Springboards

Redundancy Action

I am watching friends and family members go through the redundancy process, or possible redundancy which seems almost worse.  This is where you know redundancy is coming for some people in the team but you don’t know who is staying and who is going; or you know redundancy is probable but you don’t know when – like waiting for the axe to drop; or where amalgamation of companies means everyone must reapply for a shrinking number of jobs. 

Each of these scenarios brings its own types of stress.  At least when you know you are being made redundant and you know when, you have the chance to plan.  Assuming of course the redundancy is a little way off. I completely understand the anger of people who arrive at work on a Monday morning and find the gate locked and they are redundant and I see this as heartless in the extreme.  But when you have certainty, when you have a date to work towards, then you can feel more in control of your life.  At that point so much depends on how you deal with it.  Some put their head in the sand and hope it goes away. Some convince themselves there is nothing they can do, that they won’t find other work, and drop into a state of helplessness. 

Others take action.  By taking action they not only feel more in control, they are more in control.  They don’t wait for redundancy.  They discuss things with their family and develop a plan depending on various scenarios.  They research and apply for jobs. They may ask themselves “Where to next?” and set about exploring options for their life that are quite different to anything they have done before.

And for some of these people they will look back on this redundancy as the best thing that ever happened to them.  Made redundant from an uninspiring job,  A. got the job of her dreams.  Highly intelligent and very well qualified, S. left a pretty average-paying job and got a job that truly valued his skills, at almost double his previous pay.  And M. is in the process of starting his own business – before the final day of work (a date that keeps changing) – he is energised, excited and feeling impatient for the old job to finish but needs that redundancy cheque so he will hang in there.

To understand, to forgive, and to reconcile

What leads a woman who has lost her much loved husband to a drunk driver to smile at and give a hug and kiss to the man who took his life, influencing the judge to deliver a lesser sentence?  Twenty years ago Anne Krueger read a book that, translated into English, had the title ‘To understand, to forgive, and to reconcile.’ Those words stayed with her so that she forgave the man who ran down her cyclist husband then drove on, and also forgave for the process she went through afterwards, the people who didn’t understand her grief, and the situations that upset her.  She didn’t want to hate, she forgave the man in the belief that “We all want to have peace in our souls and in our lives, and not always to carry a burden and [be] blaming ourselves and other people” (Weekend Herald 13/02/2010, p A7 ‘Widow offers drunk driver forgiveness’).

I wonder what Anne Krueger said to herself and what picture she had in her mind of the man who was responsible for the death of her husband that she was able to forgive.  It seems she sought to understand him as part of forgiveness. I hope I would have what it takes to understand, then forgive and reconcile if ever I should have the misfortune to be in similar position. On her own survival, Anne Krueger says she has, “a corner of my brain that says ‘you will get there.’”