Stories of redundancy
Redundancy affects everyone differently.
We're curating a space for individuals to share their story of redundancy. We hope this space will help others to feel heard and less alone with their redundancy journey, as well offering support, inspiration and guidance from those who can empathise most.
Gerard's story:
Well, I’ve been made redundant, what now!
I’m 63 years young and have worked in the same industry for the best part of 40 of those years, the last 31 for the same company. At the end of 2025 I was made redundant, this came as a bit of a surprise as there had been no prior indication that it may be on the horizon, in fact a few months earlier I had a financial/pension review with an advisor that was associated with the company, everything was reviewed based on my current salary (as was) and what it was predicted to be over the next 4 years, pension contributions from the company, additional contributions from my salary etc, etc. Now don’t get me wrong I was never going to accumulate enough to buy a luxury yacht and sail around the world, but I was all set to have a reasonable pension income once I reached my retirement age of 67. Suddenly that all changed, so what do I do now?
You will have your own individual circumstances, but for me having worked more or less non stop since leaving school there I was at 63 years old, dismissed! Yes, dismissed, it’s not the same as being sacked of course but redundancy is a form of dismissal, your employer doesn’t want you any more, you are no longer required, how does that feel? Like me you may have always had a very strong work ethic, reliable, responsible, conscientious, go the extra mile as and when required, so being made redundant suddenly presents you with, what for some, can be a very difficult set of feelings to deal with. Why me? Did I not work hard enough? Feeling worthless, abandoned, chucked on the scrap heap at 63!
I’m a proud man, husband, dad, big brother, the person everyone else has always come to when they needed some advise or help with something, am I not that person anymore, who do I go to? Everyone will experience their own feelings that will affect their emotional and mental health, we all have to deal with this in our own way. You will need to determine what’s best for you, but seeking help and support is very much advisable.
Being made redundant in the latter years of your working life probably presents the same conundrum for most, do I take the next available job and just carry on working? Do I take early retirement, and can I afford to? Do I take some time out and see how I feel after a couple of months or so? Maybe see how a hybrid option works for a while by working part time? In time, and with a little help and support, you’ll decide what’s best for you, for the time being I’ve taken the time out option, I’ll see how it goes?
Now I’m not one for full on social media forums, group chats etc, I’m not going to be online best buddies with someone any time soon, but if reading this has been helpful, even in just a small way, then that’s good. With something in common maybe we can just be anonymous friends.
Good luck with what you decide to do next, take care.
Gerard.