Back To Work - For Most

Ten minutes after I arrived at work this morning, a colleague aked me if I had enjoyed my holiday. I had, of course, but by this time, I had almost forgotten having been away! Such is the power of the email. You go on holiday and, by the time you get back, your email inbox is fuller than your letterbox.

One of the interesting situations that arose during my abscence was the supply of products from our parent company. I should point out that I am the local Quality Manager. Anyway, my assistant could not wait to tell me that the latest delivery from our "superiors" was not satisfactory. It wasn't really a big issue, but, because of the current climate, everyone was looking for me to make a complaint. So, I did.

It actually felt quite good to most people here. We have had approximately fifty per cent redundancies inflicted on us, with most of them finishing this coming Friday. So, it was a feeling of sort of hitting back, especially since the product was one that everyone feels that they "stole" from us.

OK. So it's all politics, in a way; or friendly rivalry. Yet, the feelings don't go away. There's a sour taste in the mouth and people just want to make some sort of a gesture of disapproval. The truth is that there is nothing anyone can do about it. The redundancies actually saved the other half of the jobs, with a potential for the rest to come back at a later date. They could have closed us down! Not that it's any confort to those who are leaving, of course. Still, what can you do? For some who are leaving, it's the best thing that could happen to them, even though they don't realise it at the moment. They've become stagnant; complacent. They're stuck in a rut and don't know it. For many, it will be an opportunity to move on with their lives; an opportunity to progress.

Sadly, though, for many, it could be the end of their working lives. People planning to retire, even in a few months' time are being forced to leave early, whether they want to or not.

There were two or three people, however, who were very excited. They were due to retire within the next year or so. Being asked to leave, now, they get redundancy pay as well! One of them went into a consultation full of trepidation that he might not be accepted for redundancy. When he came out he uttered a resounding "YESSS!"

It just goes to prove that, although you can't please all of the people all of the time, you can please some of the people some of the time! Maybe that's a more positive way of looking at it.