Warwick December 2013 "We'd rather like you to leave. You're blocking the path for younger people"
01/12/13 15:36
The company I work for is going through another restructuring exercise. Having worked for them for forty years I've seen a few of these in my time, probably one every five years so you'd have thought they would have got it right by now. The threat of redundancies hangs in the air or rather the promise of early release for a select few based on past practice. I'm not too worried as my team is doing a great job and I'm getting top annual performance reviews so it should have minimal impact on us. They've brought in outside consultants to advise them which I always find a little odd as people inside the business should have a better idea of what is working or not. I remember back to when I did my MBA we would joke that you bring consultants in so they take the blame if things go wrong and they get well paid for telling management what they want to hear. Still rumours persist that there will be a significant change in the way the business operates and we wait for the restructuring documents to come out. I am not one of those who is in a hurry to retire but I have a good financial reason for that. Some years ago I ran out of money and had to make a deal with my creditors to pay them back over five years and that deal still has a few more months to run. Should I be made redundant before May next year then any money I get will go to my creditors so I'm not planning to leave.
The day finally comes when we are called in for a meeting to discuss how the proposals will impact on our part of the business. Copies of the restructuring document are made available to us and that includes details of what jobs will be available. Of course I immediately look for how it will impact me and then my team members and I am shocked, my team is split in two and those bits are merged into other existing teams. I look for a role for myself and find one that is my grade but a definite demotion in terms of what I had been doing before. I've been in worse places during my career but this is not a good outcome for me as I had hoped to get another five years of work before retirement. After absorbing the news and going through the emotions that arise from an unwelcome change it is time to take stock of where I am and what is likely to happen to me. I can apply for the job of managing a team of one (instead of the nine I currently have) and resolve to do that. Friends are coming to me to see what my plans are and some of them are hopeful they will be selected for the redundancy pay off but my situation is much different. If I have to leave now then I'll lose the redundancy payment and need to get another job to pay off my debt. It is not looking good.
A meeting is arranged to discuss my future and I arrive to find two of my colleagues waiting for me, these being the managers who will be taking over my team members. This is as difficult a situation for them as it is for me as only a month earlier we were all of a similar grade. I am asked what my aspirations are and answer that I am hopeful of getting the role that will manage the residual part of my current teams workload. They look at each other and one of them speaks. "We were hoping you would leave. You're blocking the career path for younger people". Now do not get upset at the words used, these two people are my friends not some faceless individual from the HR department. Maybe they could have said it in a different way but the message was clear, my working life for this company is coming to an end. However, in the discussions that follow I discover they wish to keep me on for a few more months and they are willing to give me a "top dollar" redundancy package as a reward for my work. I look at the documents they show me and there are two things that are significant and worth mentioning here. The payment I am being offered is similar to the amount of money I lost through bad investments and the leaving date is set for three days after the deal I have with my creditors is completed. None of my redundancy money will need to be forfeited!
It's an odd feeling to know that in a few months time I'll have sufficient money to be able to go on a holiday, something I've not done for some years. I mull over my options, maybe I'll do another car trip around Europe or visit different parts of the UK? Or maybe a real foreign holiday, I've never had one of those. I can afford to go to the Maldives, Seychelles or Malaysia? Now wait just a minute, Malaysia is where this lady I speak to every week lives and now I can afford to visit there. I've never been to SE Asia but I will have the opportunity to do so. This is a completely unexpected turn of events and I start to seriously wonder what she is like.
The day finally comes when we are called in for a meeting to discuss how the proposals will impact on our part of the business. Copies of the restructuring document are made available to us and that includes details of what jobs will be available. Of course I immediately look for how it will impact me and then my team members and I am shocked, my team is split in two and those bits are merged into other existing teams. I look for a role for myself and find one that is my grade but a definite demotion in terms of what I had been doing before. I've been in worse places during my career but this is not a good outcome for me as I had hoped to get another five years of work before retirement. After absorbing the news and going through the emotions that arise from an unwelcome change it is time to take stock of where I am and what is likely to happen to me. I can apply for the job of managing a team of one (instead of the nine I currently have) and resolve to do that. Friends are coming to me to see what my plans are and some of them are hopeful they will be selected for the redundancy pay off but my situation is much different. If I have to leave now then I'll lose the redundancy payment and need to get another job to pay off my debt. It is not looking good.
A meeting is arranged to discuss my future and I arrive to find two of my colleagues waiting for me, these being the managers who will be taking over my team members. This is as difficult a situation for them as it is for me as only a month earlier we were all of a similar grade. I am asked what my aspirations are and answer that I am hopeful of getting the role that will manage the residual part of my current teams workload. They look at each other and one of them speaks. "We were hoping you would leave. You're blocking the career path for younger people". Now do not get upset at the words used, these two people are my friends not some faceless individual from the HR department. Maybe they could have said it in a different way but the message was clear, my working life for this company is coming to an end. However, in the discussions that follow I discover they wish to keep me on for a few more months and they are willing to give me a "top dollar" redundancy package as a reward for my work. I look at the documents they show me and there are two things that are significant and worth mentioning here. The payment I am being offered is similar to the amount of money I lost through bad investments and the leaving date is set for three days after the deal I have with my creditors is completed. None of my redundancy money will need to be forfeited!
It's an odd feeling to know that in a few months time I'll have sufficient money to be able to go on a holiday, something I've not done for some years. I mull over my options, maybe I'll do another car trip around Europe or visit different parts of the UK? Or maybe a real foreign holiday, I've never had one of those. I can afford to go to the Maldives, Seychelles or Malaysia? Now wait just a minute, Malaysia is where this lady I speak to every week lives and now I can afford to visit there. I've never been to SE Asia but I will have the opportunity to do so. This is a completely unexpected turn of events and I start to seriously wonder what she is like.