Ask Dr Louise

My manager has told me I will be retrenched at the end of the month as the company has no alternative but to cut back on staff. Although I thought this might be an option, I never thought it would happen to me as I’m a very diligent and responsible employee. I feel as if I’m being kicked in the teeth and punished for being loyal and hardworking! What do I do now? Leslie, email

Being retrenched has nothing to do with you and how good you are at your job, even though it feels like it does. It’s all about the company and the fact that it is compelled to retrench employees to survive. It is simply an unfortunate result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic problems it has caused.

Employees sometimes don’t realise that the retrenchment process is often just as difficult and traumatic for those in management as it is for the individual employees who are retrenched.

Retrenchment often comes with a severance package, usually based on your years of service, and this should cover your expenses for a while and give you some time to find other work or get some plans in motion.

Ask yourself what you can do to earn money in the short term and what you can do about income in the long term. Over the short term, if you’re good at baking, for example, you can bake for a shop that sells homemade cakes or even advertise what you make online. This is a way to make a bit of money and keep busy. And in the meantime you can keep your eye out and apply for suitable jobs.

Many of my patients have had to deal with retrenchment over the years – not only during lockdown – and while it was stressful at the time, in hindsight they’ve generally been thankful for it because it forced them to be more innovative. In many cases, they ended up earning more than they had when they were employed by the company that retrenched them. The important things are to stay positive, think out of the box and not give up!