Redundancy. However you look at it, at first glance it’s not the best word to throw in someone’s direction. Say ‘redundancy’ and watch people squirm. However, post the ‘crikey is this actually happening’ moment and there are (and I write from experience) a few positive and possibly life affirming moments that you can take from the whole thing.

It was the job

My favourite, post-redundancy saying. “It was the job that was made redundant, not you”. Of course, if you are being pedantic, it was of course ‘you’ that was made redundant, and there’s unfortunately no getting away from that. However, it was, of course a business decision by the company that you work for to make your job and its duties redundant – the ‘you’ bit just so happened to be because you undertook those roles and responsibilities.

Therefore, don’t think for one moment that redundancy is a criticism of your ability, quality, or job performance, it’s just nature of the course, that some jobs and companies come and go. You are, one would hope, still just as employable as before.

New opportunities

Redundancy can be a career clean slate, a new beginning, and even the chance to leave a job you dislike. Of course, the work-life reality of needing to pay the mortgage and bills may kick in after a short while, but use redundancy as a chance to evaluate your career to date, and what direction you would now like to take – you may be surprised to see the career route you go.

A career break

If you are lucky (I wasn’t!) you may be offered more than the statutory minimum redundancy pay. If you get even a semi-decent payoff, why not take advantage of this opportunity and take a few weeks /months off to reassess your career or work future. Of course, this is not possible for everyone, with bills to pay and so on, but the value of downtime can be financially and personally beneficial in the long run.

Stress reduction

No one can doubt that the whole process of redundancy can be altogether stressful, upsetting and destabilising. It can affect you personally, your family and home life, and your ability to work full stop. However, post redundancy, the chances are that the immediate stress related to the redundancy process will drop – after all the threat of redundancy may have been with you for months. Therefore
try and take advantage of this period, and the freedom that it potentially offers you and use the loss of stress to your advantage.

This final thought…

Harping back to the fact that I myself was made redundant, take on board my now favourite saying when talking of redundancy… “Redundancy was the best career decision made for me.” Choosing how redundancy can be a positive moment might be a tough call, but if you can take the positives from the whole experience, it’s a good start and can lead to new and prosperous days ahead.