Redundancy is more than a state of mind

The business had been losing shed loads of money, there was a strategic review and a redundancy programme followed. I’d been there over sixteen years; when I first joined I didn’t expect to stay longer than three.

Leaving your employer can be like a divorce. It is the end of a relationship, and full of mixed feelings. You may have become disillusioned with top management, but regret leaving good friends behind. I thought I would feel as if a great weight had been lifted off my shoulders, a sense of relief to leave the baggage and shackles of the powers that be. But I felt numb, and sad with a sense of being a pebble vanishing in a pond. Where to now?

Immediately I began seeking new work in earnest, spent ages online, rang recruitment agencies, revised my CV again. There are opportunities, and I wonder which step is best. What do I really want to do? It’s only been a few days, but it’s already difficult to stifle the growing anxiety - how long will it be before I get a job…?

Strange word: redundant. I’d handed back the laptop, the PDA, the electronic pass key, none of which I had when I joined in 1994, when the building was almost preserved like an office of the 50s, before extensive refurbishment.

Redundant, redundancy - like the spare (redundant) rope used in bungee jumping, it is the ultimate lifeline. It offers opportunity – a time to rethink, a time to change.

Although in one sense also a crisis, it’s not a people devastated by flood, or famine, or war. It’s not death, disease, or homelessness. It is simply a turning point which so many survive and thrive after. It is a moment of transition, one to face with a positive frame of mind. It is an opportunity to reflect and have faith in finding your own way, with the love and support of family and friends. And, some might say, trust in the universe.

My best wishes go to all those treading the same path.