Advice compulsory redundancy situation please

[sweb392]

Hi everyone,

The company I work for, which has 234 employees, is currently facing financial difficulties. To address this, they placed 44 employees at risk of redundancy and offered voluntary redundancy to them. Out of these, 40 employees accepted the voluntary redundancy offer. This was more than the company anticipated, resulting in the need to recruit for some positions where the headcount will now be too low.

Given that the original 44 employees were considered "at risk" and in the initial meeting it was stressed to me that "nothing has been decided yet" then I think its fair to assume the company expected some of these employees to remain. It therefore seems unreasonable to make the remaining four employees, including myself, compulsory redundant if the goal was indeed cost-saving.

I have been with the company over 5 years.

I would appreciate any advice or suggestions on questions to ask my employer regarding this situation.

Thank you.

[atticus]

You could ask how many jobs they need to cut. The assumption that not all the 44 would go is not necessarily a good one.

[sweb392]

You could ask how many jobs they need to cut. The assumption that not all the 44 would go is not necessarily a good one.

Thanks for the reply.
They have already said they did not expect so many to take VR, and will consequently now have to recruit for some teams. I take that as meaning that did not expect all 44 to go? But maybe I am wrong there?

[atticus]

That does add to what you said earlier. You could ask them to confirm that there will not be any compulsory redundancies.