A REDUNDANCY SURVIVAL GUIDE

Losing your job can be devastating – but it can also be the path to new opportunities. Arielle Tchiprout finds out more

How to cope with the heavy blow of losing your job

Redundancy is not something we talk about openly. When it happens, it’s often a taboo whispered in the corners of offices and a source of awkwardness. But redundancy is not always a wholly negative experience. Just like a break-up, leaving something you love could lead you towards something you love even more. And just as heartbreak hurts deeply at the time, it could also be the best thing that ever happened to you.

Redundancy is a normal and inevitable reality of the working world and is likely to affect most of us at some point in our lives. Between December 2018 and February 2019, 3.2 employees out of every 1,000* were laid off. This number has increased during 2019 and may rise over the same period this year as a result of the current economic climate, with firms forced to restructure and make cuts, or even close down all together.

According to Eleanor Tweddell, founder of Another Door, which coaches people after redundancy, these lay-offs often happen around Christmas and the new year. ‘I was made redundant from my senior role at a phone network just before Christmas,’ she says. ‘Many companies work out their finances and where they need to make changes in October, and all these changes need to be made in time for the new financial year in April, so it’s common for people to be made redundant around the festive period.’

Being dismissed during the merriest time of the year can be particularly difficult, but the emotional response to redundancy is never easy. ‘The rejection of being told you’re no longer required can be a visceral experience, and can trigger a similar process to grief or heartbreak,’ says Dr Susan Kahn, business psychologist and author of Bounce Back. Dr Kahn was made redundant from a role at a time that coincided with her maternity leave. ‘It was a voluntary redundancy, but there remained a niggling feeling that if I was really valued, why would they let me go? My identity, so closely forged with my professional role, was challenged. I didn’t know who I was any more.’

It is easy to think that you, as a person, are unwanted. ‘We take it personally, when, really, it is the role that is redundant and not us as human beings,’ says Dr Kahn. The problem, she says, is that we place too much emphasis on our roles as defining our identities. ‘The first thing we are asked in social situations is, “What do you do?” We often value the labels more than the roles themselves.’

It’s normal for people to slip into a state of melancholy after losing their jobs, says Dr Kahn, and we should allow ourselves to grieve in the same way as we would

for any other loss. However, she says, ‘This turns into a problem when it becomes deeply lodged inside you, and you can’t differentiate yourself from the job you had.’ It’s important to reach a point where you are aware of your potential to have an ongoing, flourishing career elsewhere.

Dr Kahn believes that redundancy can be a gift: ‘It gives you freedom, forcing you to reflect and redirect in ways you might not have considered before, or in ways you had always dreamed of.’

It might sound clichéd, but it’s true that when one door closes, another one opens: you just have to be willing to find the one that’s unlocked, waiting for you to arrive.