How to negotiate your leave for redundancy

In this article you will discover how to negotiate your leave for redundancy. If you are concerned by this situation, you have the opportunity to negotiate your departure.

A leave for redundancy occurs at the employer’s initiative whenever the economic conditions are not good enough to allow the company to carry on with the same workforce. This may be a reduction in the order backlog, a business closure, the decrease of the operating margins and profitability due to increase and fierce competition or products/services inadequacy … The scope of potential reasons is very wide.

The redundancy can be individual (which is the object of this article) or collective (mass).

Your leave can also occur at your initiative in which case it is a “Negotiated Departure for economic reasons” and not a redundancy as such.

In any case, it can only occur for permanent contracts and after the trial period.

In France, a redundancy procedure is very much framed by the law and steps must be followed:

Redeployment of the employee (if possible);
The sequence of redundancies (if this is a mass redundancy);
The setup of a preliminary meeting prior to any decision;
The official termination notice;
The notice period;
Official information to the French Regional Labor Office (DIRRECTE).

As a reminder, a redundancy for economic reasons can only occur when all training and redeployment options have been exhausted, including for lower qualifications & salary jobs.

The redeployment options, if any, must be made in writing and be specific.

As the employer does not break the work contract for insufficient competence or misconduct, but for reasons outside of the employee’s reasonable control, he/she is entitled to compensations.

The scheme that will apply will always be the most favorable to the employee:

The law as a minimum;
The collective agreement to which the company is attached;
A company-specific internal agreement.

Instituted Aspect

Again, it is quite important to note that the redundancy is the result of a wider context and, may be to a certain degree, the difficulty or impossibility for the company to adapt itself to the new context.

Psychological Aspect

Of course, losing one’s job unwillingly is a difficult situation as it is imposed on the person. Yet, you can negotiate beyond what the law & collective agreements have planned as this is the minimum you’ll get and nobody ever said you could not get more. To achieve this, it is useful to consider some of the following aspects:

Become aware of your position;
Set what you’re after;
Prioritize your objectives;
Take your time!
Do not confuse amicable contract break-up for economic reasons and redundancy.

Coaching to negotiate your leave for redundancy

Let’s overlook 2 of these aspects in the context of this article.

Become aware of your position

In such a redundancy at the employer’s initiative, you certainly endure a unwanted situation as it is you who is losing the job.

Nevertheless, and precisely because of this, you are legitimate to make additional request as long as you have identified them, prioritized them, quantified them and articulated them into sound arguments.

In other words, the damaging aspect would be for you to give up on important things for you because 1) you’re not the originator of the break-up procedure and 2) the las and agreements already provides compensation.

You’re not inferior because this falls on your head. This awareness will take you out of a passive victim position and mobilize your Adult Ego State (part of ourselves in relation with the reality of the here and now) which, once invested, tends to a pair relationship (eg: neither superior or inferior).

Take your time!

The company will of course try to go as fast as possible (as fast as the law permits) by imposing on you a timetable that suits them. You do not have to follow suit.

Maybe they’ll argue around ideas such as “that’s the way it is, that’s the law, there’s nothing we can do, better do it quickly for all of us etc.”. There’s a wide range of possibilities.

Your interest here is for you to determine what you’re after beyond what’s due to you. This can be additional training, your professional PC, tablet or cellphone (less the company proprietary stuff) etc.

Conclusion

The redundancy, although framed by the law and collective agreements, does not exclude for additional negotiations.

This is a positive use of a negative situation.

To know more on the topic of how to negotiate your leave for redundancy, please use the enclosed contact form or speak directly with a coach specialized in departure negotiation.