Competitive Interviews to avoid redundancy

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I work for a national charity. Big profile, TV adverts, people collecting in supermarkets, etc. Last year the organisation was in the Sunday Times "Best Places to Work". Recently our local team were informed that the local commissioners were reducing our funding.

The whole team were called into a meeting to hear the new business plan together. The new plan involved cutting several roles, so those people found out they were losing their jobs in front of the whole team. (Imagine working for a company for years and hearing that you've lost your job from a distant manager, in front of colleagues so you don't even have the opportunity to compose yourself privately)

The rest of the team all have the same job title. Two of our roles have been eliminated, so we have to interview to find out who gets to stay.

(They said we all collectively agree to drop a day's work, which would invalidate the business plan. But most of the team are single mothers on Universal Credit to make ends meet already, and would be sanctioned for dropping hours.)

So it's like X Factor or Traitors meets The Office. We're all looking at colleagues and wondering who stays and who goes on the basis of how well we sell our skills to a couple of strangers who have no idea of the realities of working in our setting. While consoling the people who use our services who are afraid of what the cuts mean for them.

I can't help wondering, when you donate money to charity, is this what you picture behind closed doors?

To answer the question:

I can't help wondering, when you donate money to charity, is this what you picture behind closed doors?

No I don't, though I am aware that people employed in the charity sector can have the same issues of poor management, unpleasant colleagues and other work negatives as in other employment.

The new government is planning to bring in new employment laws. Perhaps included in them should be something about valid forms of redundancy notification. People should not find out in this way, or by text message, or in the manner P&O workers were fired, for example.

This happened to me working in a Local Authority in a client facing role. We were called to a meeting and the new business plan was set out and that was when around 7 people found out their job role was redundant. Everyone had to interview for what was on offer.

We had exactly the same, checking the matrix for sickness over the last 3 years and weighing each other up. They used the interviews to get rid of the dross but the run up was very stressful and afterwards our workloads increased to cover the redundancies.

When I donate to Charity I hope that the money will be used wisely but having worked for a few before I know they are constantly struggling to secure funding and usually have to dance to the funders tune.

Like one of the other posters said, they announced the new business plan and that X, Y, and Z roles have been eliminated. They can apply for different roles within the organisation, but in reality there aren't any with the same skill set.

The timeline for the process says that the results of the interviews will be announced in a group meeting, so presumably that will be the same. That's what reminds me of X Factor, all of us in a room waiting in suspense to find out who is out.

I used to work in HR and my understanding was that now competitive interviews should only be used for new roles, and that they shouldn't make you interview for the same job you're doing.

I did ask whether they were using any other selection criteria in addition to the interviews, like length of service, discipline, sickness, etc. but they haven't been able to tell me.

Even if I keep my job, I'm going to be left feeling very uneasy. They sell our services as "experts" in the field, and I agree. But I can't say I feel that they treat us as experts.

Oh, I have been there around 2.5 years.

Even if I keep my job, I'm going to be left feeling very uneasy.

You are still likely to look to move on shortly due to the atmosphere and the risk they will need to make further cuts.

This has been the standard way to announce redundancy in every organisation I've worked in. Not pleasant obviously but not unusual.

Oxfam did this a few years ago and once they selected who was going to be made redundant sat them all on one side of the office to those that were staying as they worked out their notice. What a lovely atmosphere in the office!

Do you mean that specific individuals were told for the first in front of the whole team that they were losing their jobs?

Because that is appalling and they should first have been told in private.

Same for the people who need to reapply for their roles, including yourself: you should have been told first privately.

Then the whole team should have been informed of the general plan as a group.

I work in the charity sector for 20 years and I must say I am so appalled by what I have seen behind the scenes that I am doing my best to find a new role in a different sector.

I have worked for so many charities that present themselves to the general public as caring, supportive and so on while being absolutely vile to staff and volunteers, having questionable fundraising practices and appointing trustees who are incompetent and just see the charity as a vanity project.

Do you have a union? have you spoken to ACAS? I would speak to someone to make sure they are following the right redundancy process, can justify why and how redundant posts were selected and so on.

If you leave the organisation I would even consider bringing that to the public's attention because so many of these charities really need to be exposed for their poor practices so that people know what their donations are supporting...

Competitive interviews are the norm, although we don’t usually phrase it like that, nut interview9ng for the remaining jobs is standard practice.
the individuals losing their positions should habe been told privately though.

Seems pretty standard in any sector I think. The interviews are just a formality. They probably already know who they will want to keep. Sorry it’s happening to you. It’s very stressful. Been there 4 times!!

Awful situation.

I know two people who this sort of thing happened to and they both walked rather than reapply for their jobs and were then asked why - 'it wasn't you we wanted to leave'!

Sorry for the experience OP.
Unfortunately, it is a really hard lesson in life when you realise you are just an employee.
Being made redundant or have to apply for your own/ alternative job/ be shat on, can be devastating when you have been a hard working and very loyal employee ( who has often done unpaid overtime, taken on extra responsibilities etc).
This does happen in many industries and so is not uncommon.
I learnt this later in life and as such have a different attitude to work now , including looking elsewhere for work opportunities and finding value in other things.
It is hard suituation to be in.

Some of what you describe is normal in a redundancy situation - having to interview for a reduced number of jobs is standard practice.

Having said that, a lot of what I've heard about the charity sector would put me off working in it. Often seems to be a toxic environment, with poor pay/ conditions/ management justified because "it's a charity!"

An example from your post - why is the charity paying such low wages that a large number of its staff rely on UC to survive? If a charity can't fulfil its aims while also paying its staff well, it's not worth donating to.

Any employer that tries to present itself as caring and kind, 'one big family', not like other employers, is a red flag in my view. The reality is that charities are no different to any other corporate environment. - getting as much out of their staff as they can for the lowest possible pay. At the end of day, you're just an employee, and it's healthy to be aware of and acknowledge that.

Yeah, they found out for the first time that their role was eliminated in front of other employees.
Before that we didn't even know which jobs were at risk.

I have been made redundant before, but communications were in person before announcement to the full group. And the redundancies were made by a selection matrix, so it wasn't a matter of how we performed on the day.

In my head, I know it's just a job and they'll do what they have to do. I guess there's cognitive dissonance because the emphasis is always on how supportive the organisation is.

Oh, and they don't recognise any union 🤷‍♀️

I guess there's cognitive dissonance because the emphasis is always on how supportive the organisation is.

This is what often makes charities and public sector organisations that do 'caring' work so toxic to work for. Staff are frequently treated like shit at places like this.

I can't help wondering, when you donate money to charity, is this what you picture behind closed doors?

I'm really sorry you are in this situation but charities have to balance the books.

A lot of charities, including the big ones, are struggling because costs are rising massively.

Staffing is nearly always the biggest area of expenditure and therefore that's the big that has to get cut.

It's very sad for those involved but it's the right and necessary thing to do.

Hah! Yes, very 'supportive'.

If enough of you join one they will have no choice though.

A charity that doesn’t recognise any union? Can you tell me who they are so I can remember never to donate to them?

Think it's quite common. The charity I worked for didn't recognise the union. When I started it did but about 5 years ago it stopped.

I’ve been in public sector my whole life so been through this many times and it’s always been announced as a whole team, so finding out your job doesn’t exist or you’ll need to
compete for it infront of everyone. However the outcomes of the interviews were usually told personally.

You have a statutory right to be accompanied by a union representative in relevant meetings even if your employer does not recognise a union...

I've been through this a few times and it seemed to be normal practice to do a big announcement in front of entire department or organisation that x number of jobs were at risk and in which teams - but no more detail than that.

Then meetings with individuals to tell them their particular job is at risk and show them what their options are.