I've been in the workforce for close to 6 years and this is the first time I experienced a retrenchment.
😐 HOW IT HAPPENED 😐
I was called to stay back after work one day as my boss said that he had something to tell me. I was then called into his meeting room where he broke the news of him leaving the company. As I was directly reporting to him and there wasn't any replacement for his position, my role was hence made redundant.
😯THE EMOTIONS😯
This piece of news came as a surprise to me as I would never expect my boss to be leaving the company. I was however not sad upon hearing this piece of news because I already had the intention to leave the company. It was just I didn't expect that I would be leaving this quickly, before I even secured myself a next job. Thankfully the termination was not with immediate effect and I still had time to start finding a new job.
‼️IMPORTANT NOTES‼️
As it was my first time facing a retrenchment I did not know what to expect and what are the subsequent steps needed to be taken. However I have learnt what are some of the things I should take note of through this experience.
1️⃣ READING THROUGH YOUR CONTRACT
Reading through your contract is very important before signing a job offer. I have taken this aspect for granted prior to this and realised the importance of doing so after going through this ordeal. I broke the news to a few of my close friends handling recruitment and found out that apparently some companies do offer some sort of severance pay for retrenched staff. Unfortunately for my case, my company doesn't which I wasn't aware till I went back to read through my employment contract again.
2️⃣ ENCASHMENT OF LEAVE / USING LEAVE TO OFFSET NOTICE PERIOD
Do check with your company if they allow you to encash your remaining pro-rated leaves of the year. For my company, they were pretty flexible in this aspect allowing their employees to either encash their remaining pro-rated leaves or to use their pro-rated leaves to offset their notice period. For my case, my pro-rated leaves were used to offset my notice period. However if it's an immediate termination, you should check with your company if they allow you to encash your remaining pro-rated leaves of the year.
3️⃣ TESTIMONIAL
If your termination is not due to bad performance or misconduct, it would be advisable to request for a testimonial which could come in handy for your next job to prove that you were not let go due to bad performance/miscondict.
⚠️BREAKING THE NEWS⚠️
Within the next few days, I broke the news to some of my close friends and those in the headhunting industry. Thankfully I had friends who were actively on a lookout for me and an opportunity came knocking on my door soon after.
⏭WHAT IS NEXT⏭
Currently, I will be taking a short one month break before starting my new job in mid November. Life really does wonders, I went in circles and am going back to what I did as my first corporate job. Perhaps God already has my life planned out for me, to experience the worse only to go back to what I was comfortable and experienced at doing.
🤍To anyone out there who's going through the same thing as I am, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. Please do not be disheartened and trust that better things are in store for you. When one door closes, another opens. You got this!!! 💪🏻
