Lost my job today, completely out of the blue

[789pm]

I can't wrap my head around it. Today was a normal work day... I was in the middle of working on various projects I have lined up for this week and I had a call out of the blue from HR. They said they are getting rid of me with immediate effect due to company restructuring. My role is going to be shared out with several colleagues - the colleagues I was asked to run a training session for last week...

I have been put on gardening leave. I was then locked out of my IT accounts. No chance to say bye to anyone. Teams messages and emails left unanswered.

There were no issues with my performance, my manager was in the call and said that it has nothing to do with my performance and the decision was above him. It makes no sense. Work recently paid for me to go on an expensive course, they had work lined up for me.

I cannot make sense of it at all.

@789pm Its no comfort, but shitty employers are doing this every day of the week try not to take it too personally.
Good luck.

I called ACAS as I couldnt believe it was ok either. But it is perfectly legal. Under current law there is no protection, or requirement for severance pay, under 2 years employment.

There is no comeback whatsoever unless you can prove that you were chosen due to you having a protected characteristic and not simply because you are no longer needed as your job can be done by others. And it would be virtually impossible to do that.

Morally it is utter shite, but legally.....perfectly fine.

Sure someone’s mentioned it OP but have a look at ACAS and make sure you understand your rights. My DH just been through similar (huge multinational) and they got it very wrong. Shouldn’t they have consulted you if they were undertaking a restructure? I would suggest this is almost certainly a poor process and you have been treated unfairly (and possibly worse e.g. constructive dismissal). You have a legal right to ask for more information and for a fair process to be followed, things to consider asking;

• why has your role been made redundant?
• what process/policy has your company followed in making this decision and notifying you (request policy in writing)
• how will your work be completed in the future and how was this decision made?
• whether there are any suitable alternatives

The only thing worth getting from them is a good reference.

Thank you all, it helps to hear that this is normal in businesses albeit still devastating. It was a great job, and I really liked my colleagues. The senior management does have form for this kind of thing though - they announce changes to the company without consulting employees first, and they seem to go back and forth on things a lot. I know my colleagues will be shocked when it's announced to them tomorrow. There are deadlines to meet that I was working on... The colleagues I was training don't have time to help with it all. They very reluctant and didn't want to be trained on it as they were already feeling swamped and didn't want any extra responsibility. They're in for a nice surprise tomorrow...

It just doesn't feel real. Even when I joined the meeting with HR it didn't cross my mind one second that I was being let go. Even when they said they had some difficult news to share with me, I thought maybe my manager was leaving or ill or something. Not this...

No, she doesn’t have a legal right to any of that until she has been there 2 years.

I'm so sorry @789pm you've experienced what is a typical sacking these days. I once had it explained to me by a HR colleague that mo matter how you handle a sacking, it's brutal. Psychologists say the quicker a person comes to terms with it the better, so being Marched off the premises etc is considered to help the sacked person come to terns with it. But it's shitty aggressive and just unwarranted. It happened to a friend of mine after 25 years and he was a director.

I resigned once and was put on gardening leave! I wasn't even going to a competitor, so I understand the feeling like you're being punished. The only advice I have is to look at gardening leave as a bonus - no work but with pay. Dust off your CV and look for something else, even take on temp work, but remember your almost ex-employer could call you in off gardening leave, so if you do get another job, keep it quiet cos you're still in contract... I did this, I landed a well paid contract and started working it with about 6 weeks left of my notice period. At the time, I thought f-them. They didn't call me in so it was no prob.

Good luck xxx

I'd focus on looking for a new job, once in the new job and references have been provided, leave a negative glassdoor review. It does make an impact as we only target companies over a certain level to work with as it indicates how they behave and whether they are a good culture fit. Also, any future candidates will know how they behave.

Hopefully, you will have a job offer soon and then you can then enjoy some gardening leave.

I have been there. I was terrified for the future. I got a good reference. I ended up finding another job that was much better in every respect - better hours, better work and nicer people. I took a tiny pay cut then but now many years later I am paid in say the top 5- 10% of salaries for my career. It took me a long while to get my confidence back and I have never fully trusted any management assurances ever after. (I am a manager now myself so I realise this is rather inconsistent but I never think management above me is telling me everything.) My rainy day fund gives me a lot of comfort.

Before I started my new job, I looked back at my performance, read a load of books on career management (which I don't even remember the titles of now) and with my new job made sure I didn't make any of what I now realise were mis-steps in my earlier career. I realised that no matter what anybody is telling you about valuable contributions what contributes to the bottom line or outputs is what counts. Do not get diverted into doing things that are time consuming but with no glory or recognition attached. That sort of thing is often pushed on to women gullible enough to take it on. You may be doing something useful for somebody else but if it's not contributing in some way to the bottom line - profits or outputs - you are on dangerous ground. (I am obviously not talking about support roles here.)

Focus on looking professional and confident at all times - cry silently in the ladies if you have to. Don't get a reputation as an inveterate nosey parker and don't indulge in salacious gossip but do talk to people so you get a feeling for what is happening in the organisation. Do not think just keeping your head down and working hard will save you either.

Developing a useful speciality in an area that is considered hard may be a plus but don't be too niche here. A new or developing area is ideal. This can be difficult to do but try to attach your train to somebody who is going somewhere in the organisation and will want to take smart capable loyal you with them. Working for a lame duck manager is not the way to prosper.

My industry is relatively small. People generally go quietly, even if they think they have been treated badly because they wouldn't want publicity. I think you need to concentrate on getting a decent reference out of them and finding a new job. Never publicly criticise them in any way or to new employers - I express only the most profound respect for anybody who has ever employed me even if they are fairly widely known as a near psychopath in the industry.

Try to work out what the people who haven't been let go were doing differently to you. It may be nothing at all - you just may have been the last hired or were too expensive or whatever. Did any of those kept on have a mentor or supporter who fought their corner? Mentors are good but hard to find but if you look like a winner you are more likely to find one. Seek out feedback - it may sting a bit but it's better to know and correct than having your boss silently getting crosser and crosser about something you are doing. People shy away from giving criticism to people because they feel awkward saying critical things to people. I am not saying that the criticism will always be valid but it's absolutely a window into what your boss thinks and it is better to find out sooner than later.

Good luck. I've been quite specific here because I think that people don't routinely share these views with women. If in doubt I always ask myself what a man would do which is sexist but useful.

So sorry, this is awful.

I'm sorry this has happened to you. The shock alone must have knocked you for six. I know somebody this has happened to twice in recent years - IT sector. One American company and one UK company. In both companies, later found out that other people had also been let go and more were let go a few months later as well.

Its a quick way of cutting finances.

If is an awful way to treat loyal employees. One even had a clause that no negative reviews could be left on glassdoor which needless to say was rightfully ignored!

Just a thought, but have you put any feelers out for another job lately with any competing company? That's often enough to get locked out of company knowledge asap. It could of just been a casual chat on the expensive course you went on, with someone from another firm, you might have thought it an off the record chat, but they could of fed back to your superiors that you'd be open to being headhunted. My best guess is something about the course they just se t you on, so think of the chats you had, and that might shed some light.

This is all new to me. I worked for the one employer 2/2/1975 until 16/7/2016 ... preceded by several well-paid casual jobs before Feb 1975 and lots of consultative work connected to my long career since ... eight years of 12-16 hour part-time and casual roles 40-45 weeks of the year when I'm not travelling or doing long sessions of full-on grandparenting.

Do you belong to a union, a guild or a professional association? If not, can you afford an industrial lawyer to go into bat for you? Do you want the company (or person/s in the company who pushed you out without adequate explanation) to give you worthy references and support within the same or an allied industry?

There were many times I used my union or government agencies to confront dodgy site bosses or line-managers in my career. Always, I was told that my detailed work diaries and contemporary meeting notes were my best self-defence against some of the half-baked, unimaginative tw@ts left in charge of me.

You do have good notes? Timely work diaries? Potential witnesses who will plead your case?

@789pm OP you sure you dont work for National Grid? As this is what they do!

Thats really rough! Do you have a contract? Can they terminate you with immediate effect? Hope you find another (better!) job soon.

I've been there and I know how horrible it feels. My advice is to try not to take it personally (really hard I know - I still feel a bit bitter about when I was made redundant, why it was me, and that was decades ago!).

Also every single person I know who has been made redundant has ended up doing something better. May be not immediately, but in the long run it has worked out to be a step to something better.

Were you allowed to get your coat and bag etc??

If they didn't include your accrued leave pay ie for leave you'd earned but had not taken (9 months could be 18 days if you didn't get round to taking any leave or less if you did) contact their HR dpt in writing and tell them they owe you £x for x days untaken leave pay. Tell them if they don't pay you within 7 days you'll be lodging a claim for unlawful deduction of wages at Tribunal.

@IainTorontoNSW whilst your advice might be relevant to your employment, it isn't relevant to this case.

unless @789pm can prove discrimination against a protected characteristic such as sex, race, disability etc, which they haven't mention in their OP, they don't have a case worthy of getting a solicitor involved. They don't have 2 years' employment rights and whilst they have been brutally and unceremonially dumped, which doesn't abide by recommended ACAS employment good practice, they would be better channelling their energy into finding new work. 9 months is nothing in the grand scheme of employment service.

It's the pits and companies really shouldn't be allowed to do this.

I'd be trying to squeeze three months pay out of them if I were you. Nothing ventured nothing gained....

So sorry to hear this OP. Brutal 😞
Wishing you all the best in finding your next job x

Epically shit way to run a company. Is there much out there in that sector? I must say I’d want closure, not ‘We’re restructuring’ bollocks.

So sorry you were treated this way.
Look at the positive side of it, you got that course under your belt.
Best luck finding a new job.

I think this is only if more than 20 redundancies are going to be made. Under 2 years' employment and you have minimal rights unfortunately

Obviously can’t comment on the op but if they don’t want you to go back to the department and speak to people no you can’t, they go and collect your stuff for you.