Help - work - redundancy

[sykes]

Just been told I have a meeting with head of HR and one of my MDs tomorrow. It's, I'm sure, the initial stages of working towards redundancy. I would REALLY appreciate some advice on how to approach this. It's not a suprise - my private company was taken over by a plc last year and I've guessed it's been on the cards. Questions are: have had lots of personal issues in the last year - h left, my mother died. I believe I may have underperformed - not massively but to some degree. Doubt underperformance will be brought up but if it is do I refer to these? My firm knows all about them. What's my bargaining position - have been here for eight years, now at director level. I was approached by a headhunter who has my CV for a specific job. IF I am made redundant (reckon it's 80/20%) and accepted a job as the process was going on is this illegal? Thanks for any advice - particularly HR/legal/those with experience.

Hellooooo can anyone help please

Not illegal to accept a job whilst being made redundant, most companies would be only too pleased to discover that you had somewhere to go on to. Sometimes it is written into the terms of the redundancy payment that you have to work your notice to receive the payment though.

I wouldn't think they would refer to personal problems, more that the job has been made redundant than it being personal to you. I know if it were me (doing redundancy) I wouldn't refer to personal issues as it is too much of a grey area.

Personally, if it were me being made redundant in these circumstances, I wouldn't mention the job offer in tomorrow's meeting, so that they ofer the maximum financial inducement for you to go, but know inside that I had another job possibility. If tomorrow's meeting turns out to be about redundancy then make sure you get all the terms out of them and know exactly how you stand. They should have something in writing for you too as these meetings often pass in a blur and you might need to sit and digest the information later.

HTH

can't help - sorry to hear this and I do hope it works out wekk for you, just bumpity bump, bump,bump

There is a very good section on the ACAS website which covers lots of redundancy questions.

Thanks. HAve no intention of mentioning any possible job - it's a very vague possibility anyway. I've had to make a few people redundant personally and personal issues didn't come into it so agree completely. I'll look at the site when I can. Meeting is mid am tomorrow.

Good Luck Sykes.....Let us know how you get on...

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Thnaks, Twiglett, I'm not ashamed and it may be the start of something better. HAve been expecting it for a while really. Problem is I'm paid very well and would really struggle to find an equivalent salary - however, the job that hte headhunter mentioned is a 20% increase so you never know. Just found out my other MD is skiing iwth the CEE = back tomorrow - so two mds and head of HR tomorrow.

I know nothing but good luck for tomorrow!

Thanks - life's a blast .....

if they are making more than about 30 people redundant then they'll need to enter into a period of collective consultation. what happened where i work is that everyone was put into a pool (based upon their job description). then they decide how many they want in each pool and separately everyone is given a rating within that pool. so for example they might put someone in a pool of "consultants" and have 7 people in that pool. they might then decide they need 5 consultants to stay so the people rated as the bottom 2 will be made redundant.

the initial meeting was where we got to see which pool we'd been put into and challenge this if neccessary. we were then told our rating and exactly how this had been determined.

good luck and hope new job is good!

Just me.

Oh bugger. Sorry sykes

sykes hope things work out for you

Sykes, good luck for tomorrow, hope other job with a 20% rise comes good (if you want it to).

Thansk v much. a friend popped round before with a bottle of champagne - not a good idea re tomorrow but what the heck - she's pregnant so had one glass - you can't save it, can you?

Nah, best drink it up before those bubbles pop!

I love bubbles - they're popping in my mouth. Might add some cassis. Thanks WW.

Sykes - I'm so sorry to hear this - I was made redundant when pregnant, and had quite a few issues with the way the 'process' was handled. If it's just you, are you completely sure there's no form of discrimination going on (e.g. single parent seen as less flexible etc..) If there appear to be any 'grey' areas you can use them to your advantage in negotiating a better settlement (if that's what you want) or to keep your job. The other thing I found useful was to think about the other things to negotiate as part of a severance package which might actually be useful and worth a reasonable amount to you, but actually cost the company relatively little e.g. extended use of company car/ keep mobile phone or computer etc. and also consider whether you want to ask for 'career /outplacement consultancy' - sometimes you can get valuable time (up to 6 months) with a consultant who will structure your approach to getting your next job.
HTH - good luck, and let us know.

Thanks, Mo2 - it's all about cost savings. although post the acquisition the acquiring company has had no redundancies - my firm has had a few and I believe there will be more after me at director level also. Will update you later today.

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Good Luck

fingers crossed for you.