redundancies is awful at the best of times. Has your employer definitely explored all of the options for retaining people?

You need to come up with a clear, objective, dispassionate criteria for determining who is selected for redundancy, and apply it fairly (e.g. performance ratings), this is the fairest way and will stop you from feeling as through you’ve personally decided who gets to keep their job or not.

Can you not furlough them for now so they get the 80%?

I'm a bit worried about this 80% wage business...
imagine an employee earns 10£ an hour... govt pays back 8£ an hour.

Companies realistically pay about 16£ an hour for that person to do this job. Who is going to cover that 8£? Small and medium businesses are going to really suffer in all this.

Can you not furlough them for now so they get the 80%?

Different country, different rules. Also, yes, we're doing something like it for as many as we can.

We've done the calculations, and that's what it boils down to: we can keep some 70% working, protect another 15-20% despite them technically being "overflow" at present and the remainder will have to be laid off.

I'm lucky to only be losing 20. I'm being told it's a testimony to my management skills that I get to keep most of mine because I have clients who will pay for them. I'm being told that I've done well and should be proud of how I've been able to salvage my business.

I don't feel proud. I feel drained and hopeless and utterly alone!

I know it is hard and you would not be human if you did not care, but remember you did not cause this and you can't control it. The rest of the saying goes 'you can't cure it.' Think about if you were in their shoes, how do they want the news delivered? Is there anything at all in your gift to do for them? That is all you can do. Take comfort that this will pass. These are extraordinary circumstances and you would not under any normal circumstances be letting them go.

... aaaaaaaaaaaaand to make matters worse:

Corporate fucking psychopath colleague has decided to send a mass email to all of the executives in our group arguing for letting people die in order to save our business.

On the upside: I feel a tad less horrible right now. I'd rather be sacrificing jobs than literal lives but ...

... bloody hell, I hope the arsehole gets COVID!

... and genital herpes!

Also: a fucking conscience!

This is from the chartered accountants website for those worried about the extra employer costs of employing someone.

The maximum grant will be calculated per employee and is the lower of:
• 80% of ‘an employee's regular wage’ and.
• £2,500 per month.
Plus the associated employers’ NICnational insurance contributions (NIC) on this amount and the minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions on that wage.
Fees, commission and bonuses should not be included.
This gives a maximum cap of £2,500 +£245 (employers’ NIC) + £59 (auto- enrolled pension contribution) = £2,804 of total possible grant that can be applied for per employee per month.

You sound like a decent boss. Your employees will know it wasn't your fault. They will know of others losing their jobs too.

Thanks to everyone who sent their love and support.

Brief update: it's midday around here and I'm officially the boss of twenty fewer people than I was when I got out of bed this morning.

These have been some hard conversations but: I held up and remained calm and professional. HR colleague had a bit of a wobble somewhere in there. Understandable.

My staff, though? Gracious, unbeatable, dignified. Yes, devastated in many cases, but not hysterical. All very pragmatic, none that shouted or cursed or acted as anything less than incredibly collected and professional.

I may no longer be their manager, but they made me incredibly proud!

... so, I guess here's a shoutout to my crew, whom I obviously cannot name:

You're incredible, smart, brave and loyal, and it's a bloody privilege to have been your captain and to enjoy the continued trust and support of the still >100 of you who are staying.

Decent, very decent. Well done.

Well done OP, such a tough job but sounds like you did amazingly well to stay calm and get everyone through it. Hope you can relax and do something nice to de-stress over the weekend.

Last in 1st out 🤷‍♀️ Quick and fair

Well done, very tough indeed.

It's shit, but all you can do is make the decisions fairly and communicate them humanely. Offer to help in whatever way you can, e.g. references, help with CVs etc.

Express your regret and sadness at having to let them go, but try to be strong and hold it together - this needs to be about them, not you.

Sorry, missed your last post. Well done for doing your job. I'm sure that people appreciated the fact that you cared.

Sorry OP, I've had to make people redundant before and I know how emotionally draining it is.

Don't forget to look after yourself this weekend