At one of my previous jobs, where I had worked for a year or so, my employer had to let me go due to cutbacks. I was the first in a wave of about 20 that were made redundant in the following two months. This equaled about half the company.
It was a pretty intense 30 minutes.
He called me into his office, and told me he would have to let me go; today, without severance or pay for this month. By the time I got back to my desk 5 minutes later, my work email account had already been blocked, which rendered me unable to say goodbye to about half of my colleagues, since they weren't in that day. I was stumped. After cleaning up my computer I made a round in the office, saying goodbyes and telling everyone I was made redundant.
As my employer showed me into the photo-studio next door, where I wanted to say goodbyes to the rest of our team, I told him I'd be having a long hard look at my contract, because I didn't believe he could just let me go without pay. 15 minutes later, still in the photo-studio talking to my colleagues/friends, I got a phone call. My employer had looked at my contract and found that he:
- had to give me a months notice;
- had to pay me my severance (a month's wage);
- owed me my un-used leave;
- already revoked all my access to all internal/external processes.
That last one meant that I didn't have to come back in again.
The other employers that were made redundant, were told they had the choice of leaving that day (and get paid for a month), or finishing the month of work, all receiving their severance normally.
My bet, is that it was the first time he ever had to make someone redundant. He seemed genuinely upset too. I never blamed him on a personal level, even though I disagreed with many of his executive decisions.
He did end up giving me a glowing recommendation when I applied for a new job, so there's that.
At one of my previous jobs, where I had worked for a year or so, my employer had to let me go due to cutbacks. I was the first in a wave of about 20 that were made redundant in the following two months. This equaled about half the company.
It was a pretty intense 30 minutes.
He called me into his office, and told me he would have to let me go; today, without severance or pay for this month. By the time I got back to my desk 5 minutes later, my work email account had already been blocked, which rendered me unable to say goodbye to about half of my colleagues, since they weren't in that day. I was stumped. After cleaning up my computer I made a round in the office, saying goodbyes and telling everyone I was made redundant.
As my employer showed me into the photo-studio next door, where I wanted to say goodbyes to the rest of our team, I told him I'd be having a long hard look at my contract, because I didn't believe he could just let me go without pay. 15 minutes later, still in the photo-studio talking to my colleagues/friends, I got a phone call. My employer had looked at my contract and found that he: - had to give me a months notice; - had to pay me my severance (a month's wage); - owed me my un-used leave; - already revoked all my access to all internal/external processes.
That last one meant that I didn't have to come back in again.
The other employers that were made redundant, were told they had the choice of leaving that day (and get paid for a month), or finishing the month of work, all receiving their severance normally.
My bet, is that it was the first time he ever had to make someone redundant. He seemed genuinely upset too. I never blamed him on a personal level, even though I disagreed with many of his executive decisions.
He did end up giving me a glowing recommendation when I applied for a new job, so there's that.