Call with colleague who’s been made redundant

[Fluffalumpper]

Hi All,

I’m looking for advice.

i’ve been with my company a year and my colleague, who’s the only person in the company with the same job description, has been here for 9 years. We’re in a team of 10.

Out of the blue it was announced on Monday that my colleague has been made redundant. Everyone’s pretty shaken and our manager wasn’t supportive of any of us being made redundant but had to make the decision.

For the last year I’ve worked closely with my colleague and we have a good relationship but understand I’m probably not the person she wants to speak to at the moment (we work remotely) so I’ve given her space.

We have a call tomorrow which was planned prior to this happening. I’ve left it in the calendar to give them the option of attending.

Has anyone had any experience of this and can give advice about how to approach the call?

You mention she is in a different country. I wonder if it's because of that and the rules of that country it was easier for them to 'chose' her rather than go through the UK requirements.

My team was told of redundancies two weeks ago and I have been amazed at all the other collegues who haven't even mentioned it. A friendly and simple "so sorry to hear the news - you must be really shocked" comment is really appreciated.

@Soontobe60 it is a financial decision, she’s very good at the job but I have a lot more experience and my manager was forced to pick someone.
I would completely understand if she was hostile towards me but she knows I didn’t make the decision and I really don’t want her to go. I’m not forcing her to stay in touch with me, I’ve just offered help to find a job if she wants it and have left it like that.
She chose to be “pally pally” on the call because we have got along really well together and I’m grateful and amazed she could be so nice under the circumstances.

@helpfulperson i’ve been at the company less than 2 years (as has another team member who was also considered) so they could have easily just sacked me without repercussions. They’re having to pay her redundancy money.

This does not sound like redundancy.

Jobs are made redundant, not people...

If you are doing a similar role, a proper redundancy process would have involved you as well or the entire team, have clear criteria for selection and it would be unlikely that someone with 9 years experience would end up without a job at the end of it while you, with only a year experience would stay on.

It is likely there is something else going on and the company has chosen to pass it as 'redundancy'.

If the 2 similar jobs are in different countries then uk redundancy rules don’t apply to the overseas person. So it makes sense to me they can just remove person who does x overseas without considering person in the uk.

The secretive redundancy at my company was absolutely about getting rid of personalities and those close to a member of senior management that was prompted to take early retirement. It was handled awfully but carefully to the letter of the law.
I've heard practically nothing from my line manager since redundancy. I even had to return my pass and IT equipment to an empty office!
A few people have passed on job adverts which I have been appreciative of and just periodically people touching base to see every month or so to see how I'm doing.

@Superscientist I’m trying to get the balance of not bombarding her with my presence but also not treating her like a pariah. I’ve checked with her this morning whether she wants to still come to a training meeting next week (which she does) and I’m including her in all the useful emails. She’s reached out this morning to me to tell me about job searching support provided by HR so we’ve had a quick chat about that.
I’ve worked in companies before where people leaving either through choice or redundancy is treated like a disease to be avoided in discussion at all costs. It’s dreadful so sorry this is happened to you.

@Fluffalumpper thanks, it was pretty rubbish but talking to those that are left I think I'm better off out of the company than in it.

Giving her space and options sounds a good idea so she can do things based on what she is able to do at the time

Not a drip feed, we haven’t been told the reason for the choice or really what the process was. This is just one possible reason that I can see.

I was asking for advice about how to deal with the call. The legality or not of the redundancy was raised by you and where the colleague lives has nothing to do with my question and so wasn’t included.