What do you wish you'd done before being made redundant?

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Mochac

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I'm looking at this whole redundancy thing from a slightly unusual angle. I am being made redundant for the first time after 18 years with the same employer and it has occurred to me that I will likely never experience this position again. So what do you wish you had done, or should one do in general, before walking out of the office for the last time ? I am looking for any and all sorts of suggestions from the practical, to the nostalgic (take one last photo of my desk) to the malicious (I bear no particular malice towards my former employer, but I would just like to point out that I am offering the broadest possible canvas for suggestions). My employer is a foreign company who is pulling out of Ireland, so this really is the end, so for 5 more days I will have unrestricted and unsupervised access to a normal office and an accompanying lab full of equipment, what would you do ?

Thanks,

Mochac.
 
I'd say look forward, not back. Take the positive memories with you, leave the negative behind. Shake the dust of the place off your feet. It's the start of the rest of your life. Those were my thoughts when I jacked in my job of 22 years.
 
Can't believe you're going to take a picture of your desk. Were you at the one desk for 18 years?

After 18 years you need a break of some sort. Now is the time to plan the holiday of a life time, if the redundancy is good. You should be getting all your ducks in a row for the social welfare office as well.

And like the previous poster said, look forward, not back.
 
While I don't dispute the "look forward not back" advice, it is slightly different if redundancy is thrust upon you instead of it being chosen. Some friends of mine in the US were recently made (rather abruptly) redundant when their company was taken over, one thing they did which I thought was a good idea was get a nice team photo taken together. By all means make a momento, take a picture of your desk if you like too (several of them did exactly that) but remember the workplace is the people you work with so they are the ones you want to remember. Do the things you did when leaving school, get everyone to sign a momento, get everyone's name to a picture. Then turn around and walk onto the next adventure.
 
Well it was done to me with malice and I didn't even get a chance to clear my desk. Thankfully my court case ended in them paying me a largish sum of money on top of my redundancy. Anyhow looking back I held on to the anger for about three years mainly because that was how long the court case took to conclude. This was a mistake.
In your case and if possible put your last job on the back shelf or completely bin it if possible and immediately move on to the next thing.
I have traveled and traveled and enjoyed being available to those people who supported me. I went back to college and studied for enjoyment rather than to learn new tricks. It was great fun.
I have had two careers in my life. I consider doing what I am doing now as my third career. Doing what I want to do which is at times precisely ..nothing.
 
Hello,

May I suggest you consider the following:

- Ensure you exchange contact details with all of your friends from work, be it via LinkedIN, personal notes etc. When you say you are going to keep in touch, do ... their friendship will last forever, if they are genuine & who knows, one of them may just be able to help you out in the future (or perhaps you might help them out).

- Get a few written references on headed paper. While in theory written references are not worth a lot these days, in practice you won't have the option in the future I'd suspect (given your employer is leaving the country etc.).

- Get some good tax & pension advice immediately, if you have not already had the benefit of same. Some good advice might save you a small fortune, either on your departure or in the years to come.

- Assuming you can afford to hold off working for a while as a result of a good redundancy payment, then do. Nothing wrong with taking a little time off to clear your head, relax, then focus on trying to get a job you would actually like (obviously I'm assuming you will be in the financial position to do this).

- Consider some further education, as mentioned by SoylentGreen above. There are numerous part time and full time courses available, which ultimately will serve you well (either in your next job, or perhaps just life in general).

- Finally, don't panic. I am reliably informed by a number of friends who have gone through the experience of being made redundant that there comes a point in time when you start to really worry about the future and if you let it, it can take hold of you and really make you panic about what is going to happen to you next. Don't let it, things work out for everyone over time :)
 
Make a pass at the colleague in the office that you have fancied for ages. If you get knocked back, then when you get made redundant, sue them. If you don't get knocked back then happy days!

:D
 
When our office shut down - we made sure we had all the logistical stuff sorted on the second last day - and on the last - we had a fun day in the office - ordered in Pizza, had some beers, Played pictionary on the whiteboards - celebrated the end as it were. It was a nice way to end up.
 
Take a list of people/titles/seating arrangements - you will need to refer to it some time in the future.
If there are any non-proprietorial materials relevant to your sector/industry/profession; take a copy. (I stress non-proprietorial)
If in any tax-scheme dependent upon tax paid by you in the year - calculate pros/cons again. One week after entering into a Film scheme early in a tax-year, I was notified of redundancy and assessed likely tax paid by end of the year and ultimately would have lost out. Luckily the other side hadn't processed my application and I was able to back away without cost.
 
Definitely get tax advice. Good independent tax advice will save you money and ensurer that you maximise the tax advantages of your rdundancy payment. Pension issues are important to address.
 
Mochac said:
... but I would just like to point out that I am offering the broadest possible canvas for suggestions). My employer is a foreign company who is pulling out of Ireland, so this really is the end, so for 5 more days I will have unrestricted and unsupervised access to a normal office and an accompanying lab full of equipment, what would you do?
Click to expand...

Mentioning the equipment, I get the sense you're wondering if you should 'liberate' some of it?
 
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