Sorry if this is a long one, I don’t want to drip feed.
I’m currently furloughed, company is in the process of making redundancies. They’ve made a number of compulsory redundancies for employees who have less than 2 years service and offered 3 rounds of voluntary redundancies amounting to around a quarter of the workforce leaving.
With the last update we were told they they envisage further cuts to a number of departments including mine (There are 5 in the department). I’ve worked there almost 6 years doing the job by myself. I had my DC last year, taking 6 months maternity leave, however I was told quite early on that my cover would be a permanent position to help me with my work load, doing the same job but this is the first time they had acknowledged my heavy workload and that it warranted two people to cover it. They had issues finding the right candidate with one starting and being sacked before I even left because their work wasn’t up to standard. Since returning I have worked temporarily part time (4 days) as my child needed surgery and lots of follow up appointments but I am/was due back full time in July.
My concern is now that, despite being there less than a year, my colleague was kept on and I’ve since learned that they have been called back from furlough and I’m left in limbo, sick to my stomach with anxiety.
I think it’s highly obvious they want to keep my colleague and as we do the same job I’m now worried that I am being lined up for redundancy, I’m hoping someone can help me gain a little more information about where I’d stand.
We have no appraisals so there are no performance reviews to go off, we don’t work in a measured role therefore we don’t have results to set us apart (except for the growth of our certain area that I achieved whilst doing the job myself). I have a feeling they are paid a little more than me FTE, but being temp part time they certainly are at the moment. There have never been any issues with my work, I have been flexible, such as working unpaid on my days off since I returned and being called in on weekends, unpaid and without TOIL, at the drop of the hat to help with the initial coronavirus problems - my colleague hasn’t been available during these times however did some paid overtime whilst I was on mat leave. We are educated to the same degree in similar subjects but as I’m a little older, I am more experienced in my career as well as in this particular role. There are no reasons that I can think of that means that I would be the obvious candidate for redundancy, other than the fact I have a child or that she was hired under a new director and I was employed under an old structure, so favouritism I guess.
There have been a few issues since I returned such as being told at 9 am on my first day back that I was moving departments and had a new manager starting (I wasn’t made aware of the management role despite signing to be kept informed of any new opportunities that come up) and in turn my role changed to doing very low-level work. The new manager didn’t last long and my role went back to what it was when my old manager took over again but I’m not sure if that was towing the line as I thought after only 6 months mat leave I had to return to my exact role - this might not be relevant and I didn’t cause a fuss at the time.
It’s just now that with the uncertainty of my job security I’m wondering if A. Given the process of redundancies so far and the criteria of under two years, you’re gone, if this could be completely overlooked in this circumstance and B. If there’s an inkling of discrimination because I had a child, would it be unfair?
I don’t want this to sound like I want them out because I don’t, ideally we’d both keep our jobs as we’re mid-weight in the team and do the majority of the work, others are more admin and an assistant manager. But we’re in an industry very much affected by coronavirus and work has dropped off a cliff therefore they would have to be thinking of future-proofing for that to happen but it seems like a cut costs at any cost at the moment so not sure they’d want two people in the same role.
Thanks in advance!