Voluntary redundancy query - looking for HR opinion

[Llan349]

My question is - when can you request voluntary redundancy?

I have been in my role seven years, in the last year my responsibility and workload has diminished and particularly in the last five months since a company restructure and merger. Diminished in that I have very little to do. This is due to a combination of things - company plans and change in strategy. I'm at a senior level, have continually offered to take things on and asked my manager for more but the answer continues to be that we are in a holding pattern following the restructure with everything in chaos and so it's hard to plan and distribute work. In the restructure prominent, valuable roles were lost whilst mine remained which made little sense. I pointed this out at the time but had little comment back.

I'm at a loss at what to do other than look for a new role . It seems unfair I have to do this when my work isn't providing me with work to do...hence my question. Can I point out this ridiculous situation to HR/higher up and ask for voluntary as I'm clearly not needed or do I risk being earmarked as a flight risk or problem?

Many would say to keep quiet, enjoy not having anything to do but it's effecting my confidence and I want a job where I feel valued.

TIA

I’d just look for another job
Redundancy is a last resort they’d probably redeploy u

My mum did and took redundancy (although it took forever). They merged, a central team took over 90% of my mum’s team’s work and they were left sharing the 10% between 10 of them. Mum was bored to tears and took a book to read most days for 3 months until they finally agreed to make her redundant. While she could have been paid for longer doing nothing, it was soul destroying so she begged for redundancy.

There’s no entitlement to be made redundant. You can only continue to point out you have nothing to do and look for another job

Thanks for the comments, redundancy might be wishful thinking and might just be better leaving and righting off the experience

It strikes me that you have a few options:

• resign - keeps it simple, honourable and on your terms
• ask for a settlement for a smooth exit - if you’re senior they might be open to this to ensure a peaceful transition and dampen any drama. I’d approach your HRBP to informally test the waters. You’d not get much, but more than resignation (for us it would be notice / pay in lieu of notice + shares + 1m in this scenario)
• sit back and ride it out as long as they’ll have you. Take up a hobby, start something on the side, look for a new role. Something to make the day to day meaningful.

What’s your wider situation, in the labour market and financially?

Asking since that’d affect what I’d do.

If uncertain about my prospects of getting another job and needing to keep working, I wouldn’t draw attention to my situation at work and would apply for internal opportunities.

If had good prospects of getting another job elsewhere would probably raise the lack of work and focus on training, working on CV and job application and interview prep.

I'm in a similar situation due to restructuring, I'm an EA and have seen my workload drop by 75% in the past 12 months, 2 of my executives were made redundant last year (I did get a replacement but they don't need me as much) and now one of my remaining executives has been given to someone else without warning or consultation (I was and still am in the middle of projects for them which I'm now supposed to handover to someone else) and my work has completely fallen off a cliff.

It's really hard not having work to do, it has really knocked my confidence in my own abilities. I came back from a week's holiday and had nothing but junk and generic emails in my inbox, I used to have work waiting for me. I used to be busy.

If it carries on like this I'm going to start going to the gym at 10/11am when it's quiet and do my food shop without feeling guilty.

Had i known it would end up like this I would have applied for voluntary redundancy when it was available last year. But the job market is awful at the moment and I have a mortgage to pay and it's only me so I don't even have a second salary to fall back on.

So you have my suppprt, wish I knew the answer!

Wow, thank you for the thoughts and suggestions. It's a relief to hear I'm not alone in such a ridiculous situation but also appreciate the very sensible advice about wider job market. Finding meaning in the everyday is exactly what I need in the short term so I'm going to forget about feeling bad as it's not helping anyone and it's not my fault. I'm going to get my CV sorted and start looking to take back some control and not feel guilty for a situation not of my making.

@ForWiseRoseCat out of interest, what have they said to you when you have pointed out you have nothing to do? Are they bothered?

@Llan349 when I mentioned it to my manager, he suggested I have a think about if there's anything I'd like to take on, and it's alright to say this isn't for me anymore (I love being an EA though). So it's fallen back on me to find work to do but I don't just want to take on work that other people don't want to do. I want to do the job I was employed to do.

Yes I'm getting the same type of comments, it seems they don't want to take responsibility for any of it. I hope you find a way forward with it!