Redundant

Well I guess I don't have to worry about the office politics anymore

Friday morning started normally with the Traffic project scrum meeting at 9:30 where we talked through what we are doing on the project and what the next lot of work is we will be starting. You meant to stand in a scrum meeting the idea being that if you are standing you will be quicker. However I've been sitting at these meetings because of the knee. The aim of a scrum meeting to for each person to cover three things and three things only 'What I did yesterday, what I'm doing today, and what problems am I facing that are stopping me getting things done'. So we successfully sorted out what the team was doing and went back to our desks.

Waiting for me when I got back was an invite to a strategy meeting. The list of people on it was a bit unusual rather than just being the normal people the go to planning meetings it included a range of people from junior developers to Fabio our technical architect and some developers from the our teams. Raza was one of the developers from another team and he came across to ask what the meeting was about. I didn't know but joked that looking at the selection of people if they fired us all then the company would be in a bit of trouble and alot of the systems knowledge would be lost. Funny how accurate you can be when you are making a joke. So we all trooped off upstairs to Breakout (the meeting rooms are all name after computer games).

The Strategy meeting was as awkward as you would imagine a meeting to tell people that they are being fired, can be. all the guys from IT arrived at the same time to find, Richard (CTO), Susie (Head of HR), Liam (Recruitment), Ruth (Recruitment) and Barry (Tech Support) already in the room. Richard started to read from a script and it was at that point that my heart rate went through the roof and my hands started to shake (they shook for most of that weekend). He read from a script that basically said that they were reorganising the company and as such they didn't need as much staff as they had. They would meet with each of us individually and go into details of our redundancy packages.

Up to this stage I was thinking that it was pretty much like the last time I got made redundant the developers in the room where the ones getting the chop the rest where there to make it official. I was sitting next to Ketan and we could see across to Robo. But Robo's shocked reaction didn't sink in with me until Richard said the time of his meeting with Robo. they also read out the meeting times for Fabio, Ruth and Barry so it was at that point we realised it was them as well. Richard also said that the rest of the company was being told right now and that the was another group being given the bad news in a different meeting (these were people from the business side). He then said we could stay in this room if we wanted and then our computers had been locked. He finish off by saying something about being sorry but by that time I wasn't really listening anymore and was just thinking things through.

So normally at times of crisis this British make a cup of tea. So I suggested that but then realised that Raza was sitting next to me. He's just started his month of fasting so for him the whole shock to the system couldn't be softened with even a glass of water.

We sat in the room for a bit and talked. I explained what happened to me the last time and Gareth made lot of jokes! I guess we all react to shock in different ways most of us by joking about it. We decided to go down to the coffee bar outside the canteen, also so the smokers and the ones who have given up smoking could go out a have a cigarette.

I walked back into the office to get my wallet and ran straight into the IT meeting explaining what's happening. I listen at the back for a bit and then went out a round the other way to get to my desk.

First order of business was to find a quiet corner to ring my Mum and tell her what has happened. Then it was down to the coffee bar with the others. We passed the news around and found out about the others who got the chop and some of the people not given the chop came down and commiserated with us.

Talked to Christian and some of the others about setting up as a contractor. Christian quit a couple of weeks ago and was still working out his notice. Basically a set up a company, get an accountant and then find a job through some recruitment company like GCS. GCS is a company that during my time in the industry a lot of the good contractor guys that I have worked with
have come from. So once I get home that's what I'll be looking into.

So everyone that was in the scrum meeting was out of the door and looking back that forms an odd moment in my mind. The most ironic thing of the whole experience was the mail Rob had sent out a few days ago spoofing the I'm resigning letters. Because we had had so many people resigning recently giving their contract details and saying goodbye, Rob wrote a joke version saying he was not leaving and that he could be contacted on his work address. Little did he know!

I had to go back up for my 1-2-1 meeting with Richard and Susie, this time it was in JetPac. Richard read through another script, this time saying much the same thing but adding if I didn't want to fight the decision then they would give me a pay off to 'soften' the blow. But I had to make my mind up fast as the money would start decreasing. I had until the end of business on the Monday to agree to get the full amount which roughly speak was about a month and half of pay. If I didn't agree until the end of the Friday after it would drop down to the statutory minimum payment, which for me is 310 pounds for each full year that I've worked with the company.

That done I went back down to the office with my little pack of documents and collected my stuff. By this stage most people had got to the pub but I hung around for a bit talking to people and keeping Raza and Lutfur company as they don't drink as so weren't going down the pub. Checking my computer I found that they hadn't locked me out and so I was able to collect some of my personal files; CV, pictures and some music files.

We left the office and Raza did come down the pub to say goodbye. That's where I stayed for the rest of the day drinking, mostly at first with Ketan and Fabio. Later everyone else turned up including lots of old members of staff, it was planned as a big night already because my mate John was leaving anyway and Gareth had invited lots of people. It got very messing towards the end and I heard reports afterwards that a couple of people needed help getting home.

Fitting I suppose, that it all ended in a pub which always has been the heart of the social spirit of the company.