Survivor Guilt

[Badger]

Intersting day at the office, went in saw 5 people including my boss "terminated" but told I had missed the cull........... bad results in 2002 etc etc.

My only question, why didnt' they make me redundant so I could spend the summer on my boat?

Should be grateful really but it was the look of relief on those people's faces to be free and then knowing that I was left in the salt mine.

CAVEAT: I have had a drink

 

[pvb]

Many of us will know how you feel...

I think that many readers of this forum will know exactly how you feel - the strange mixture of relief and disbelief, the "who'll be next?" worries, the fears of what the future might hold for the company and the staff. Yet the only answer is to grasp the opportunity - both personally and corporately - to turn the situation around. You'll get the chance to sail all summer one year, but let it be your decision when the time is right.

 

[bedouin]

I know the feeling - horrible isn't it? In my previous company I watched successive culls as the numbers were cut from 40 to 10 over a period of just over a year. It was a very unpleasant experience. At one point I had plans maturing for a 6 month sailing trip should I be chopped as well.

Rationally though, it is always better to be a survivor - even if you don't want to stay. It gives you control and you can choose when / whether to leave.

 

[Magic_Sailor]

Very sorry to hear this Badger. I can only agree with the "do it on your own terms" advice below.

I'm not prying - and tell me to mind my own business if you want but we keep hearing about things not going so well in this country. Can I ask what type of business and whereabouts geographically its is.

All the best


Magic

 

[tr7v8]

You have my sympathy, happened just before Xmas for me and had been coming a long time. Still looking, but at least it givs me time to work on the boat!.

Jim
---------

 

[david_e]

Survivor Guilt and associated thoughts are a serious problem often overlooked by organisations when 'culling'.

It can seriously affect morale and individual performance, which in turn restricts the ability of the business to perform and results in more redundancies.

If your company have put systems in place to support those being made redundant then ask if they can be extended to those left behind. As well as career training to help those being made redundant, psychological support should be made available to all staff to help deal with the emotional and related personal problems that arise in these situations.

(Please don't take this personally) Having an extra drink to cope with the situation might suffice for many but unfortunately it is the wrong coping mechanism and can lead to more serious alcohol problems, and with the younger generation, recreational drugs are often the alternative. All these can lead to further problems.

When at my former company in 1998, a cull happened and it was managed badly. I was a survivor but within 9 months had keft having received a 'tap on the shoulder' from current employer. That company is continuing in it's downward spiral.

Good luck for the future.

 

[Aeolus_IV]

Re: Many of us will know how you feel...

Know how everyone feels - second company in a row for me, watched team cut down from 12 to 1 - I'm the last one. Just had an interesting conversation yesterday about my future. There are options, but after three years at this company and seven at the previous one I get a little jaded about the whats available to me.

It is this sort of uncertainty which (rather stangely) convinced my wife and myself to buy our boat last year. Makes one realise that there are other things to do out there, sailing on Christams Day made the whole world feel much better.

Jeff.

 

[Strathglass]

Been through it a few times myself.

The first time I had the job of deciding who to make redundant. Then telling them.
That was very hard but was made easier when one of them began distributing political leaflets when off sick.
I could read the signs so within three months I found another job 50 miles away at 20% less salary but I had a job. I also got the full redundancy package( I was in electronics but as the old industry in the area was coalmining and steel there was a very militant union presence) I had to sell my house and just managed to stay out of negative equity
Then spent half of the free money (all of £220 ) on an enterprise dinghy. That was almost 40 years ago.
The last time was about 15 years ago. At he start of the GEC/Marconi slide the then SWMBO and myself were made redundant on the same day by different branches of the same company.
But life just goes on. I opted for a lower pressure life and now stay in the highlands, have since then been divorced / remaried. I am very active but everything I do is at my own speed and when I want to do it not when I am told.

There is no point of feeling guilty of surviving. It is an unfortunate by product of the monitary society we now live in.

Iain

 

[ecudc]

mmmmm we're all facing redundancy in our office after being taken over. We've had this axe over our head for over 6 months now and it completely sucks. I don't mind too much if I get made redundant as I have back up plans (largely envolving lots of sailing) but I wish they would just get it over with.

 

[Peppermint]

Life is just one damn thing after another

Through the late 70's I was a local government road engineer. For years the threat of "Cut backs in loacal government" sapped away at the moral. No one got made redundant but the older blokes, brought up on the "Jobs for Life" ethos found it difficult to take. Sickness went through the roof and the work load increased for the ones that stayed. At 27 years and qualified I didn't really worry but it was dispiriting. In the end I chucked it in, started a business in a different line of work and never looked back. The job for lifers thought I was mad but owning your own business gives you more control over the future than employment.

Good Luck

Tom

 

[Badger]

Thanks for the support

Thanks all of you for you wise words and support. I think one of the reasons I love sailing so much is over the years I met some of the best people while crewing on boats. Thanks again.

 

[Viking]

I saw it coming back in the late 80's. So I made the 'comapny' reduntant and started on my own. Even work for my old company. Made more money, had a better life. Slowly saw my old collegues made reduntant or given early retirement. At 50? I dont know anyone my age still working in the UK.
Ive since started a new company aboard and life and work is still sweet. Anyway, I DO like what I do so that helps.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Viking on 17/01/2003 20:14 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[philmarks]

It's the start of the rest of your life! I've had it happen a few times, and also made people redundant. I contract my services now, take breaks between contracts, work on the boat, sail. From time to time clients offer me tempting permanent positions (happened again this week), but it doesn't take long to say no thanks! Sure there's uncertainty running your own show, but in this world today there's uncertainty everywhere.

Still, never mind, 25% of the 'working' population now works for the government; the public establishment has gone up by 150,000 in the last year. Trouble is it's paid for by fewer and fewer people who actually create wealth in this country. I heard that there's a job in the Guardian this week for a Teenage Pregnancy Coordinator in Dagenham or similar, but paying £39k......the mind boggles.

I sat down this eveing for a nice bit of boaty chat, but what with Steve C ranting about the Minister for Shipping, it triggered my rant algorithm!

We went to sea to get away from all the political crap and loss of freedom and privacy, and now the buggers are chasing us with more laws!

Sorry Badger, it's my rant algorithm again.

I think it's important to focus on the sense of liberation - just remember it's all bollocks and then you're dead. I can't wait to go in search of the green flash....

 

[gliptus]

Where I come from counselling comes from your friends over a beer and only the inadequate go to professionals. The British used to be know for their ability to cope. While David clearly has a genuine interest in the welfare of the people in question, I suspect that a lot of the push for ever more counselling and support comes from the professionals who wish to believe ever more in their own importance, and who incidentally don't loose out financially from greater use of their services, the councillors themselves.

 

[Gunfleet]

Can we imply a transatlantic influence from your irregular spelling of 'lose' and 'counsellor'? In any case generalisations about 'the British' and some homespun philosophy are a poor response to a serious post.

 

[chippie]

I think it's possible that you could infer a transatlantic influence but I wouldnt want to imply anything.

Cheers

 

[Gunfleet]

Oh you rat! You have found me out. What does it imply? What are you inferring?
;-)
John

 

[david_e]

The history books throughout the world are littered with people who would rather fail on their own than allow others to help them be sucsesful.

No one forces anyone to go to seek help, other than the US where their one eyed society can insist on it.