"Voluntary" redundancy is being talked about in many places. I'm sure after voluntary it will soon turn compulsory.

Oh well, time for a change.

This is our third round since October 2009. Fun times!

I'm accepting mine tomorrow, only it's called Voluntary Severance in my place of work.

Mark

I applied for that at our place but they said no deal, too vital to the operation & all that. May have to bring that up next time there's a possibility of a pay rise. Admittedly, that may be in about 2018...

Jon

I have a new job I start monday and everyone in the workplace is FOREIGN, should be fun, and I mean foreign not meaning english but theres not a single scottish, everyone is from Pakistan

Quite We are going through 'Designing Better Services (DBS) at the moment. On top of that the council has to save millions over the next 4 years and will be looking for 'volunteers'. They have agreed a maximum of 3 years enhanced pension for anybody who's interested and I hit 37 years service on the 28th January next year. Shortly after that dade I will apply and if granted I won't be working again - ever

Feel for you though Mark

Al

I'm currently mulling it over, I have until the beginning of January to decide...

That said, as I said before, I don't think it will be long after that it will become compulsory.

I quite fancy a change. What next I wonder....

Thanks Al - as well as every body else that's expressed shock/concern about the above news.
I don't know if my application will be accepted, or if it is when I'll be given the boot, but they are reducing the package offered by more than 50% after this round of culls, so it only makes sense to take it now, instead of half the amount six months down the line.
*shrug*

Mark

* joins same boat *

Nobody gives a crap 'bout me then. Thanks everyone.

There have been a number of redundancies where I work - and of course we have a policy that the account is disabled whilst they are in "the meeting".

The trouble is that in 9/10 cases the person has personal files that they want to take with them - I've had to go along for some very awkward moments as I watch people copy data off the machines and ensure they aren't taking any company data with them. It's a really horrible job.

Well I hope everyone ends up in nice new places.
Work's been making redundancies this year for the first time in the charities history.
One of my bosses has taken on the work of someone who took the redundancy package he was offered, so she's now doing two jobs for the same pay. To say the stress is showing is an understatement, and I've half a suspicion she's expecting me to do the same with the café and the shop.
We've been told there'll be no wage increases or bonuses for the next two years, no investment in training and the maintenance budget has been dropped for the next twelve months. When I say dropped, I mean cut out entirely. We're cutting back literally everywhere possible.

January! I found out about the scheme at our place last Tuesday and the cut-off for deciding what to do is tomorrow!

Mark

Ah, I see. That is indeed a fecker, sorry I've slipped into skim reading today, my bad.

I guess you have to go with your gut, is it best to take it now or is it worth taking a lesser sum later on for the expense of the time it would buy you. If you know what I mean.

It's a tricky decision, I find it involves a lot of 'ifs' and 'buts'.

Yes. Yes it is and yes it does. It sucks, and initially I was wondering what the ones left behind would have to put up with, but then I stopped and realised that regardless of how close as mates we all are, I really can't think about them at this moment, it has to be about me.
Then I found out that pretty much all the department is putting in for the package offered. Essentially, we all came to the same decision in our separate ways.
It's a sorry sign of the times when a whole department applies for a redundancy package because they see no future in the company they've worked in for, in some cases, very nearly 20 years.
The head of IT even applied for it, and he's been there almost 30 years.

Mark