Redundancy, how does it work?

[ilscuro]

My job seems safe for now but rumours are spreading around the factory where i work that all is not well.

Does anyone know if there is a legal procedure management have to follow when choosing workers for redundancy?

Does it go off attendance, skill level, length of service etc, anything else?

The reason i ask is because where i work is a bit different, to other places i've worked, in that there are lots of management's friends and relatives working there, all of whom have less length of service, and lower skill level, than i do, but i can't help worrying if it does happen, i'll be chosen before any of them will.

Cheers.

[CzarJunkie]

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employme...cy/DG_10026616

[MsDG]

Years ago, when company's made people redundant the boss used just pick on the people they wanted to get rid of.

These days we have rules supposedly to stop all that. They now need to set a criteria and score people against the set criteria. However, its got to be said that this has changed very little. True, some criteria can't be fiddled (like general punctuality), however when it comes down it the majority of your "rating" is scored purely from the opinion of your boss. Now if your boss wants to get rid of you, he will generally give you low scores. Yeah OK, he can't be too outrageous otherwise you can contest it. However, all he has to do is mark down the people he dislikes slightly and mark up the people he wants to keep slightly and the job is done. To make things worse, they will tell individuals that the ratings are strictly private... and if you try to compare your score to that obvious high scoring lazy arse in the company, they will simply say that they can only talk to you about your individual situation and cannot enter into score comparisons.

Be warned, in your situation the redundancy line up will probably be on going now. Sometimes bosses will down mark appraisals of staff a year before redundancy, so that when the redundancies do arrive, they can reference your shit appraisal from last year.

Bottom line is, if your boss rates you now, you will probably stay, if you are getting quite low appraisals now he is lining you up for the big heave ho! Unfortunately, despite the government legislation its still easy for employers to pick and choose who they want to leave.

[ilscuro]

Looks like it will get interesting then because, i have 10 years experience working on the German machines we have installed, which is more than double the next person, plus in the 4 and a half years i've been with the company, i've never been later or had a day off, so i can't for the life of me see how he could give me a bad score, but you never know lol.

Time will tell i suppose.

[Thrush]

If you're that worried why not start looking around the job market to see if there is anything else out there that needs your current skill set.

Nothing wrong with being pro-active. Might make things easier especially if you are made redundant with x-amount of other workers. (everyone will be looking for that same job)

[flumperino]

Hope it goes ok for you mate.

I hate it in companies when management employ (existing) friends, and especially relatives - it just invites unprofessional and dodgy practice, and as one of the non-relatives, you always feel like you are walking on eggshells.

[ilscuro]

If you're that worried why not start looking around the job market to see if there is anything else out there that needs your current skill set.

Nothing wrong with being pro-active. Might make things easier especially if you are made redundant with x-amount of other workers. (everyone will be looking for that same job)

Mate i have class1 LGV and also class 1 PCV (buses) licenses, as well as reach, counter balance, Bendi and rough terrain, fork lift truck licenses, i'm not in the least bit worried about getting another job, i just like it here lol

Hope it goes ok for you mate.

I hate it in companies when management employ (existing) friends, and especially relatives - it just invites unprofessional and dodgy practice, and as one of the non-relatives, you always feel like you are walking on eggshells.

Exactly mate, but the way the country is, bosses seem to be able to do what the fuck they want.

[Armoured Hawk]

Hope thing's work out mate. You always have acas on your side if anything happens untoward, just keep plenty of records of what's being discussed if you have a formal meeting and this will help you later on if anything goes tit's up. If it's fair then it should run on a point's system taking into account absence, time keeping, disciplinary record etc and length of service.

[Karoline]

Hope it goes ok for you mate.

I hate it in companies when management employ (existing) friends, and especially relatives - it just invites unprofessional and dodgy practice, and as one of the non-relatives, you always feel like you are walking on eggshells.

We have that same situation, my current manager has always been really nice, but for 3 years i have been there, she always spent most of her time in her office. Since employing one of her best friends, she seems to spend more time outside the office, and with her friend. Who then gets behind with her work because they chat so much... but then this gives my manager the excuse to stay with her and help...
Thing is, when her friend has a day off, you never see her, and she never helps anyone else, even if they are genuinely struggling.

Something in the past at my work was just about to happen, regarding me and a co worker (relationship ways) This co-worker confided in my managers friend and told her a lot of things. Needless to say, the manager and her friend both knew what was going to happen before me...

Never trust anyone!


So what i am saying, is that, i dont think it is really fair on every other colleague, if one of the workers is friends with management.




I hope it goes well for you.

What you have described is that you are a really great worker, i would employ you any day. They would be silly to get rid of you, especially with all the skills you have.
I know most companies do redundancy on a points system . I'm sure you'd do good in it.
Sometimes also, companies offer voluntary redundancy first, maybe this is what will happen ??

[Over Carl]

I see three options:

1. Fuck it and see what happens. No work on your behalf and fingers crossed it works out ok.
2. Pre empt and find work elsewhere.
3. Start documenting things - emails, actions, all sorts. At least if you do get pushed you hopefully should have a good case for unfair dismissal.

[ilscuro]

If it does happen, and i hope it doesn't i may just take the money, though it wont be that much, and run, go live in Italy at my parents house lol, i'm not the type to sit around doing nothing, i'd be bored to death lazing around in the sun, but we shall see.

Thanks for all the replies.

[lloydi]

Just been through this at my place, luckily kept my job, but it all boiled down to a scoring system based on the previous 3 years eg skills, attendance, teamwork, loyalty to company etc, was a stressful 2 weeks while the process was done but happy I kept my job.

[Sanj[UK]]

I'm in the same possible boat as my company just lost a very big contract. Its given me the motivation to get deeply qualified. I'm planning to ask for early redundancy some time next year.

[matthewy2]

Been through the redundancy process twice this year.

First time it was me and another lad for 1 position. When I seen the questions and scores I knew they had been questioned in a way that would make me score much higher then him.

After about a month of this they told us we where both staying on for the time being.

Last month I heard a rumour that we where both going to be made redundant again. This time I'd had enough so I sorted another job out after a few hours and waited for the phone call.

When I got called up to the mds office I just told him what I thought about the situation and that I needed to further my career, could he make me redundant.

I didn't want to keep my job and live in fear of losing my job.

So on Friday I'll get 4k in my bank and start me new job Monday.

Good luck with it all mate. My advice would be don't live in fear

[Over Carl]

I'm in the same possible boat as my company just lost a very big contract. Its given me the motivation to get deeply qualified. I'm planning to ask for early redundancy some time next year.

I beileve you started in your first IT role around a similar time to me (about 3 years ago?). I'm getting seriously fucked off with my firm as I seem to be responsible for everything that is IT but they only wish to recognise me at a junior level. This week will be interesting - either I will be getting prompted soon or the firm will sack me. Either way I've got myself a load of old servers and will have my technet sub and microsoft books very soon and intend on making good use of these.

[4me2]

I'm pretty sure you first need to formerly told of your job being at risk in writing.

Then you start a consultation period that varies in length depending on the number of employees.

I've been through a couple of times in large firms.

This link should explain things better:

http://www.tradeangles.fsbusiness.co...redundancy.htm

[Sanj[UK]]

I beileve you started in your first IT role around a similar time to me (about 3 years ago?). I'm getting seriously fucked off with my firm as I seem to be responsible for everything that is IT but they only wish to recognise me at a junior level. This week will be interesting - either I will be getting prompted soon or the firm will sack me. Either way I've got myself a load of old servers and will have my technet sub and microsoft books very soon and intend on making good use of these.

Yeah 3 years ago, straight after uni. I started as a 1st line engineer, got promoted to network field engineer and now I'm lingering on my next move. I got my ccna exam next month (I keep changing the date) but i cant be arsed to study after Ive been looking at a computer screen all day. The BIG thing I've learnt since i started working full time is that experience matters above everything else. I wasted a lot of time going by going to uni.

[RSV]

I kind of skimmed over this process a couple of years ago from the other side (Part owner of the company) now as i said i only skimmed over this as one of the other directors dealt with it.
We had to reduce our labour force to cut expendature. First we had to put all of our employee's on notice for up to a month explaining the situation, offering voluntary redundancy and also asking if any of our employee's had any suggestions that could help save money and eliminate the need to make redundancies. This was all written in a letter and given to all of our employees. Cant remember exactly how we sorted out moneys but i think it was something like they had a weeks paid notice for every year they'd worked for us (we didn't make them work their notice just sent them home with pay) then i think on top of that they had a weeks wages for every years service as redundancy pay.
Now the selection process for us was supposed to be done on a scoring system as allready mentioned with attendance, punctuality etc etc but we allready knew who we wanted out and would have made the scores up to get rid of these undesireable employee's if we would have needed. As it turned out one of them had a massive row with one of our customers and with one of our directors on the day that they got issued their initial notice so he took the voluntary redundancy and the other guy got caught on our cctv stealing cable from our depot to weigh in for scrap so he had no comeback on anything anyway.