Retrenched - Now what??

[AfricanTech]

Don't resign. You'll lose out on severance packages if you do. Make sure the employer follows all the section 189 processes properly.

This x 10000.

Friend of mine's manager managed to get him to resign (psychological pressure and he only told us afterwards when he had already signed on the dotted line with HR).

A year later he still looking.

Do not resign unless you have duly authorised letter of appointment.

 

[M3mPh1z]

This is why I ( and everyone else should ) dont spend my entire paycheck each month, live well within your means, this provides months/years of savings should something happen, because you are used to a cheaper lifestyle, it will be less of a knock, you can temporarily take a lower paying job and your savings will last a long time.

Prevention is better than cure.

Also if the proverbial turd does not hit the fan in your working career you can retire at a much younger age.

 

[Frankie23]

This is why I ( and everyone else should ) dont spend my entire paycheck each month, live well within your means, this provides months/years of savings should something happen, because you are used to a cheaper lifestyle, it will be less of a knock, you can temporarily take a lower paying job and your savings will last a long time.

Prevention is better than cure.

Also if the proverbial turd does not hit the fan in your working career you can retire at a much younger age.

+1000.

If only more of us were given this advice when we started working, we won't have (as many) sleepless nights worrying about losing our jobs and not coping afterwards.

 

[GreyBush]

This happened to me... whole company closed down, I was one of 1400 employees.

Took my CV to a few recruitment agencies... had a job a few weeks later, was basically looking for anything to keep my cash flow going while I searched for a job I really wanted.

 

[proxilin]

This is why I ( and everyone else should ) dont spend my entire paycheck each month, live well within your means, this provides months/years of savings should something happen, because you are used to a cheaper lifestyle, it will be less of a knock, you can temporarily take a lower paying job and your savings will last a long time.

Prevention is better than cure.

Also if the proverbial turd does not hit the fan in your working career you can retire at a much younger age.

+1

IMO you should have 6 months worth of salary (3 months at the minimum) backed up in savings/investments which you can access quickly. If instead you are in debt with new cars you bought instead of having the savings then it's a big warning sign and a call to change your ways. Rather drive the older car for a couple more years and build up savings. It'll make you sleep a lot easier.

 

[InvisibleJim]

This happened to me... whole company closed down, I was one of 1400 employees.

Took my CV to a few recruitment agencies... had a job a few weeks later, was basically looking for anything to keep my cash flow going while I searched for a job I really wanted.

This happened at our company today and boy did things go South fast. Note to self: When a company is liquidated, they don't have to pay retrenchment or outstanding salary.

We have some savings, wife's salary and I can get my pension paid out so we should be fine but right now I wish it were more.

Today has not been a good day but I'm just going to chill tonight (as best I can), get a good night's sleep and dust myself off tomorrow morning and get sorted.

I'm deliberately not mentioning the business involved because misconstrued information could still further hurt the many people affected and because I can't quite bring myself to type it yet.

 

[MickeyD]

This happened at our company today and boy did things go South fast. Note to self: When a company is liquidated, they don't have to pay retrenchment or outstanding salary.

We have some savings, wife's salary and I can get my pension paid out so we should be fine but right now I wish it were more.

Today has not been a good day but I'm just going to chill tonight (as best I can), get a good night's sleep and dust myself off tomorrow morning and get sorted.

I'm deliberately not mentioning the business involved because misconstrued information could still further hurt the many people affected and because I can't quite bring myself to type it yet.

Stay strong and positive.

 

[AfricanTech]

This happened at our company today and boy did things go South fast. Note to self: When a company is liquidated, they don't have to pay retrenchment or outstanding salary.

We have some savings, wife's salary and I can get my pension paid out so we should be fine but right now I wish it were more.

Today has not been a good day but I'm just going to chill tonight (as best I can), get a good night's sleep and dust myself off tomorrow morning and get sorted.

I'm deliberately not mentioning the business involved because misconstrued information could still further hurt the many people affected and because I can't quite bring myself to type it yet.

Jeez, good luck mate. Hope you get sorted soon.

 

[Sinbad]

Jeez, good luck mate. Hope you get sorted soon.

+1. Good luck.

 

[hellfire]

This happened at our company today and boy did things go South fast. Note to self: When a company is liquidated, they don't have to pay retrenchment or outstanding salary.

We have some savings, wife's salary and I can get my pension paid out so we should be fine but right now I wish it were more.

Today has not been a good day but I'm just going to chill tonight (as best I can), get a good night's sleep and dust myself off tomorrow morning and get sorted.

I'm deliberately not mentioning the business involved because misconstrued information could still further hurt the many people affected and because I can't quite bring myself to type it yet.

In all honesty, try not to cash out your pension. You'll take a massive tax knock, and then you will have to start it over when you find work again (hopefully really soon).

 

[InvisibleJim]

Thanks all for the support. I'd rather not cash the pension but I think it will be unavoidable. My plan is that whatever I have left when I get a job I will put into my bond and I think that is the best that I can do with the the hand that I have been dealt.

The situation sucks and I am but very fortunate in that my wife and I have dealt with retrenchment and other similar challenges before. Many of my colleagues will be much worse off than me.

I had some provision for this situation but it could have been better. On reflection, some sort of salary protection insurance seems like a better idea than it did a month or two ago. I really believed ( wishful thinking) that if the worst happened, we would at least get paid and some sort of statutory retrenchment

 

[rubytox]

I was retrenched many years ago. It was a devastating blow. The bonus and few months salary pay out did not last long. I thought that I would never recover after that. A year after my retrenchment, I was happily employed at UP. It was the best thing to have happened. It forced me out of my comfort zones.

It sucks and it is scary, to say the least. As someone here suggested, do not cash out your pension. The tax man will take a large chunk of that money.
Good luck and hang in there. I'm almost tempted to say: in the end, everything is okay. If it is not okay, then it is not the end. ... sounds a bit goofy in your situation.

 

[InvisibleJim]

Good luck and hang in there. I'm almost tempted to say: in the end, everything is okay. If it is not okay, then it is not the end. ... .

I totally get where you're coming from and thank you.

 

[Shiraz]

Best of luck invisibleJim. Really hope things work out for the better for you

Stay strong and positive.

 

[Sinbad]

I was retrenched many years ago. It was a devastating blow. The bonus and few months salary pay out did not last long. I thought that I would never recover after that. A year after my retrenchment, I was happily employed at UP. It was the best thing to have happened. It forced me out of my comfort zones.

This is very true. Same thing happened to me.

 

[GreyBush]

I was retrenched many years ago. It was a devastating blow. The bonus and few months salary pay out did not last long. I thought that I would never recover after that. A year after my retrenchment, I was happily employed at UP. It was the best thing to have happened. It forced me out of my comfort zones.

+1 on that... landed my dream job a few months after I got retrenched.

 

[InvisibleJim]

When things get a bit hectic, increase your exercise / fitness level. It helps you think clearly, and objectively.

This is good advice. I started a fairly successful weightloss program a couple of months ago after Pooky mentioned nerdfitness.com on another post. So far I have not added in the exercise component but now I will easily have time to fit in a body weight workout 2 or 3 times a week.

I'm also going to take stock of my finances and look at speaking to our bank and creditors sooner rather than later. I don't expect to be unable to meet our obligations but I think this will be better than doing nothing until it becomes a problem.

 

[Gnome]

Depends on the individual I think.

My chosen profession is highly technical (software engineer), so the more you get into a comfort zone, the more you aren't being challenged and the more likely you'll find it harder to find a new position.

I've switched companies thus far every time I reach the point where I really know the business and processes very well (ie. just starting to get comfortable). That happens to be about 1.5 - 2 years.

Every time you switch you learn a hell of a lot more and your technical bar increases so much that you walk into an interviewing knowing you'll get an offer.

It is hard to switch tho, you spend a lot of time building up relationships with people and proving yourself, only to do it over again.

Still it really builds your confidence in how easily you could get a job. I mean when I started out, I would send my CV everywhere and hope to get a job. Now I pick a company and apply specifically only at that company (because I want to work there).

Not sure if other professions can go this route also, but I'm very sure that any profession you can learn a lot by switching jobs every 2-3 or so years.

 

[Sinbad]

Depends on the individual I think.

My chosen profession is highly technical (software engineer), so the more you get into a comfort zone, the more you aren't being challenged and the more likely you'll find it harder to find a new position.

I've switched companies thus far every time I reach the point where I really know the business and processes very well (ie. just starting to get comfortable). That happens to be about 1.5 - 2 years.

Every time you switch you learn a hell of a lot more and your technical bar increases so much that you walk into an interviewing knowing you'll get an offer.

It is hard to switch tho, you spend a lot of time building up relationships with people and proving yourself, only to do it over again.

Still it really builds your confidence in how easily you could get a job. I mean when I started out, I would send my CV everywhere and hope to get a job. Now I pick a company and apply specifically only at that company (because I want to work there).

Not sure if other professions can go this route also, but I'm very sure that any profession you can learn a lot by switching jobs every 2 or so years.

The problem with this approach though is that your prospective employers may well view you as a job-hopper. If they have a culture of long term investment in their employees that will count against you...
I probably wouldn't hire someone with such short stints on their CV, unless they had a very scarce skill that I needed badly.

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

The problem with this approach though is that your prospective employers may well view you as a job-hopper. If they have a culture of long term investment in their employees that will count against you...
I probably wouldn't hire someone with such short stints on their CV, unless they had a very scarce skill that I needed badly.

The other part about this is that you will never really have a career - you job-hop, don't really every belong to a company and only contribute to the growth of the company until you tire of the current job. A great company will try and make your career exciting and challenging (there will always be ups and downs). I found myself in the same situation while doing IT work for financial institutions (to be honest, banks are not very exciting, in a nutshell it's all about credits and debits) and eventually you will reach a salary ceiling for your qualifications (i.e. unless it's a rare development skill you will cap off very quickly).