What would you do?

[Custardapples]

Imagine you’ve been working in a big organisation for nearly 3 years. Workload has been a bit intense sometimes but generally you have a positive experience. Immediate team members are lovely and you quickly become friends. Immediate manager is good, if a bit hands off when things get tricky.
The job is well paid enough (45k) and you are the main breadwinner. You feel competent in your role. You are able to work from home and this gives you flexibility.

Then the organisation announces a massive restructure. 50% of staff are being made redundant. You are keeping your job but the first stage of the restructure process (the so-called consultation) is just awful. Information comes out in dribs and drabs. Senior management make dismissive and belittling comments. Major issues with the proposed new structure are seemingly ignored. It’s getting harder to get anything done in terms of business as usual. Everything grinds to a halt.

You stick up for what you know is right. You carefully and in an evidence-based way highlight the issues and offer alternatives. You are part of the union and join initiatives and meetings to help move the conversation on. You put hours and hours of time into trying to fix what feels like a wrecking ball to the heart of the organisation. But these responses continue to be dismissed.

Just after consultation closes management release a report that was done months ago by an external consultant that highlights 90% of the issues you have been flagging with the reorganisation. It highlights that the changes proposed aren’t equitable for all groups and that management need to put in place mitigations to correct this. So they knew about the problems you have spent hours working on presenting to them and they didn’t tell you they knew nor did they pursue the mitigations suggested.

At this point what would you do? Jobs in your field are hens teeth. You still really like your colleagues and you have a lot of past positive experience of the organisation. But your mental health is suffering now and the atmosphere at work is dreadful.

Stick it out in the hope this self-corrects?
Apply elsewhere and potentially take a salary cut?

And if you stick it out how do you avoid turning into a nervous wreck? You’re already not sleeping and crying at the end of the day and need to find some coping strategies.

I would be actively looking, but be prepared to stick it out if that's options are poor....

I would also be actively looking for something else. Id be worried that workload after the restructure would become unmanageable. I've been somewhere after a team was massively reduced and we just couldn't do our jobs properly and it became really demoralising and unsatisfying that I felt I couldn't do a good job and was just firefighting all the time.

I would stick it out.
Try to keep in mind that the higher ups know full well what the problems are, they have the greater responsibility to make changes/adjustments.
Try not to let it all stress you. Keep doing what they pay you to do, keep a record of any important issues in email format.

My partner is in a similar organisation regarding the restructure only he is now 3 months into the new ‘job’ , loads of his colleagues are starting to leave / get signed off with stress , he’s a healthy, steady individual that works hard , loves his job and has always put in many extra hours but even with around 20 + hours above required hours per week he finds he can never catch up ,there just isn’t enough people left in the company to get the work load done , he’s reaching towards melt down now and I’m starting to get worried for his wellbeing . I can’t answer your question I think many companies are similar to this

Short answer stay but work only within your role and look for a better new job.

Firstly you will have a load of transferrable skills and long term will be able to find a job which fits you needs. It may not be the same as your current neich role bit there are a number of jobs which your skillset will fit.

NB go to your GP and get help as no one should be so distressed over their job.

the atmosphere at work is dreadful.

This is totally normal when massive disruptive change of any kind happens. Add in people have been stressing over their jobs and are seeing others loose jobs then just going to work will be hard and stressful.

The mess will sort itself out and begin to settle into the new normal. Even after new process begin the changes will continue to throw up problems for a business cycle or two.

So you need to step back and pace yourself having a emotional connection to the company or the work is over investing yourself.

Senior managers have shown that they do not value the input of the people(you) involved in managing the change. You "owe" them nothing other than doing your role per your contract.

Sorry to be blunt but anyone on 45k is not "management" level in a big organisation.

You need to understand at the end of the day you work for Custardapples Ltd not Big Org Ltd.

You as CEO of Custardapples Ltd subcontract your time to BOL but have a responsibility to make sure that your business is a going concern.

To be a going concern you need to be healthy and have good mental health by NB understand your limitations. And understanding the contract terms you signed up to.

You are not a profit participant in BOL you are a cost element which is required to maximize their profits.

You are being contracted to do the same job as you were doing before the cost savings excercise that BOL decided was in their best interest.

The cost cutting exercise said that your role should stay the same and be paid out at the same 45k rate.

BOL will have paid the outside contractor multiples of your contract rate to create their plan. BOL had decided that the risks and the business failings which were highlighted were outweighed by the reward of profit.

On a positive note.

You were not paid to carry out the consultants work and you may not have had the same skill set yet in very crap working conditions you managed to produce a body of work which confirmed the consultant report.

Pat your self on the back for that body of work and revise your CV to reflect your skill and learning.

You’re already not sleeping and crying at the end of the day

Why are you doing this?

Your role is safe so its time to let go of the stress.

Are you the type who takes on ownership of problem situations or is the pressure coming from an external source?

You are not and were never a decision maker in the process. No matter how long or how hard you worked you were not going to be able to make any material change to the overall plan.

You got pulled into a process that you could not control or even infulance the outcome. Your senior managers did not even have the management skills to tell you that nothing was going to change the framework and that once started they were going to go through the motions to meet the legal requirements of a reorganisation.

You are Custardapples Ltd

If you pull out your job description and only do the tasks listed and nothing more will you still be paid?

If you double your workload and take on extra work will the company provide you with extra money?

If you solve the problems which will happen due to the change in the business do you get paid extra?

You need to step back into the role you are being paid for and mentally let go of the extras that you ended up taking on.

You need to work to get paid so that you can buy food and pay for your home. Keep in mind that your job is only a tool you use to do that.

Start each day by asking yourself is anything so important going to happen today that a year after you left that someone will be begging you to come back?

What is making you worry at night?

Why are you crying at the end of the day?

Is it the pressure from the lingering fear that you could have lost your job or is it something else?

Guilt that you still have a job when others lost theirs?

Or is the management expecting you to carry out a new role and work extra to solve the problems they created?

And on a general note do a money health check on where you are financially to see if you can reduce your worries on that front too.

I would suggest that you work on your CV and send it out.

You have "discovered" that a good work place is a key requirement to you enjoying your role so you need to think if you would change your role and job tasks to keep the good work culture.

Or would you move jobs and put up with a slightly less toxic workplace to keep your role?

You have a job which pays the bill so there is no race to get a new one. Take the time to find one which fits and be open to it being your current one if you can let go of the stress involved.

NB go to your GP asap.

Massive thanks for all the responses and especially to @AnSolas That is genuinely the most helpful thing anyone has said to me during this whole process.

I think the stress is from:

• I’m safe for now but I worry that they’re are going to make more shifts and that I won’t make the next cut
• Because I’m safe I feel responsible for trying to help other colleagues who are at risk when I know they are doing a brilliant job
• I’m worried about the workload that’s coming as some of the changes just seem to make no sense in terms of who is actually going to do tasks
• I’m autistic so I tend to have a really strong sense of justice and find change really difficult

Thank you for the response. It’s given me lots to think about.

And I love the perspective that I was able to do what the external consultant did without being paid what they were or given the time they were. That gives me a boost - even if it didn’t work I’ve got some skills there.
I’ve had lots of lovely thank you messages from colleagues regarding the work I have done, so that’s helping too.

@AnSolas thats a bloody outstanding post - perfect for anyone facing disruption in the workplace or who is over invested in their work. 👏👏👏👏

I’m safe for now but I worry that they’re are going to make more shifts and that I won’t make the next cut

You don’t have control over this, so try to put it in a box somewhere out of the way. You can look at your finances and see if there’s a way to create some wiggle room by creating/increasing any emergency fund you might have in savings. You can look at the job market and think about what might be next for you if you do get cut. You can set healthy boundaries for yourself so you are not overwhelmed by uncertainty.

Because I’m safe I feel responsible for trying to help other colleagues who are at risk when I know they are doing a brilliant job

You have no responsibility for what has happened to other people, that was a corporate decision that you weren’t involved in. You tried to advocate against the changes and your employer went a different way. You can care how people feel, have empathy for them, value the brilliant work they are doing but don’t set yourself on fire to keep others warm.

I’ worried about the workload that’s coming as some of the changes just seem to make no sense in terms of who is actually going to do tasks

It’s not your job to work out how it all gets done, the management team who agreed the restructure need to work that out. Keep clear boundaries around your workload. When presented with additional tasks decide whether you can incorporate them into your workload or not, and what might need to be deprioritised to allow you to do that. Decide now how much time you are prepared to give to your workplace and if you can’t accommodate any additional tasks within that, agree what you will put down to pick up X. Do not keep extending your working hours to accommodate work needed as a result of the restructure.

I’m autistic so I tend to have a really strong sense of justice and find change really difficult

This is something you know is an issue for you, so when you’re feeling that sense of justice remind yourself that, for you, it’s a feature of the way you think. In this situation you can’t achieve justice for everyone because that isn’t your role here. You can’t achieve justice support others but ultimately the decision making, and any injustice, belongs to someone else. My DD is autistic and what helps her sometimes is to recognise “that’s the autism speaking/thinking”, by which she means she doesn’t need to take it on board, she can acknowledge those feelings and let them go.

Change is difficult, what usually helps you cope with change - can you do any of those things or can you accept that you find change hard and that things will feel different (for better or worse) once you’re through this part at which time you can make decisions that suit you.

Remember that no decision is final, so staying to see how things settle down doesn’t mean you can’t decide to leave later if it doesn’t suit you. My inclination would be to hang on and see how the new structure plays out, build my savings so I have some wiggle room and decide to leave if I don’t like it.

Apply apply apply! I was just laid off after 3 years and they had been doing it in dribs and drabs before then and it’s still going on. Company has got too big and inefficient yet they still need the CEO to get his massive salary! My old place is not replacing anyone making I harder on everyone else. Pay rise was rubbish and bonus really scaled back. Promotions permanently delayed etc