Making sacrifices for your company only for them to turn round and make you redundant - there is no loyalty on their part

[speedymama]

Recently heard from my friend who has been made redundant from her job in the city. It was a technical role in one of the city banks and well paid. She has worked long hours and even moved locations to accommodate their latest reorganisation.

Last year she started trying for a family (she is 38yo) and is having trouble conceiving. Now that she has been made redundant, she feels worried that she may have made things more difficult for herself by leaving it late to start a family. She also feels bitter that she was loyal and committed to the organisation but it has not been reciprocated. She wishes she had not delayed trying for a baby.

I personally don't think that she has left it too late because I managed to fall pregnant at 38yo within 3 weeks of trying. What I do know is that sacrificing your personal life for a company who will not think twice about getting rid of you is not worth it.

That is something the constant debate on MN about whether parents, especially women, should put as much energy into their careers as their family sometimes misses. Your family will always be there for you but your employer will quite happily discard of your services if it is economically prudent to do so.

That's why I work part-time.

I agree completely, speedymama. Unfortunately, in large companies, no-one is indispensable. My dad's company has recently been taken over by a multinational corporation. They are relocating him to Dublin, but they are not investing in the assets they need for future business. I think they are asset strippers, and I am really concerned they are going to leave him high and dry - he is in his 60s, but not ready to retire.

When it comes to work and family, I really think that you have to make a choice (and I will no doubt be blasted off the planet for saying that). I think that if you try to have it all, then something has to give somewhere, and it seems to me that many people sacrifice family life for their careers, something which many employers expect, but do not respect.

I am very sorry about your friend's situation speedymama and agree that the City is not a caring place to work. But have to say hindsight is a wonderful thing. She was well paid for doing a demanding job with long hours - unlike, eg, nurses or teachers. The redundancy is a bitter blow and I hope she has some good luck in her life soon, but being shafted by your employers is not the prerogative of the corporate sector.
I also agree with your sentiments roskva but on Mn and in RL a lot of people work full-time not because they wholeheartedly embrace the corporate ethos but because they really don't have much choice.

I learnt the hard way that companies have no loyalty. You do a good competant job and they pay you for it, unfortunately you cannot expect them to carry the loyalty past that contractual relationship.

Sad for your fried to have discovered this late - luckily my company made me redundant in my early 30's and were incompetant at it (I usually did the redundancy negotiations/paperwork!) so I ended up with a really good pay-out.

Time for her to reassess what she wants I think.

Of course there is no loyalty at all. That's what I find so odd about some poster's passionate attachment to work as God. Never sacrifice anything remotely important for a company. It is never worth it.

hear hear, marina.

a tad smug, speedymama.

I have been in the position (sadly far too often) of making people redundant and it really isn;t personal. Of course it feels bloody personal when its you. But from teh company perspective, they are just thinking - we have too much cost in "xxx" area we need to cut.

Many people really don't realise at that point what you as an employee did in the past is irrelevant.

Good companies will handle the situation better than "bad" ones but they are all likely to make the same decision - for the greater good of the remaining employees if you want to be generous, or for the shareholder sif you don;t!

having been made redundant after returning to work after having my DS i can vouch for the fact that companies have no loyalties - everyone is dispensible
agree with Kew that some companies handle it better than others
i work FT (i have to) but am under no illusions as to where their loyalties lie

Redundancy can be treated sensitively or not and this has a huge impact on how people deal with it. There is buckets of research on the effects of what is termed a breach of 'psychological contract' and it's effects on people, which go far far beyond what you might 'logically' expect. It really sucks.

BUT it has nothing to do with the SOHM/WM debate and it is disingenius to tie the two together. Look at an alternative example....she gives up work to stay at home and raise kids, then HE gets made redundant and they lose their home. There's a damn fine argument to have two incomes in the family... as you say your family will always be there, but you also will always need to provide for them.

The act of making someone redundant isn't about the individual, or something that can be thought of in terms of loyalty. It is shit for the individual, but I think it can help them if they are able to remember that the company is not doing it to them. It is just a business decision. The company purchases your time, if they no longer wish to buy it, you sell it to someone else.

(and I am just talking about getting upset about redundancy as an act, not getting upset about the financial implications)

Squiffy, I was not saying that one should give up work at all. What I was saying is that my friend, like so many others, has discovered that your commitment and sacrifice for an organisation counts for nothing when they need to balance the books. You may have sacrificed things in your private life in order to prove your commitment - she did this, even moved to a different area away from friends, hobbies etc. Now she has been given the boot and wonders why she bothered. She is going to spend some time now doing volunteer work whilst she works out what to do next.

I work but will not compromise my private life for it. Nobody ever said on their death bed that they wished they had spent more time at work.

Bossykate, there is no smugness on my part. I was just stating facts.

"I work but will not compromise my private life for it."

Trouble is, you don't always have that choice.

I know and that's why I know I am lucky.

It's not about loyalty - at the end of the day, these are businesses and unfortunately, business decisions often outweigh any notions of loyalty.

Think about it from the company's point of view for a moment. They no longer have any work for one or more people, due to a downturn in business, a restructure or anything else. Should they go on paying the loyal employees indefinitely, even though there is nothing for them to do? That is really demoralizing. Should they take a risk that the whole company could go bust in order to go on paying people for doing no work? If you could not afford your cleaner anymore, would you keep her employed anyway? Get real. I have been made redundant 3 times; it can be an opportunity to get a lump sum in the bank and then move on to something better.

Its not an easy decision for many employers. I have had to let people go, one of whom is one of my closest friends. There are times when there is no other way forward.

There's not been any loyalty for donks.

Another reason why I think work's an overrated crock and will make sure to do the best I can to get it across to my daughters not to put off having children because of work, if that's their only reason.

Clerkkent. I have made people redundant when I worked full time so I don't need to get real. Doing that is one of the most unpleasant things that I have ever done (one guy broke down) even though it was the economically correct thing to do.

It opened my eyes to the fact that we are all dispensable and hearing from my friend reminded me of that. That is one of the reasons why I took the decision to go part-time when I had my DTS.

Just because one feels sorry a person who has been made redundant does preclude understanding the economic justification for the company concerned. For me, it demonstrates that working long hours at the expense of other things in your life serves only the company, not the individual in the long run.

does not preclude

I think your friend should look upon this as a positive thing. Hopefully she will get a good redundancy package and can downshift her career while she is trying for a family. A less stressful/demanding role will give her the extra energy for all that baby making.

Having been made redundant 3 times and having had to make other redundant I empathise with the initial feeling of bitterness but I have only ever gone on to better things. What better thing than her becoming a Mummy.

Send her Best Wishes and send her the link to MN!

sorry, i think it is a bit smug to suggest that you work part-time because you have a clearer grasp of what's important in life than others who work full-time. as marina said, it's not always a choice.

i agree with squiffy that two entirely different topics (i.e. redundancy and balancing work and home have been put together rather disingenuously).

i agree, however, that no-one should consider themselves indispens*ble no matter where they work these days.

I agree with Aloha. It amazes me when people think that there is loyalty. Wake up. No company gives two hoots about any employee. And if you think otherwise you are misguided.
I work p/t and love my job, but am under no illisions. It was in the news today again, about woemn who get passed over for promotion due to pregnancy, bullying in realtion to pregnancy.
I am amazed at how naieve some people are.

I don't think the two topics are disingenuously put together at all, in speedymama's friends case the two are related. She has made sacrifices in her private life to "feed" her career and is now regretting it. Others made redundant go on to continue their careers much as they were before, through choice or necessity. Madly in my position (finance Director) I hadn't grasped that the company would make a cold-blooded decision despite my working my bollocks off for 8 yrs. My first redundancy made me take a long hard look at my life and my career has been in freefall ever since I work part-time, am single mother to DS and have never been happier.

I don't think that makes me smug, lucky yes, smug no.

Sorry about your friend, all I would say is that she shouldn't take redundancy personally.

Everyone should consider what they are prepared to do for a company and why. I made sacrifices in my personal life to get further qualifications, promotion, better remuneration etc. Companies wonder why they have invested so much in certain individuals sometimes when they then just leave for another job.

So it works both ways.

I think you should put the effort and energy when you can and when it suits your current life.

We all have to take responsibility for the decisions we make in life i.e: choosing to work our butts off for work, waiting until xx age to start trying for a baby, giving up work and depending on a partner etc