How to cope with redundancies

/ viinguyen

I have seen many redundancies over the years, from a few to large groups of very talented people, individuals ‘walked’, dreaded phone calls or urgent meetings. Some ended gracefully, others not so.
I recall the first time I witnessed a colleague was made redundant. I was shocked, upset – how could this happen to a hard-working, loyal employee? What if that happened to me? Would it happen to me? These questions kept running through my head without resolution. There were plenty of articles for the person made redundant but not so many useful ones for the ones left behind.
Over the years, I have observed and learnt how to deal with it and hope this will help you too.
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Generally, I found people either
  1. Get upset – How could they!
  2. Feel and have uncertain thoughts – Will it happen to me?
  3. Carry-on like nothing has happened – Life is bliss.
I quickly learnt that it wasn’t about your skills, knowledge, connections or personality. It was all about the company making money. Obviously, I hear a lot of you think. But it isn’t that obvious when you’re in the situation.
How to deal with it – Stay positive.

The things that I remind myself every time something like this happens are…
  • Don’t take it personally – it’s just business.
  • If your colleague is hard working, good at what they do they won’t have any issues finding another role.
  • There will always be things that happen that you can’t control. Why worry about it and waste your energy thinking about if / when it will happen. If you took that energy and time to build your skills and knowledge, it will serve you in the long run.
  • Look at the positive, this may be the opportunity for the person to re-assess their life and find a new opportunity
Get it out of your system.
Spending too much time thinking about it won’t get you far. Focus on your work. Talk to a work colleague – get it off your chest.
If the uncertainty or the probability of this happening to you is high, don’t sit around waiting for something to happen. Get up, get out and look for other opportunities. Take control.
Have you been in this situation before? How did you deal with it?

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