Dilemma...any advice please?

[Nothing77]

Hello all. Just looking for advice/perspectives on my work situation.

Pre lockdown, my company announced a redundancy procedure for my department. My role places me in the most vulnerable pool, with a third of job cuts being anticipated. The procedure was postponed as soon as lockdown was implemented, and is yet to be restated - don’t know when it will be restarting but is definitely on the cards.

I stated job hunting during lockdown as cannot afford not to be working and also wanted to see if I could secure a better paid position. I have now been offered a contract position for a year at a company I worked for about 10 years ago. They sound ideally like me to start next months. Am currently undergoing security checks.

I should explain that I really like my job, have a great boss and interesting role. I do however find some of the ops/admin aspects of the role tedious and may fall down on this upon selection for redundancy. Otherwise my performance is generally good.

My dilemma is whether I resign from my current job and take up new role,albeit I have not actually been made redundant yet? There is a possibility that I could be without a job by the end of the year but I don’t want to leave on the off chance that I may lose my job.

It has been made clear to us that no voluntary redundancies will be accepted and only notice period salary (3 months) will be paid if a person is made redundant.

Any advice or ideas please? Tying myself in knots trying to work out best thing to do...

Can you clarify what you mean by your last sentence? Is the company saying they won't pay any redundancy pay, just notice pay? If so that's illegal, assuming you've been there 2 years or more, they can't just decide to withhold statutory/contractual redundancy pay, and that threat alone would make me dubious about staying there. Or are they saying they'd gives 3 months pay in lieu of notice PLUS your redundancy pay which is not a bad deal although depends what your redundancy pay would be?

It sounds a bit as though really you would ideally like to stay/the new job isn't what you really want? A third of roles being made redundant at your current company sounds a lot but even so the majority will stay and if you are a good performer you should have a good chance of being chosen to stay - can you really focus on improving the ops/admin side of things for the next 6 months if this is a weakness?

In the worst case scenario, how much would you get if made redundant and for how long could you live off it? How long is the contract for in the new job and do you think it's likely to turn into something longer term/better paid or would it only ever be a stopgap? How long do you think it would take to get another job if you turn this one down - I know it's a how long is a piece of string question with COVID etc. but it's a good thing that you've been offered this other job quite quickly. If you are reasonably confident that (for example) you could live off the redundancy pay for 6 months and would find another job within that time, then I'd probably hang on for something better TBH....

I'd move. Much better to be in an organisation that's recruiting and optimistic than one where eventually you will be putting against your colleagues to try and keep a job. Even if your current company is your dream job, things get sour during redundancy rounds.

@maxelly
Thanks! Apologies - what I mean is that they will pay the notice pay (3 months) plus whatever is due as redundancy pay, which I think is a week for every year over 2?

I wouldn’t move for a temporary contract , a permanent job maybe .

Contract is for 1 year and there is chance it might become permanent.,,
You are right - I’d rather stay in my current job if I can.