Reply to: Redundancy….

[psychocandy]

My last permie employer made it clear that anyone caught working during garden leave would face the termination of the agreement. Twats.

I went on a course (kindly paid for by the welsh government) about 2 weeks before the end of my garden leave. I phoned them to tell them and they were even a bit off about this which I thought was being a bit unreasonable.

They said, because of the training, I was not available to come in if they requested. FFS - I'd been on garden leave for 6 weeks with not a sniff and had 2 official weeks left.

[vetran]

Agree, some of my ex colleagues have ended up in trouble having been caught working on Garden leave.

some training courses (get them to pay for them) may be worth investigating.

[northernladuk]

Be careful about starting contracts while still on garden leave though. Employee can still legally ask you to come back to work.

Also, you may find that compromise agreement will say that you cant work during garden leave. Might be a bit off if employer finds out and then whole agreement is invalid because of it.

I know people who did it when I went but they were crapping it in case employer found out.

Good luck with the job/contract hunt though. Nothing better than getting a wad of redundancy money and then walking straight into a decent contract :-)

+1 to this. Some employment contracts don't allow you to work elsewhere whilst being employed let alone the gardening leave issue. I would personally ask HR about this one specifically. I don't think they will move to block this and you are not showing your hand to them. You have an issue and it is fair to ask them. I personally have been called back to work during gardening leave when a new role came up and you being unavailable could have some serious consequences. Get clarrification before jumping in IMO.

[psychocandy]

Be careful about starting contracts while still on garden leave though. Employee can still legally ask you to come back to work.

Also, you may find that compromise agreement will say that you cant work during garden leave. Might be a bit off if employer finds out and then whole agreement is invalid because of it.

I know people who did it when I went but they were crapping it in case employer found out.

Good luck with the job/contract hunt though. Nothing better than getting a wad of redundancy money and then walking straight into a decent contract :-)

[Gruffalo]

Thanks for the advice chaps.

Compromise agreement was the only route given how the whole thing has been.

I am sorted financially until March, but if you take the cost of travel (on garden leave) and tax break, this is equivalent to the end of May, so I consider this a real result.

CV has been updated with good support from my colleagues, many are very decent people who are very envious of my lucrative escape. My boss was clearing his desk at the same time as me. Smiling as much as I was.

Have a couple of chats with agents, one interview already, hoping to get a couple more tomorrow, so looking fairly promising to get on with things. If anyone knows of any testing contracts around the North West, I am all set for returning to the dark side

Top advice peeps - Many, many thanks. It helped a lot.

Off for a much needed weekend break on Friday, but nose back to that jobserve grindstone for now..... Not a great deal out there, but early days of hunting!

[SantaClaus]

Of course, if you're in the public sector, there's always the discrimination card.

Build up a case of racial/sexual discrimination and use it to negotiate a bigger payoff before you leave.

[Sausage Surprise]

Wilmslow has just left the building.
Expect the imminent return of Wilmslow.

[OwlHoot]

Been involved in this a couple of times from the mgmt side. Thing that struck me is that it was all completely sorted out from the company side, who they wanted, new org chart, how they would score it all to make the outcome match what they wanted, who would handle the discussions etc etc etc. Way before they let anyone affected know.
Then they claim its all under construction, everyone will be given a fair chance etc.
When this does happen it often gives good opportunities to some people who are favoured. As a contractor its easy to say take the cash and run but it can be a nightmare for the people involved.

Mass layoffs are also usually completely disconnected from any consideration of the relative merits and experience of employees. So they'll often let key people go, and keep muppets who one might think would be first for the chop.

A last in first out policy, to minimize redundancy costs, obviously has the side effect of tending to keep experienced staff. But gaining that advantage is purely coincidental.

[northernladuk]

Didn't read all the responses but remember they must make the role redundant not the person. If they get rid of you and someone steps in to your boots they are breaking the law.

Of course it is much more complicated than that but that is a good basis to understand if this is right or not.

[speling bee]

Some advice:

Get an agent and prepare a list of all your contacts and then hand them over. Your career will take off

+1

PM Dodgy your manager's and HR lead's names and he'll take it from there.

[DodgyAgent]

Some advice:

Get an agent and prepare a list of all your contacts and then hand them over. Your career will take off

[vetran]

yep there is only one important party in this - YOU.

They are stiffing you make sure get the maximum you can. Take Garden leave if you can, don't go to the wire working yourself into an early grave, they won't thank you.

Also its 3 months for it to go tits up and which increases the chance of you being hired back on a suitable day rate to fix. I trebled my day rate to pop in and do 10 minutes of work. result.

[psychocandy]

Agree with what escapeUK says. Yes, there are laws and they've got to do it properly, follow the procedure, do the selection thing etc.

But, basically, its all bollacks. Companies can get rid of who they want because they know they can pay lip service to doing it properly. Yeh they make sure they follow the procedure and do all the paperwork, at risk etc.

Also, they know that they can offer a little more money, and get staff to sign a compromise agreement anyway.

Been made redundant 4 times in 10 years from permie jobs so I've seen a bit of it. Got a solicitor friend whos an employment law specialist and a few times I've engaged him.

Small company whos MD turned up one day and said sorry mate. Couldn't even be arsed to find out correct procedure. Mate got me an extra months pay out of that one.

Another place decided me and a few others were going to suspended unless we signed compromise agreement. Mate advised me to take the extra money. Not worth taking further.

Big multi-national. Looked like they did it all properly but they didnt really. I volunteered and signed compromise to get more money.

Bottom line is if companies want you gone thats it. You might be able to screw them for a bit more but basically thats it.

My current client is the same. Loads of redundancies but the contractors are rolling in. Permies = head count, contractors dont count. LOL. Suits me for now.

[eek]

Been involved in this a couple of times from the mgmt side. Thing that struck me is that it was all completely sorted out from the company side, who they wanted, new org chart, how they would score it all to make the outcome match what they wanted, who would handle the discussions etc etc etc. Way before they let anyone affected know.
Then they claim its all under construction, everyone will be given a fair chance etc.
When this does happen it often gives good opportunities to some people who are favoured. As a contractor its easy to say take the cash and run but it can be a nightmare for the people involved.

But having been there and done that, the best advice is to accept it and get on with the next stage of your life.

Yes it ain't pleasant but any other approach will lead to greater mental problems.

[lukemg]

Been involved in this a couple of times from the mgmt side. Thing that struck me is that it was all completely sorted out from the company side, who they wanted, new org chart, how they would score it all to make the outcome match what they wanted, who would handle the discussions etc etc etc. Way before they let anyone affected know.
Then they claim its all under construction, everyone will be given a fair chance etc.
When this does happen it often gives good opportunities to some people who are favoured. As a contractor its easy to say take the cash and run but it can be a nightmare for the people involved.