Been told my role is redundant and not to discuss it with colleagues!?

[Jellybaba]

So the boss announced to the whole office that there was going to be redundancies in the next few days. We were all shocked and horrified. Lots of speculation who it could be and then the boss said we would know by the end of the week
This then ensued lots more speculation and unease amongst the office. D day arrived and 5 people were approached confidentially and then told not to discuss what was said to them with their colleagues. How is this possible? Why tell everyone there are going to be redundancies and then forbid those affected from discussing it!?
Is this allowed to happen?

Asking for a friend..

I don't know if can or not, but I found ACAS really helpful when I was going through a redundancy situation. They're independent and free so it would be worth a call and discuss it with them.

Is your friend one of those who was approached? He/she seems to have already breached that request by talking to you!

Without knowing exactly what your friend was told, it’s impossible to comment on whether it is reasonable for the employer to ask them to keep what was said confidential. But it could be a number of things which might make that a reasonable request.

Is your friend dying to tell someone or something? What’s the issue exactly?

I've been this person

we were asked to keep quiet because of pay issues and to avoid uncomfortable questions for the bosses

no idea if it's legit - I just took the money and ran! So did one other person in that section. She and I kept in touch but we never talked about money or conditions.

we both had a leaving do, no bad feelings. I had been approached before the final thing - wonder if that's happened here.

We had this happen to someone recently who was unable to discuss matters or it would have affected the settlement figure.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/employment_issues/2479989-can-my-employer-prevent-me-from-telling-colleagues-about-my-redundancy