The Importance of Buffers (partner has lost her job)

@Propagate if she can get interview before the end date, she can use the reason she's still working there. Other options I think is also if she has peers (she manage a team so if next role also has team to manage, team members reference would still be relevant) and/or trusted someone in the organisation that is still somewhat senior to help her with reference.

 

I use referees relevant to the role I am seeking - these may be from a client or supplier as I have not seen my directors since Christmas party. Oh, I telecommute (she'll need good NBN for that)....

 

@The Y-man - It's a bit of a funny industry ours, I don't think I've ever asked for a reference. Between my business partner and I we know most of the people in the game anyway. We did take a new chap on about 4 month back, he was an unknown to us and worked from home for a chap based in Perth (we're in Melbourne). We knew his old boss, (has a terrible reputation), but knew nothing of this chap. Didn't bother with a reference check, just 3 months probation. I look at our industry as essentially tradies in an office. We have a very specific skillset and as I'm also on the tools and directly manage the guys, it becomes apparent within days whether someone know what they are doing and within weeks you get a handle on what they are capable of. If they are not up to scratch then they'd be out the door pretty quickly I'm afraid.

I see what you did there @Scott No Mates - hopefully telecommute won't be an issue after 1pm-5pm this afternoon...

We chatted a few things through last night and have a good reference plan in place now that doesn't involve either of her direct Heads.

She also feels a bit better about job searching after her meeting with the external consultants last night too. She has been worried for a while that her skillset is too broad based on not specific enough in any one area, the consultant told her there's been a shift of thinking late in the Change Management fields in that people are now looking for the broader based experience as potential candidates are less likely to have a fixed mindset/opinion on a given area based on there experience and are more likely to be open to different options and processes. That's actually something I picked up on myself reading job adverts this last week or two compared to a year or so back for similar roles. The key criteria lists have become a lot more open than they were.

The worst part of it all it just the attitude of the Heads. She just couldn't believe that, as she sat there in front of them yesterday in tears at the stress of essentially her whole Aussie career being yanked out from under her with no warning and no thanks for all the amazing things she's achieved for them there, that they could just sit there with not an ounce of compassion and demand 100% work ethic right up to the end. She just wants to move on and get out of there away from them, the thought of another 4 weeks to you and I may seem relatively insignificant but when on the receiving end of an emotional upheaval that 4 weeks is a daunting amount of time, coupled with what she knows will be coming up within that time frame that's she's still expected to accomplish.

On a side note, the HR Head has said that she has already recommended to the CEO that one of these two Heads is removed from "people management" roles in the past and after the last 2 meetings she will be raising the issue again. No ones perfect, and some of my posts on this may come across as a disgruntled employee type rant, but it goes to show there's something very wrong in there when members of the leadership team are being reported to the CEO by the Head of HR as not being fit to manage people.

 

Shouldn't be an issue as long as the battery in the computer holds out. Flight today has been delayed by 1-2 hours so my office has a large window, blue skies and lots of planes.

 

I think the other D word can be implied in pretty much every post I've made in this thread?

 

Yes, crazy isn't it @The Y-man . Goes to show how arrogant these guys really are. They're so far into themselves they've not given a second thought to the ramifications, not just on Emma personally, but any potential fallout. I'm sure there's people out there that would take the opportunity to cause, shall we say, mischief.

There's no way Emma will do anything other than her best , as shes always done in the face of many a crap situation this mob have thrown her way the last few years, but there's plenty of people that wouldn't. She's currently at home with an almighty stress induced migraine.

I was quite affronted the second time I was laid off, company went into administration and we were told en-mass (about 7 of us in one office), then watched by management as we packed our stuff and were escorted out of the building to ensure no one could do anything stupid. My mate (who was the office manager at the time) was on holiday, returning home the next day. It was the second tie this happened to him from the same guy, (phoenix company), so he came in the night he got home and took all the hard drives form the PC's.. I still don't know to this day what he did with them.

 

Standard retrenchment process in hubby’s industry (financial) was for notice and written formalities to be given, all keys, ID and access cards handed back, escorted to desk to pack personal belongings and escorted from the building. All over in an hour or so.

Basic reasoning was to prevent access to the computer system and confidential files.
Marg

 

To be honest @Marg4000 that's how everyone else at her organization has been retrenched in the passed, albeit with some group talks from upper management first to put entire departments on warning that there's redundancies coming up, but once someone was called in it was out the same day on garden leave.

They've made an exception for Emma as her most of her position is still required, they need her to crack off more work before she goes. They should have kept their mouths shut and walked her on the 1st July instead but they don't appear to have a managerial brain cell between them, its all arse covering at the moment. They need to meet a budget and cutting Emma's wage is the quickest, easiest way to do it regardless of outcome.

 

That doesn't make sense nor productive from a company perspective. As employee, I will simple leave the office right away if the organisation doesn't provide me with means to do my work. Having a hostile personnel in the office, with other employee is not a good risk management either.

 

I spent 15 years in the advertising industry and retrenchments could be pretty brutal and fast. We had a finance director once who copped it. She was very popular because she used to approve expenses. She was sacked at 7.30am on her doorstep and told that her PA would pack up her office. A few of us in the creative department got wind of what was happening and wandered around to help her tearful PA.
I said, 'So, you were told to pack up her office?' She nodded.
We let her concentrate on her desk and we got some boxes. Into those boxes went everything small. Then we found a box for her desktop computer - company owned, of course. We found a bigger box for the TV. We emptied out her bar fridge (it was an advertising agency in the 80s, so well stocked). And we got a trolley for the fridge.
Then we called the despatch department (they had those back then). The boys down there liked her, too. They called someone with a van. Into the van went the boxes, fridge, and all the furniture - desk, lounge, coffee table, chairs.
Last things to go were the rug and curtains. We looked at the carpet, but thought that might be going a bit too far.
Scott

 

That's a cracker @Depreciator - fair play.

 

Honestly the number one concern at this stage is Emma. Forget being concerned about the company and really the staff as on the 1st of July they will have forgotten about her.

I strongly agree with a number of comments that she should start looking for a job whilst still at the current organisation. This organisation has shown total contempt to her so why should she be loyal. I understand the feelings she has about her subordinates but if she explained herself to those subordinates then they should understand.

At most what she should do in the remaining month is stand back and let those who are going to fill her shoes start doing her work under her guidance. For the organisation to expect 100% responsibility from someone who has been terminated is at best naive.

I have been in a number of retrenchment situations but they were all because the IT department / company was closing down. Everybody was out job hunting with most, including myself, finishing on Friday and starting a new job the following Monday. Even when I closed down my company after 12 years my staff were looking for jobs on the same basis. Most of them had been with me for the 12 years and were very loyal but they all had to be concerned about their ongoing careers.

So get her to dust off the resume and start seeking out head hunters or whatever is the go these days.

 

Absolutely @Handyandy and her staff have pretty much as good as said that to her. One of her TL's sent her a job ad today for Fair Work. She's the sort of person that would feel like she'd let herself down if she didn't see things through as stupid as they are.

She could do what a lot of people would do in this situation and go see a Doc, sign off on stress leave and use 4 of her accrued 25+ weeks of sick pay, stuff them, but it wouldn't sit right in her own mind and she's look back on it as being not the right thing to have done.

Here's another tale for you all about the kind of place it has become. The last hair brained scheme that had to restructure about 3-4 years back resulted in absolute chaos. They created a whole new department which then took it upon themselves to be self appointed Operational Management for the entire place, headed up by one of the CEO's cronies again and an an underling they brought in from outside. It was unreal. The underling was a nightmare and useless. Eventually it played it natural course, the cronie was booted out and the underling had no one to hide under and knew the writing was on the wall for him, so so before he was marched he went on "stress leave", he has now been on full pay sick leave for over 18 months, sat at home all day on full pay as they are too spineless to dare try and sack someone on long term sick, choosing instead to let high performing assets go. You really couldn't write this stuff.

 

@Propagate Emma seems to have amazing work ethics. She will do very well in the right company with the right people. I also think she needs to give herself some slack. She’s done enough. Without rest, it’s also hard to give 100% when she start in the next place.

 

@Propagate she should definitely get in touch with her old manager. Probably has a job lined up for her

When you get a to certain level, it’s all about people you’ve worked with that like how you operate. The interview is merely a formal exercise. Most the time you have the job before the interview