Potential notice of redundancy being issued tomorrow.
Discussion
I might be getting the wrong end of the stick here but I (along with a number of others) have to attend a meeting with senior management tomorrow and two reps from HR. I havn't been told what the meeting is about but it doesn't take a genius to have an idea.
Bit of background:
I work for a large bank in the City in the IT department. Specifically in the QA / Test Analyst role. I have been doing this role for one year. Other people attending the meeting are Java Developers. Over the last few months we have been getting even busier. So much so that we are getting people from an external company based in Bangalore to assist with the development and testing. We were specifically told that they would work with us and not replace us.
So this afternoon I received this invite along with the other 3 testers, and 4 developers and our line managers, and of course HR.
I am pretty certain I know what is happening but from a legal view is this right? I.e someone being effectively replaced by a outside contractor that is cheaper. The roles would be identical.
It doesn't seen morally or ethically right to me, but considering we are dealing with a bank in the city of london morals or ethics don't really come into it.
Feeling pretty fed up tonight, i really enjoy the role and the people I work with.
I really hope I am over-reacting, but I suspect not.
EDIT: I have actually been with the company since 2002, I applied for the IT role just over a year ago from another department, if that makes any difference.
Bit of background:
I work for a large bank in the City in the IT department. Specifically in the QA / Test Analyst role. I have been doing this role for one year. Other people attending the meeting are Java Developers. Over the last few months we have been getting even busier. So much so that we are getting people from an external company based in Bangalore to assist with the development and testing. We were specifically told that they would work with us and not replace us.
So this afternoon I received this invite along with the other 3 testers, and 4 developers and our line managers, and of course HR.
I am pretty certain I know what is happening but from a legal view is this right? I.e someone being effectively replaced by a outside contractor that is cheaper. The roles would be identical.
It doesn't seen morally or ethically right to me, but considering we are dealing with a bank in the city of london morals or ethics don't really come into it.
Feeling pretty fed up tonight, i really enjoy the role and the people I work with.
I really hope I am over-reacting, but I suspect not.
EDIT: I have actually been with the company since 2002, I applied for the IT role just over a year ago from another department, if that makes any difference.
Edited by eric twinge on Tuesday 13th October 19:17
softtop said:
The other way to view it is that you will write the specifications and they will deliver the outputs, you could become a quality team rather than delivery and HR are there to govern the response. The s
t only hits the fan when you hear it first hand, sounds like you are worrying about change a little too soon, prove me wrong.
Thanks, that makes a little bit of sense in that my manager was asking for our job mandates a while ago, and I know he attended a meeting to discuss three new job mandates in the uk. Possibly perhaps.t only hits the fan when you hear it first hand, sounds like you are worrying about change a little too soon, prove me wrong.Edited by softtop on Tuesday 13th October 19:09
As expected, unless I apply for a new role and get it within the company we are out of the door June 2016.
What annoys me is that we were told that the ‘contractors’ would be working with us and not replacing us. I suppose that is my fault for actually believing it.
Well, I’m not the worst and won’t be the last, so perhaps I should take the money and run, but it is a real shame as I really enjoy what I do and actually look forward to coming into work as well.
What annoys me is that we were told that the ‘contractors’ would be working with us and not replacing us. I suppose that is my fault for actually believing it.
Well, I’m not the worst and won’t be the last, so perhaps I should take the money and run, but it is a real shame as I really enjoy what I do and actually look forward to coming into work as well.
Many thanks everyone for your advice, you are all speaking a lot of sense and I appreciate it all, I am at work at the moment so I will give a better update tonight but I have my meeting with HR, line manager this afternoon.
I understand in this meeting they will go into more detail about how this affects me, package and also a list of roles that I can apply for.
Is there anything that I should be asking or saying, or indeed not saying? Any words of advice, how should I play it?
On one hand I am gutted as I really have enjoyed the last year or so in this testing / qa role after years of operations.
I suppose I could apply for one of the new roles, but it won’t be what I want to do, but it will pay the mortgage of course.
Or I could take the money in June and look for something nearer to home, I have been commuting from Southampton to London since 2002 and it is starting to take its toll.
I have two young daughters (one disabled) who could do with Dad being around a bit more, so perhaps I could buy that MX5 with the payout and work locally albeit with less salary, but just think of no more 4 hour commutes!
I feel as if the rug has been pulled out from me somewhat, as I am sure everyone who has faced this and will face this in the future. It’s nothing new is it.
I understand in this meeting they will go into more detail about how this affects me, package and also a list of roles that I can apply for.
Is there anything that I should be asking or saying, or indeed not saying? Any words of advice, how should I play it?
On one hand I am gutted as I really have enjoyed the last year or so in this testing / qa role after years of operations.
I suppose I could apply for one of the new roles, but it won’t be what I want to do, but it will pay the mortgage of course.
Or I could take the money in June and look for something nearer to home, I have been commuting from Southampton to London since 2002 and it is starting to take its toll.
I have two young daughters (one disabled) who could do with Dad being around a bit more, so perhaps I could buy that MX5 with the payout and work locally albeit with less salary, but just think of no more 4 hour commutes!
I feel as if the rug has been pulled out from me somewhat, as I am sure everyone who has faced this and will face this in the future. It’s nothing new is it.
Thanks everyone, still chewing things over. I think I will get the bank to pay for my testing exams and build up my experience as much as possible until June. There are a number of business systems analysis roles going which I will go for,again to get experience and to add to my cv.
Didn't do much work today so need to concentrate tomorrow.
Didn't do much work today so need to concentrate tomorrow.
Thought I should give an update to this as there was lots of helpful advice and it may be helpful to others as well.
So I 'applied' or should I say, expressed an interest for one of the roles that were being offered.
My line manager and my new line manager strongly suggested that I got for that role as well. It turns out that HR and management had already earmarked us for our roles. Quite what the reason therefore for putting us through the mill a bit I do not know. I guess it us some type of legal reasoning for it.
Anyways, I got the bank to pay for my exam and I passed that.
So I started my new role, BSA in Jan, lots to learn and a bit overwhelming at times but I am getting lots of help and I have a very supportive manager who is mentoring me.
However, the whole situation of possible redundancy, meetings and the worry made me feel rather ill! Luckily I have been at my employer for 13 years so that would make things easier, but it wasn't a particularly nice time.
So I appear to have come out the other end all ok.
Thanks for all the advice.
So I 'applied' or should I say, expressed an interest for one of the roles that were being offered.
My line manager and my new line manager strongly suggested that I got for that role as well. It turns out that HR and management had already earmarked us for our roles. Quite what the reason therefore for putting us through the mill a bit I do not know. I guess it us some type of legal reasoning for it.
Anyways, I got the bank to pay for my exam and I passed that.
So I started my new role, BSA in Jan, lots to learn and a bit overwhelming at times but I am getting lots of help and I have a very supportive manager who is mentoring me.
However, the whole situation of possible redundancy, meetings and the worry made me feel rather ill! Luckily I have been at my employer for 13 years so that would make things easier, but it wasn't a particularly nice time.
So I appear to have come out the other end all ok.
Thanks for all the advice.
Well a couple of months in and I think I am struggling.
I think I am just not intelligent enough! The methods, terminology is just too confusing, I know how to talk to a developer to tell them what the business want, I can understand what the business want, but there is so much stuff inbetween in is baffling.
Although I feel I have got a supportive manager it can only go so far, I don't want to keep asking questions and make myself look like a idiot,
Plus my colleague who is meant to be mentoring me is leaving in three weeks and no replacement is lined up and that terrifies me quite frankly. i guess this is just a vent but I feel sick to my stomach when I am sat at my desk and I don't know if what I am doing is right.
Perhaps I am being hard on myself I don't know!
I think I am just not intelligent enough! The methods, terminology is just too confusing, I know how to talk to a developer to tell them what the business want, I can understand what the business want, but there is so much stuff inbetween in is baffling.
Although I feel I have got a supportive manager it can only go so far, I don't want to keep asking questions and make myself look like a idiot,
Plus my colleague who is meant to be mentoring me is leaving in three weeks and no replacement is lined up and that terrifies me quite frankly. i guess this is just a vent but I feel sick to my stomach when I am sat at my desk and I don't know if what I am doing is right.
Perhaps I am being hard on myself I don't know!
Thanks for your words everyone. had a better day Friday, managed to progress some more on some use cases only for the business to change their mind on what it was they wanted! So that looks like we will have to start again. There is a lot of on line resources that I can refer too, i just need to knuckle down.
I think it is a lot of the technical documentation I need to produce, data elements, use cases, process maps, how they all tie up and who wants what and when.
This is a great opportunity for me really so I must grab it and give it a damn good go and not get to worried about whether I can do it, ask questions if I need to, read up, listen to other conversations in the office and generally be a nosey Parker. I do work with a good team who have plenty of experience and are happy to help.
Perhaps I was just feeling a bit sorry for myself but I would rather that than not continually questioning myself and not want to learn.
I think it is a self confidence thing really which I have always suffered from.
Thanks for all that everyone has contributed, I will update as I go on as I find it thereputic to update my thoughts.
Cheers all.
I think it is a lot of the technical documentation I need to produce, data elements, use cases, process maps, how they all tie up and who wants what and when.
This is a great opportunity for me really so I must grab it and give it a damn good go and not get to worried about whether I can do it, ask questions if I need to, read up, listen to other conversations in the office and generally be a nosey Parker. I do work with a good team who have plenty of experience and are happy to help.
Perhaps I was just feeling a bit sorry for myself but I would rather that than not continually questioning myself and not want to learn.
I think it is a self confidence thing really which I have always suffered from.
Thanks for all that everyone has contributed, I will update as I go on as I find it thereputic to update my thoughts.
Cheers all.
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