Are You Made Redundant?

Companies usually make an employee redundant for 2 reasons:

1. To manage the employee out of the organisation

2. To move the employee to a new role (if the redundancy is for short-term)

In my honest opinion, if your boss tells you to make yourself redundant, it’s usually not a good sign. Once you see your responsibilities being stripped off from you and transferred to other co-workers, you will naturally get worried. Unless the boss informs you of your new role and responsibilities, it is most likely that the shift to redundancy is a plan to manage you out. You will see yourself excluded from meetings, removed from the usual loop of communication, given explicit instruction to hand-over, and asked to provide documentation of all your work processes to your boss. You will feel like your services are no longer required.

Even if the likelihood that you’re given a new role, the management should meet with you and discuss that role with you in detail before removing every task from you. Whether a promotion is involved or just a lateral transfer, a clear communication to the worker will be set in place for the transition plan. An announcement by the management to your team is also vital to assure everyone your redundancy is meant to move you to bigger and better things. If none of the above is happening and you feel emotionally challenged that you’re being cast out, you can opt to seek clarity from senior management in the organisation or your human resource department. Do not fall victim to political maneuvering. Sometimes exit plans are created for non-performers and those with disciplinary issues. But if you find yourself in neither position and know your boss has a personal agenda to remove you, then you must take up your rights as a corporate citizen to speak up. Besides, certain bosses have had a history of managing good employees out just so they could hire their own cronies to take over.

My first and utmost advice is to seek clarity from management and HR. If you are not getting anywhere with this, apply for a transfer. If that is still not working out, you’ll have to find a job in another company.