The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

Before I start, I’d like to inform my team that – even though I know they don’t read my rubbish – I’m not writing this for reasons they should fear. The reason for this post is because I recently heard of a terrible example of how a company handled it and it compelled me to write this post.

Let’s face it, redundancy is shit.

No one wants it and no one wants to have to do it.

But sometimes it has to happen and what bothers me is how so many companies approach doing it.

A big part of the issue is driven by the ‘legal’ mandates companies choose to adopt.

Please note I said ‘choose to’ rather than ‘have to’ … because their starting point is to minimise risk to the company during the process.

It’s why so many people often feel a change in how they’re being treated a few weeks before they find anything out. It’s also why, during the process, they feel they are being kept at arms length, regardless how long they’ve been there. And it’s definitely why they are faced with cold, ambiguous and functional interaction with the people who just a day before, we colleagues – and sometimes – friends.

And while that is all shit, I kind-of get it because it’s never nice to have to let someone go … but here’s the thing, it’s not about you, it’s about them.

Their feelings.

Their situation.

Their impact.

And that is why there’s almost nothing as offensive as the whole ‘it’s not personal, it’s business’ schtick so many organisations insist on rolling out.

Of course the reality is they’re not so stupid to really think that … it’s just another way to remove their complicity from the situation. Which is why so many then practice the subtle art of ‘blamethrowing’, so the person being let go feels they are in some way to blame for this situation, so they stay quiet because of the shame they have been made to feel … allowing the company to then put out some PR bullshit sayking, “while we have sadly had to make the tough decision to let some people go, we’re in amazing shape to keep doing the brilliant work we always do”.

Blah, blah fucking blah.

This is why, when I was made redundant, I made a big deal about being let go.

Not in a nasty way – I was generally treated OK by R/GA – but in ‘loud and proud’ way.

There were 2 main reasons for this.

The first, as I said at the time, was to acknowledge I was genuinely glad it was an old white guy being let go rather than someone young, female or a person of colour … who are often the ones who suffer the most.

The second was I wanted to own my own narrative about the situation – rather than have someone try and own it for me. There were a couple of reasons for this.

Part of this was because I saw it as an opportunity to let as many people as possible know about my situation because – the way I saw it – it was a great platform to tell as many potential employers/clients, that I was available.

The other part was because I saw by doing this, I could also help remove the stigma of redundancy many that companies have manufactured for their own gain for many years.

All of this came together because of a phone call I received a few days before I was given my news.

A very well respected industry person had reached out to me to ask if there were any options of work at R/GA. They told me they had recently been made redundant from their company and wanted to get a job without the industry knowing their situation.

When I asked why, they said they believed if people knew they’d been ‘let go’ their reputation would be forever sullied because people equate redundancy with failure.

That broke my heart.

It also made me angry. Not at them, but at the context they had been led to believe was real.

Here was a brilliant person with an exceptional career and reputation who thought their redundancy was all about their failings rather than the company they worked for.

Sure, sometimes companies are caught unawares.

Sure, market conditions change.

But while there are occasions where a company is relatively blameless for the situation they find themselves in, it’s definitely more them than the people they bestow the blame upon as part of their redundancy.

All that lit a fire in me and so in typical ‘Rob Is A Prick’ fashion, I decided to announce my news of redundancy with a real sense of pride … which hilariously led to it being picked up by Campaign and even The Guardian.

And while this directly led to job offers, project offers and client offers – which was amazing and why I write this living in NZ – the thing I was happiest about was how many people reached out to say that it had helped them feel a bit less shit about the situation they were in, or were scared they’d soon be in.

But despite this, a quick glance on Corporate Gaslighting shows that companies continue to act like assholes.

And what is so annoying is how easily they could change this.

Beyond the legal requirements … beyond the awkwardness … beyond the context of the situation … all you have to do is respect the person you are about to hurt.

And you will hurt them.

Understanding that is important.

However, respect ensures you help them get through it much better and faster … and why the hell wouldn’t you want to do that to someone who was a colleague.

So turn up … not just physically, but emotionally.

And most of all, make it about them … rather than trying to make it about you.

As I said, it won’t stop it hurting, but it won’t add even more damage to the damage you are already inflicting. And who the fuck wouldn’t want to do that for another human – especially people in companies who claim their people are their everything?

OK, so quite a few … which is why the more people feel confident in owning their redundancy with pride, the more companies will lose their power to silence the people they’re making redundant. And that’s why this is still my favourite redundancy revenge, excluding the blackmailing scene in the movie American Beauty.