DH's employers are utter bastards - a rant

[onedayallthiswillbeyours]

Poor DH learnt in a group zoom meeting this afternoon that his position is being got rid of in a company "restructure" to save money. They didn't even have the professionalism or plain human decency to warn him privately in advance, he had to hear it in front of all his colleagues!!!!! He was headhunted into this "new" (for the company) position 8 years ago and has given it his heart and soul. There is no one else on his level in the company structure. There is one manager above him and 6 other employees below him in the structure as it stands at the moment. He has been told he can reapply for one of the junior positions at £8k less pa with no guarantee he will get it (after all he is totally over qualified) and he has to compete with the other 6 existing employees for only 6 available positions (all are being made to reapply for their own jobs). One poor person will be made redundant completely at the end of it all (it might be DP, who knows). The company know they have them all over a barrel as there are literally no other jobs available in this niche area of employment at the moment due to the covid situation.

DH has basically turned the place around in the time he's been there but unfortunately his direct boss is a lazy sod who has successfully made himself seem indispensable when it's actually been DH doing all the hard graft these past 8 years! I'm sure it's all legal, they will have made sure of that, but seriously such an immoral and sleazy thing to do. They know that the choice of being made to grovel for a junior position with less money, less sick pay, less holiday OR become unemployed with no hope of finding a new job any time soon is not a choice at all for a person with bills to pay and children to feed  .

I'm not sure why I'm posting really, just to get it off my chest I suppose. Our only option is for DH to grovel, beg and plead for one of the junior positions (and knowing that if he gets one, someone else will be out of a job makes it even more unbearable 😭). I wonder how many other greedy immoral companies are claiming government job retention money whilst at the time screwing their employees over with "restructuring" bollocks and making them redundant anyway.

It's shit being told like that and would have been far preferable for everyone if those affected were told in a smaller group first.

Here is the government guidance on redundancy

www.gov.uk/redundancy-your-rights

He should also print the company policy/his contract where redundancy is detailed. Some companies offer a phased pay reduction if you move to a lower paid role, so for example gradual reduction over a 3 month period to prepare.

Any chance he could set up a business himself? If he’s that good, he could succeed. He could take a couple of the six others with him!

Thank you Torys that is a very helpful link and advice.

Patch sadly unless he builds his own railway line (using the same analogy as below!) it's not possible, much as I would love it to be!

Dwayne thank you and I totally agree.

I mean if he wants to stay and work the junior role it sounds asl though he is pretty much in . Unless I’m misunderstanding ? His role is now gone . There are currently 6 junior positions and 6 staff already employed within them . That means if they all have to reapply they must be thinking your H will apply and take one of the positions otherwise what would be the point ?

Yes I think that is it namechange. It's a way they can get him to stay and with his experience and work ethic he will essentially be doing exactly the same job as now but just for the junior salary and they can use the opportunity to get rid of an underperforming member of staff to boot. I just get the impression someone on the board thinks they have been very clever coming up with this idea. The company is not in dire straits.

Using your analogy, is there not another railway nearby? Or somewhere with a reasonable commute? Even if no positions are being advertised could he not send his CV over to throw his hat in the ring for anything that comes up? You did mention he got headhunted for his current role..

@onedayallthiswillbeyours yeh I’d imagine they’d love him to stay , with all his experience but for less pay. Pretty shitty really but I suppose at least he will still be earning and Can maybe look for something else once things settle down. Totally sucks for whoever ends up getting the boot though !

Its definitely not a nice way to learn your role has been deleted.
As there isn't an equivalent role for him to apply for they should have forewarned him, however I know similar has happened in my own local authority workplace .

Dog he was singled out as he is the only one whose role has been made 100% redundant. The other 6 have been asked to reapply for their jobs. They are not being made redundant (yet...)

Late reply, but if they're being told they need to reapply for their own jobs their in the same position he is. The employer is telling seven people that only six of them will have a job at the end if the process. If you think your husband is being treated any differently you need to take a step back and get some perspective.

You also really have no idea what their financial position is. You may have some idea what it was like last year pre-lockdown but not what they are anticipating. As others have already pointed out. There are 7 people at risk of redundancy although it is the one role that has disappeared on restructuring. It is often the case in these situations that it is middle management roles that go as workers are needed below and senior managers needed above.

Hopefully if he wants the job for the time being until he finds something else he will approach the process in an optimistic manner in order to give it his best shot to secure a role. Wish him well.

If he doesn’t get offered alternative employment then he would still be entitled to a redundancy payment.

The way they did it is poor you don’t tell someone in a group meeting they’re losing their job ffs

@onedayallthiswillbeyours

Read this BBC article which says the manner of your DH finding out is illegal in the UK

I don't know if he works for a UK company but the fact that he himself is in the UK should be enough?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52830257

If your DH has been doing his bosses job for him, then maybe a promotion will be offered once they realise his boss isn't up to the job!

Meanwhile he'd be daft not to apply for one if the 6 available positions, but he needs to stick to 'driving the train' not still
Acting like the Station master' but not getting paid for it!

I'm sorry he found out the way he did,

As he's 'middle management' rather than the 'train driver' he needs to think outside ofhe box and look at his transferable skills.

Re the post from @EarringsandLipstick

*That's an awful way to do things. Absolutely he should have been informed privately.

I don't know, but it doesn't sound totally legal to me, that his position has become redundant, and now he is eligible to apply for one of the 6 lower level positions.

If he does this, and gets one of them, he won't be due any redundancy - or would be be anyway? I think you should confirm this. Regardless of him getting the lower-level role or not, he's entitled to a redundancy offering, surely?

Otherwise ir sounds like they are trying to save money - he's made redundant from senior role, takes more junior role, junior made redundant will cost them less*?

Op. I appreciate there may be more to the detail

First if all. Yes an appealing way to advise people of potential redundancy.

Whilst it may not directly impact your husband, the organisational change doesn't sound to be legal. In effect, to make someone redundant, there job has to no longer be required. What they are doing is telling him his job is no longer required and he can apply for a lower grade one. Unless the lower grade ones are all being changed to something significantly different, then the more junior six employees shouldn't have to reapply for their own roles when nothing has changed.

What should occur is your husband be made redundant and the other six remain in their roles. If they are subject to restructuring and their roles change my more than a certain amount (we used to call it an 80/20 whereby if the role changed more than 20%) they needed to reapply.

Is there an agenda here where they want to get rid of one of the six employees so remove your husbands role and slot him in the lower grade one?

Either way they are very vulnerable at an ET unless there is more to it

Sorry..I meant appalling and not appealing. iPad typo

It’s ok to inform a group of people about restructuring using a group meeting. It’s happened to me twice in the last 6 years.

As pp have said , it gets the company message done in one attempt and avoids misheard, misinterpretation if done individually.

What must happen legally in the UK is individual one to one follow up meetings , at least one of them should have ‘HR’ present.

To make 6 people reapply for their roles sounds iffy, I thought the roles would have to be renamed at the very least, and as someone pointed out, the role should have to change in a sufficient way for the be able to demonstrate the old roles were no longer required.

That said, I’d imagine it very rare that the people at the ‘bottom’ ever think it worth seeking legal representation to fight it and I think companies sometimes gamble they won’t.

Back to your DH... my personal advice is he doesn’t take it personally but shows interest in the new roles, accepts that it's ‘just business‘, company must survive and all that.

IF they really do want to get rid of him (rather than his role), he’ll only be making it easier for them if he has an angry ‘you can’t do this to me’ attitude. Yes, it is shit. But be the bigger person.

OP, can't your DH apply for (and probably get) the more junior position and then start looking for a new job? That allows him to move up to a level that's commensurate with his experience without a gap in income, plus he gets to give his company the finger when he hands in his notice