Am I at risk?

[StatesOfMatter]

A rather odd situation at work and would be grateful for views.

I started with a new employer over half a year ago. It is largely work from home with occasional travel to main office (every few months) and I manage a remote team. Since I started I’ve made sure I’ve worked collaboratively and had no feedback to indicate a major problem.

Since starting I’ve worked on a project with another part of the business (in agreement with all parties including boss) due to my skill set.

Last week during a office visit I had some negative feedback about the work I was doing and that of my team (it really felt out of the blue - although some of it was connected to one of my team who has a history and does have acknowledged difficulties) and the option of a secondment to this other part of the business was floated; one of the benefits was ‘it would give security’

I have been thinking about this a lot this weekend… is my job at risk here? It feels like a soft signal for a future restructure or redundancy. Larger context is the company I work for have announced budget restrictions and recruitment freeze so I’m aware there is a lot of scrutiny on finances and aware people are the main cost.

Or maybe I’m overthinking it.

Either way this weekend has been a swirl of thoughts that have definitely not helped when wanting to focus on family and led to me checking job boards late at night.

Nope, not overthinking it, you've picked up on their clues.

From my own experience from last year, where my company announced budget restrictions, travel bans and recruitment freezes in the summer... with company wide restructure and voluntary/compulsory redundancies announced in the winter, I'd say it's a soft signal.

It's usually a sign and if you've had a tip off an internal move would give some security, I'd go for it if you're happy. A company rarely puts on recruitment freezes etc with no escalation.

I've survived the restructure at my place, but everyone who is left is picking up the pieces of a organisation that's in a total mess from mass staff redundancies at all levels. Definitely worth considering whether it's worth staying if you've only been there 6 months and they're already floating money issues.

Check the job boards too, no harm in doing that. Hope it all works out for you.

It's odd that it was mixed in the unexpected feedback but I agree with PPs that it looks like someone is sending a soft signal.

Good luck with whatever you decide.