So sad about redundancies

[CathyandHeathcliff]

We’re in the fortunate position so far not to have been in line for a redundancy. But I’ve just found out my close friend’s husband has. It’s really sad as they have a toddler and have only just bought their own house.
I’ve also heard today about Boots letting thousands of people go.

Will we look back on this in years to come and think lockdown was an overreaction ? Are the outcome of job losses going to be greater than the virus itself?

What industry are you in FizzFan? (If you don't mind saying)

It’s easy to say lockdown was an overreaction in hindsight. Think back to the week before lockdown. A lot of people were petrified and begging for lockdown. Schools were half empty and people were too scared to go to work on the tube. What would have happened if the government had carried on as normal. Imagine the death toll today. People would not have shrugged and carried on - society doesn’t work like that. Scared people crash the economy and cause civil unrest. We would have been forced to lockdown eventually and had an even tougher time. There was no easy solution.

My son works for Boots as an apprentice for the make up counter.He is worried tbh.I work in hospitality and I don't know when I am back.
It is quite stressful.

We'll soon find out if there has been an overreaction, by sadly watching the US

^^This.

@whatisforteamum

From what I've heard from friends who work at Boots most customer advisor roles are safe and anyone's role who wasnt has already been spoke to so if your Son hasn't heard anything I'd assume he was safe for the moment

@ivfdreaming I work for boots too! That's interesting as I have been worried about my job all day but haven't heard anything.

A redundancy, while upsetting, isn't life threatening.

You're absolutely right, I mean the risk of homelessness and starving to death is no biggie is it 🙄.

My DGC who has cancer has had to go into a general ward this evening as the oncology ward is once again full since end of lockdown due to the sudden influx of child cancer patients. Thankfully he is nearing the end of his treatment plan, but there will be many extra deaths because of their late diagnosis, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. No easy answers to all this, but it is far from a cut and dried situation.

@Smileyoriley

My DGC who has cancer has had to go into a general ward this evening as the oncology ward is once again full since end of lockdown due to the sudden influx of child cancer patients. Thankfully he is nearing the end of his treatment plan, but there will be many extra deaths because of their late diagnosis, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. No easy answers to all this, but it is far from a cut and dried situation.

Sorry to hear about your DGC. I hope he gets better very soon. It’s so sad to think of an influx because of lockdown.just hope those other DC were diagnosed in time.

Thank you ivfdreaming I hope so.😀

@hjuh

That's what I've heard from Boots employees in my local area - could be different in other places but usually companies do a coordinated communication - the press release about redundancies tends to come AFTER the people it involves have been told - we'll that's what most nice companies do to avoid stressing out ALL of its employees unnecessarily

Cancer treatment did not stop at all in the nhs trust where I work. There are often peaks and troughs for admissions and bed pressures are sadly the norm.

I know 2 people have died- lockdown really was necessary, 40k + deaths - imagine the toll if we’d just carried on normal life ?

The aftermath is terrifying though.

Lockdown was necessary but the government's ominous drumbeat of doom and gloom about how deadly the virus is was not. It terrified people into staying at home and now the government want people to go out and spend in order to reignite the economy, it ain't happening. Sorry to break it to Sunak but doling our vouchers is not going to suddenly get masses people dining in restaurants.

The opportunity to work from home is a good thing in many cases but it has had a terrible knock on effect on businesses based near previously busy offices. I live close to my office and most of the nearby coffee shops, restaurants and independent cafes have closed down with no reopening date in sight.

I’m not sure it’s just about being “nice” companies in how they communicate to staff @ivfdreaming but listed companies can’t leak information in case it affects the share price

"The forecast was 500,000 deaths without a lockdown
That was based on a faulty model and from someone who thought 200 million could die from bird flu and 65,000 from swine flu."

That was the "reasonable worst case" êstimate of CMO Chris Whitty & Chief Scientific Advisor Patrick Vallance,

not using a model but simple multiplication of up to 80% getting it and up to 1% death rate

That was "reasonable" worst case - NOT a forecast - with the very limited knowledge we had then

Now scientists have far more data and it looks an over-estimate,
but Whitty & Vallance had to advise then without the benefit of hindsight

Also, now we now have targeted measures like masks, track & trace for local outbreaks, local lockdowns
and more effective medical treatments

So even if there is a winter upsurge, we are much better equipped to cope without having to lockdown nationally again.

Law @psychomath

The worst case estimate for Germany was 1 million deaths (population 83 million)
and that was a leak from the German Ministry of Health

• no calculations from Ferguson, Whitty & co

Every country had to consider the worst case when it was a "novel" Coronavirus" and scientists had so little data

The need for Lockdown was one thing, the length quite another.

There was an article on BBC news a few weeks ago when the death rate returned to normal levels for this time of year. It had a graph that showed coronavirus deaths and also the 'other' deaths that were above average. The 'other' deaths were just as many as the covid deaths. But the daily mail is not publishing figures on how many extra suicides we have every day or how many extra cancer patients die every day or how many people are killed by their partners every day.

Ask the families of 50000 dead if it was an over reaction!

It should have happened earlier and not lasted so long. Who knows I might still have my mum and my job...as it is I've lost both.

So sorry trapped x

I think it should have started sooner too xx

The UK will probably end the year as the country with the longest lockdown, one of the highest per capita deaths, and worst economic projections.

@Redolent

The UK will probably end the year as the country with the longest lockdown, one of the highest per capita deaths, and worst economic projections.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised :(

The worst of all worlds

I don't think lockdown was an over reaction. DH is extremely vulnerable, it's kept him safe for now, however he unfortunately got made redundant last week. He'd only been there a year, so one weeks notice pay.

Trying not to panic but I'm not sure what we're going to do, job seekers benefit is a fifth of his usual salary that we live to. There are hardly any jobs out there, he's applying for pretty much anything and he's not hearing back, he's in his 50's which may be going against him. It's looking pretty dire right now.

I've got the threat of a 20% paycut or redundancy, it's a horrible time. If I get the paycut I can't afford my mortgage unless I get a 2nd job. If I get made redundant I have to find a job at the worst possible time. I'm between a rock and a hard place. I think lockdown was a major overreaction influenced a lot by social media and our mainstream mass media.