Surviving Sudden Redundancy

In these current economic times of uncertainty and unexpected failings within the financial power-houses, we are hearing about more and more companies having to face the unthinkable task of reducing their overheads by downsizing their workforce.

Whilst some of the big blue-chip companies will have the option of reducing their dependency on the temporary sources, such as contractors and perhaps reducing their outsourcing budgets many will face the only other option – redundancy.

From the perspective of the workforce, a voluntary redundancy package may seem attractive – perhaps you are close enough to retirement age and have a good pension so that it would be no hardship for you to take a “deal” however small it may be.

However, for the majority (especially here in the UK) in-voluntary or compulsory redundancy is likely to be the norm.

So how can you face this daunting, perhaps frightening prospect and survive the process – coming out the other side ready to face the challenges of the next era of your life ?

Don’t panic. Take deep breaths. Stay Calm.

We’re human. We’re react differently – some worse than others. There are usually two types of character that surface given this scenario, which you’ve probably come across before – flight or fight.

We tend to make the most rash decisions when we are under pressure, stress, or in a state of fear – sometimes that’s flight, we try and run away. So don’t allow yourself to be rash or irrational. Check your reactions and try and adopt a measure of the “other type” however hard that may be – it’s your choice at the end of the day !

You may not have the true “fight”ing spirit within you, however, you can at least keep your wits about you and commit to making it through this in one piece. Get a sense for what this experience really means to you and what the real impact will be.

Take stock of the situation

“Is it really as bad as I’m imagining this ?” Do you have anything to fall back on?
Again, there are usually two type of people in these situations – those that plan ahead and have set aside something or those that think “I’ll do that next year….”.
These are often referred to as “back-up plans” or in simple terms – Plan B!!
Hopefully you’ve put something in place in those earlier years to give yourself a buffer, and if so, take some encouragement in the fact that you’re prepared to weather a little uncertainty.