Negotiation

So, you have attended the first Redundancy Consultation Meeting and your role is now officially at risk of redundancy.

Before you do anything, ensure that any Redundancy Package financial calculations are correct using your current salary

You may or may not have been offered the option of protected conversations, what are your options now?

1. Ensure the four questions relating to why you have been selected have been answered fully
   • If they haven’t then there may be a question as to whether your selection was fair, and whether the remaining parts of the Redundancy Consultation are genuine.  Consider this carefully and if you believe that your selection was unfair or the redundancy process is not genuine – get professional legal advice from an employment expert. While this may cost money, most firms offer a free short consultation.  Waiting until the Redundancy Consultation process has ended may be too late, as most legislation only allows a short period for appealing the decision.
2. Depending on your circumstances (which may vary), you can work with the Company, exploring other possibilities within the Company.  Remember if they are able to find another suitable role then they will be saving money in not having to pay you any redundancy.
3. You may want to compile your own suggestions as to re-employment within the Company, ensure these are in writing.

Remember there are usually time limits in all Redundancy Consultation processes, so if you have been offered the option of protected conversations, now may be a good time to sit down with a calculator and your personal budgetting plan.  (If you do not have a budgetting plan, you may need to think about creating one, as if you are made redundant, you and your family will need to survive before you get another job).

Book a protected conversation with the HR contact who offered them, and ensure it is at a time and place convenient to you.  They can be off-site, but are confidential so pick a suitable venue.

In the earlier stages of the guide we suggested that you ensure your Contract of Employment was up to date.

Check that the start date on your Contract of Employment matches the dates in any redundancy package offer – If you are only a few months off being employed for another year, ask for the service to be “upped” to the higher figure as this could have an impact on all the financial aspects of the Redundancy Package.

Consider other benefits that you would be losing, should you be made redundant, benefits such as (but not exclusively limited to):-

• Health Care
• Pension
• Death in Service
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Creche
• Company Car
• Mobile Phone and/or Number
• Computer

Death in Service benefit may require you to purchase a personal life insurance policy if you do not have one.  However as part of your negotiations ask if this benefit could be included within your deal.

Calculate the value of those benefits to you and how much it will cost you if you have to fund/purchase them yourself.  Add a percentage to any proposed Redundancy Package to take account of this additional personal expenditure.

Does the Redundancy Package include any :-

• Calculation for any pay increase from annual reviews?
  • If not, ask for the to be included.  After all you will be working for the Company during this time
    • (not including them, may also indicate just how transparent the Company are within the Consultation process)
• Notice period?
  • Consider asking to stay on until the termination day and receiving a payment in lieu of notice (PILON), this is usually taxed
  • If your contracted notice period is shorter in weeks than the number of years you have worked for the Company, ask for a week per year (up to the legal amount allowed in your country/state etc.)
• Vacation/holiday provision?
  • Consider cancelling any booked vacation/holiday to maximise your package
• Details on any reference?
  • Ensure you specifically ask that a reference will be included.  If it is not there, you may not get one!
• Outsourced Support
  • The Company uses outsourcing companies to assist you in finding alternative employment
• Settlement Agreement (used to referred to as a Compromise Agreement*)
  • If this is mentioned, you definately need to get professional legal advice from an employment expert
    • They will be able to ensure that there are no contractual terms that you may not realise could damage your ability to gain valued employment in the future.
    • As your role is being made redundant look out for any clauses that mention transition or hand-over – you may decide that these should be deleted!
• Termination Fee
  • Remember that only the termination fee is usually tax free, so negotiate and additional percentage amount to any other benefit to take account of the tax you will be charged, especially if you are a higher rate tax payer.
• Details on Payment
  • Tax considerations.  You would be well advised to ask for a breakdown on tax you will be paying and whether there is the option to split payments of your final payments, before any tax documentation is issued.  Seek advice from an independant financial advisor who like the legal advice may offer an initial free consultation.

Once you have the financial figures and depending on how confident you are you can either:-

• Present the figures to the Company as your counter-offer, should you be made redundant
  • Remember you will probably only get one chance of this so ensure you have everything correct – if in doubt see below
• get professional legal advice from an employment expert.
  • They will be able to review the redundancy package you have been offered, your counter-offer and the whole Redundancy Consultation to-date.  While it may cost you in the short term, you should be able get this back, should the counter-offer be accepted.

As we’ve said before there are usually tight timelines in the Consultation process and at this time you are in a state of limbo.  Be strong and believe in yourself and your abilities.

If you are able to reach agreement to your counter proposals, remember that timing is paramount.  You do not want to sign yourself out a job, should the Redundancy Consultation process be stopped, or returns an option that would not make your role redundant.  However, you need to negotiate the most beneficial package for you.  Your employment legal professional may also offer to negotiate on your behalf, if you are not confident enough.

* In January 2013, the UK Government proposed a number of changes. This includes renaming compromise agreements as “settlement agreements”.