Yesterday was one of the single worst days at work I can remember. Hatchet Tuesday saw 500 people lose their jobs, some immediately, some through the torturous uncertainty of 3 months in 'risk pools' . I actually think the instant redundancy option , although seemingly brutal, at least gives the 'victim' the chance to grieve quickly and then get their life going again quickly. For the others it's just 3 months of apathy, fear and inertia...after all why put any real effort in if your number is going to be held up anyway?
Yesterday, one of my team was made redundant. I knew about it but her meeting wasn't until 10. She came in, fresh from a weekend in Germany with her new boyfriend to find the email waiting. Everyone knew on Monday what that meant, but she's only been in the Company for 13 months and naivety meant that she was unsure what the ramifications were. The email is worded ambiguously to 'discuss your future in the new organisation' and one poor soul even took this to mean he'd been promoted, consequently replying with an enthusiastic email about how he was looking forward to the role and the challenges it would bring. he crumbled badly in the meeting by all accounts, spirit and hope crushed and worsened by his own optimistic misinterpretation.
In my team members case, the penny dropped at about 9:30 when the UK CEO sent a blanket email confirming the job losses - a bit insensitive in my view seeing that many people weren't scheduled until later that day. She put her coat on at 9:55 picked up her bag, logged her laptop off and went downstairs. Just prior to this I had been approached by a Member of the 'leadership team' to confirm I wouldn't be handing out the letter and that my boss would do this. This guy was merely the chaperone to escort the unlucky ones off site or to their desk to collect personal belongings. I had planned to wait near the commandeered meeting room wing so she saw something resembling a friendly face, but Chaperone said it wouldn't be necessary. To be fair to him he did indicate he was offering the chosen ones the chance to have a friend or their line manager do the last bit. As she went through the door to go to the meeting I called the team together to explain the situation and to ask them for some sensitivity should she come back up. My team are quite special and their reaction was both compassionate and sympathetic. When she came back Chaperone (a former boss of mine) told me she'd asked if i could help her clear her desk and copy personal stuff from the laptop. And this is the point where the title question comes into play.
Although I didn't hand out the envelope, I did have to 'rate' my team in descending order from top to bottom, and supply commentary on each one of them in terms of delivery and performance. She came bottom. In all truth she is a bright girl but stuck in a student mentality. Immaturity was at the root of all her inconsistency when compared to the rest of the team, but in my defence every manager was asked to do the same. At no point did we ever conclude that redundancy might be the result. I did help her out in a private room set aside for those impacted. A sort of ante-chamber for those being marched to their fate. The shock was palpable and she tearfully tried to copy her stuff, but was in such a state that she couldn't even do that. I completed the job for her, talked to her to try and help her through that short period. In the end I had to be careful not to patronize her, but to try and give some encouragement and help clear her thoughts. It seemed to work and as I walked her to the car the tears had stopped and a small but visible change had taken place.
Either way I felt part executioner, part undertaker. Billyboy, the head of the department came and spoke to me to thank me for the compassion....like I was going to behave any other way! I'm glad she asked me to see her off because it means I didn't just shirk my responsibility for the part I played in her being selected to leave. That said, it was emotional and stressful so fuck knows how it felt for her and the others that left.
My close friend also went, but she did play a delightful game in the meeting she had. She actually opened the document and read through the whole thing in awkward silence. her boss and the HR person were squirming nicely and telling her she could do that outside. But she refused, using the full allocated time of the meeting to read everything carefully and question certain parts. She then got her spreadsheet out to check against her calculations, cross checked them all on her calculator and then 29 minutes into a 30 minute meeting. She thanked them very much, told them where her laptop and building pass was, got up and walked out.
Smiling.
She had style.
I'll miss her.
So, I'm safe, at least for a few weeks when the merger with our Ireland operation kicks in. What that means is a closely guarded secret but things like that rarely bring good news. I suppose they could relocate us to Dublin........a bitch for getting to Stamford Bridge, but OK for Guinness fuelling.........watch this space.
Later, GJ
1 comment:
Ideal variant
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