Navigating the Redundancy Process

 Image ©LHH Penna (used by permission).

This is not a post that I had ever envisaged writing but here goes: I am currently going through the redundancy process. Many people go through this at least once during their career, and I am fairly happy about it. The legally controlled process seems to be this: as part of the management cycle roles are identified with job descriptions that no longer fit the future plans of the organisation, and a proposal is put forward to make those roles redundant. All staff are told about the proposal and asked to comment on it. In my organisation this was done by sending one of two letters to all staff in our department to two meetings. Those whom, it would transpire, it was proposed to make redunant were given a letter calling  them to the first meeting and an offer was made that they could bring their union representatives. Others in the department whose roles would change as a consequence are called to a second meeting, immediately following the first.

At the first meeting staff are told the rational behind the decision and that they will be offered redundancy and that there will be individual meetings with their manager to discuss the terms offered. At these individual meetings I was told that it was proposed that my role would end in two months and that if this went ahead I would be offered a redundancy package and three months pay in lieu of notice. I would also be given access to a training program and resources contracted out to the organisation LHH Penna.

I was fairly happy to accept the package. Universities are bound by law to offer the statutory minimum, which seemed a relatively small amount but offered enough support for a relatively long period so that I would not have to worry too much financially for a good six months or so.  I have always supported the modernisation of cataloguing methods: cataloguing technology has improved greatly over the years and most of the cataloguing in Cambridge Libraries is now done using a fast track system which does not require original cataloguing but rather links records to pre-existing ones which the operator can select from a choice of global databases such as OCLC, RLUK, or the Library of Congress.

Managing the redundancy process is probably the most difficult task that a manager has to perform, and it is also stressful for all the other staff in the department, so it is important for your colleagues that the candidate sets the right tone. It could be quite possibly the most important thing you ever have to do. My advice would be to do it well! Go in style and with grace, and be appreciative of the time you have worked together. 

You no longer need someone with three degrees just to add a book to the system, which allows librarians to concentrate their resources on user education and assisting research, and on providing services online. Since cataloguing was written into the job description as the main role, and since the role was comparatively well paid, it made sense to end that role so that more money was available to put into new roles such as manning the new remote storage location, and research advisor posts. That is how change management works, and it is important for the survival and success of organisations that they do reorganise their staff roles regularly. Most of the periodicals department had already been made redundant, and now it seemed that  the organisation were looking further afield amongst outlying departments to balance up the redundancies.

As it was explained to me, if the employee changed jobs during the consultation process the package would not apply, and if the employee found work within the organisation itself during the three months notice period the same was true, although one was free to take a job elsewhere during that period but would deduct what was left of the notice period pay.  At the end of the three month period one could take a job anywhere and still keep the entire package. You could seek work for the same organisation again after a certain period of months had passed.

At the end of the 'consultation period' the proposal went ahead and my jobshare colleague (who was about to face retirement anyway) and I were made redundant. We were not contacted by LHH Penna until after this, but then I was given an access code to their website full of very rich training resources, and an introductory webinar and first 45 minute one to one consultation with a local trainer were booked.

I was very impressed with the introductory webinar which immediately gave reassurance that I would be very adequately supported during the period for which my employer has signed me up (this period is yet to be confirmed but I assume that it at least covers the next three months.) I was delighted to see that during that period one has free acesss to thousands of online training modules from which one can select as appropriate. One, for instance, gives you a PRINCE2 qualification, which really impressed me as that is a really well respected qualification. Another available module trains you in how to start your own business.

We were told to always use the word "opportunity" when describing what has happened to you (your 'redundancy statement'). This really is how it feels to me, but there are so many opportunities that it can seem difficult to know where to start thinking things through. I guess the easiest option would be to get a different librarianship role in Cambridge, which is probably where I will start my search, but the field of opportunity is wide open and there is always the option to live very cheaply and do something creative that initially pays nothing (too self indulgent?) or travel or retrain. LHH Penna supply resources that help you to work through these decisions and also of course help you improve your CV and your job application and interview skills.

The webinar showed us a diagram of the 'Change curve' which describes the different stages that one passes through, including denial, anger, chaos, and ending up at acceptance and enthusiasm. What was important was that it is not necessarily a linear process and we would sometimes get knocked back to an earlier stage during the process, for which it was important to be like Weebles, who wobble but don't fall down. Or, as we describe it in Cambridge, an evening of chocolate and Netflix. Or, as I prefer to think of it, getting back onto your horse .