10 things you need to do RIGHT NOW if you’re being retrenched

Being retrenched is never easy.

Financial

 

1. Find out exactly what you are entitled to

Financially this is your first port of call when you find out you are being retrenched. Legally a South African employee is entitled to one week’s pay for every year in a retrenchment case however many contracts come with retrenchment policies in place which will provide the employee with a greater level of severance pay than the governmental minimum. As well as this you may be owed notice pay, holiday leave, commission, overtime and other payments unique to your position. In short, get what you’re owed while you are still in the office. You can inform yourself about your severance rights in the case of retrenchment by consulting the Department of labour’s website here.

2. Ask yourself if you have legal recourse.

Part of finding out what you are entitled to may involve deciding whether or not your retrenchment met necessary legal requirements. The previously linked Department of labour’s website will provide you with the basic information regarding proper legal procedure in a retrenchment case from which you can decide to pursue more detailed information specific to your case. However it must be stated that even if your previous employer has broken the law regarding your retrenchment it will still be a question of personal judgement to decide whether pursuing legal means is in your best interest. Such action will mean a complete severing of your relationship with your former employer and perhaps make it more difficult for you to regain employment in your chosen field.

3. Sign up with the unemployment insurance fund (UIF)

The sooner you begin the process of signing up for unemployment benefit the better as, despite recent reforms, it can be a complicated process. In most retrenchment cases the affected party will be eligible for twelve months of unemployment assistance for which you will need formal notification of retrenchment from your employers.

4. Contact your Credit providers

Another necessary immediate course of action is letting all your credit providers know of your changed circumstances. Unbeknownst to many is that most current credit arrangements: mortgage; car insurance; health insurance and credit cards, have insurance clauses in retrenchment cases which could serve to pay a portion of your debt while you are seeking new employment. Even if you are not lucky enough to find yourself in this position contacting your credit providers immediately is a pro-active action on your part which could help to restructure your debt payment and traverse this difficult economic time.

 

Professional

 

5. Stay Calm

It might be extremely difficult to do. You might feel like telling your boss exactly what you think of him/her as they turn your world upside down particularly, if it is handled in a less than empathetic way, however, resist the temptation. You have everything to gain from remaining calm and pursuing your interests in a retrenchment case and nothing to gain by losing your head. The decision has been

made. Your focus now is on getting what is owed to you, maintaining positive relationships with your ex-employer and preparing for your future.

6. Find out exactly why you are being retrenched

One of the benefits of keeping your cool in this awful situation is getting to look your (ex) employer in the eye and ask them the difficult questions. One such question should be why they have chosen you. Often the reasons for employee retrenchment are purely structural however if there were personal issues it would be best to get to the bottom of them especially if they might affect what references your employers are willing to give you.

7. Don’t burn bridges

The diplomatic tightrope between looking after your own interests and maintaining a positive relationship with your previous employers can be measured by one barometer: don’t burn bridges. The working world is always smaller than it seems and particular fields within that world are smaller again. You never know who knows who and you never know when paths might cross again. So by all means calmly ask the difficult questions, make sure you know and demand your rights but, unless you feel that your employer has seriously transgressed and you deem legal action just and necessary, keep the lines of contact professional, polite and, above all, intact.

 

Personal

 

8. Look after your mental health

Being retrenched, particularly from a job you liked, can be a stomach churning, life changing and, at times, humiliating experience. Most of us connect our self-identities with our working careers and perceived failure in that area does have the risk of negatively influencing our perception of ourselves as people. In reality, you are not your job. You exist beyond the boundaries of the corporate role you inhabit. However in the face of a violent reversal of fortune such as career retrenchment the lines between professional role and personal self-worth can blur and leave us particularly prone to negative thinking, depression and other mental health issues.

Therefore make a conscious decision to be kind to yourself. Realise that retrenchment is a fact of the market not a judgement of who you are. Exercise, don’t drink too much and eat well. Be aware that no matter how mentally strong you think you are the effects of retrenchment can be insidious, go detected and then hit you like a freight train and you have a duty to yourself and your family to guard against that.

9. Put a plan in place

Part of taking care of yourself is putting a plan in place for the foreseeable future. This plan should have various aspects.

1. You should immediately draw up a timetable which divides your days into the time you will spend consolidating your recent retrenchment: finalising your dealings with your previous employer, signing up with the UIF and making new financial arrangements with your credit providers.

2. You should draw up a pro-active plan of action to seek out new employment. You may need to do things you haven’t needed to do for years: draw up CVs, cover letters, be more active on job boards and networking sites. Whatever it is you need to do: set time aside, choose daily goals and tick them off on completion.

3. Sometimes looking for a job can be harder than having one so include downtime into your schedule. Work out, meet friends, read. Don’t stop doing the things you enjoy because you are feeling guilty about losing your job. It’s important to keep a balance.

10. Make a new budget

You should draw up a budget which reflects your new financial circumstances and begin to live to it by day one. The sooner this transition occurs the more sustainable your position will be and the greater flexibility you will have when it comes to new employment opportunities. You could even include a deadline day in the future whereby you, according to your budget projections, will need to have found employment again. Perhaps this isn’t the kindest thought when you have just been retrenched but it would definitely serve to focus your efforts.

 

Finally…the Butterfly effect

 

The butterfly effect is a theory that comes from the field of Chaos Theory which in its simplest form states that a very minor action in the initial stages of a phenomenon, such as the flapping of a butterfly’s wings, can have monumental outcomes at a later stage, such as a tidal wave.

The theory has been adopted by popular culture as shorthand for the concept that small changes or forces somewhere can have massive repercussions elsewhere. Effectively the reason for your retrenchment can be any number of small market fluctuations, structural or strategy decisions that have, unfortunately, had a seismic effect on your life.

We are all victims to the whims of the market. One day you are salesman/woman of the year, riding high, everything to play for and the next you can be surplus to requirements. The most important lesson to take from this theory then is that retrenchment can happen to anyone and that the world, at times, is more than capable of beating us up without us, ourselves, handing it a bigger stick.

So if you do find yourself in the unenviable position of being retrenched remember you are not the first, nor the last, but it is only you who can get back on the horse again and get back on it you must.

Written for CareerJunction by Mark Dempsey.

Continue reading

What To Wear To A Job Interview

The way you present yourself in an interview can have a huge impact on the outcome of the interview. Dressing inappropriately can be a one-way ticket out of a good job opportunity.