Redundancy/Golden handshake

[Nice Swan Brother]

Hi,

I work in the finance industry, due to a restructure my role may be made redundant. Unlike some companies our redundancy is the award only.

I work in a senior role reporting into the exec team. I have been with the business for 3 years.

Has anyone had experience where they have been offered/negotiated a redundancy gratuity or ‘golden handshake’ over and above the award?

I am a believer in you don’t ask you don’t get, but interested in the likliehood.

Thanks

 

[Nuggs Bunny]

Hi,

I work in the finance industry, due to a restructure my role may be made redundant. Unlike some companies our redundancy is the award only.

I work in a senior role reporting into the exec team. I have been with the business for 3 years.

Has anyone had experience where they have been offered/negotiated a redundancy gratuity or ‘golden handshake’ over and above the award?

I am a believer in you don’t ask you don’t get, but interested in the likliehood.

Thanks

If they're about to cull a lot of roles at once it's hard to see them entertaining paying overs to certain people as you don't have much of a bargaining chip, but I guess you have absolutely nothing to lose by asking in that position either. All of the golden handshake severance examples that I know about have been pushing a someone out of the organisation to free up the position for somebody else by making them resign rather than making them redundant.

Hope you get the news you want either way dude

 

[Nice Swan Brother]

If they're about to cull a lot of roles at once it's hard to see them entertaining paying overs to certain people as you don't have much of a bargaining chip, but I guess you have absolutely nothing to lose by asking in that position either. All of the golden handshake severance examples that I know about have been pushing a someone out of the organisation to free up the position for somebody else by making them resign rather than making them redundant.

Hope you get the news you want either way dude

Thanks

Its combining several roles in what previously where seperate parts of the business.

I'd be happy to walk, but would likely take longer than the award pays to find a comparable role elsewhere.

 

[Caesar]

yeah golden handshakes tend to be specific clauses in an employment contract (e.g. a CEO accepts a job with a very high performance bar with the proviso of a golden handshake as security) or to get rid of someone without having to go through a redundancy process

if the company was looking at a general RIF then they might offer VRs with a carrot first - but your situation (specific jobs being eliminated/consolidated) is generally just a normal redundancy

unless you're reasonably confident of coming out on top for the consolidated role, the best thing you can do is find a new job ASAP - at 3 years your entitlement is not worth hanging around for

 

[Nice Swan Brother]

yeah golden handshakes tend to be specific clauses in an employment contract (e.g. a CEO accepts a job with a very high performance bar with the proviso of a golden handshake as security) or to get rid of someone without having to go through a redundancy process

if the company was looking at a general RIF then they might offer VRs with a carrot first - but your situation (specific jobs being eliminated/consolidated) is generally just a normal redundancy

unless you're reasonably confident of coming out on top for the consolidated role, the best thing you can do is find a new job ASAP - at 3 years your entitlement is not worth hanging around for

Thanks, already looking.

Recruiters seem to have their ear to the ground, reaching out on LinkedIn already.

The tax benefits would make a redundancy and a new job elsewhere at the same time beneficial.

 

[Orange Agent]

You would have to have an argument that its not a legit redundancy or some kind of leverage over them to even ask the question.

 

[kaiserchief13]

That sucks that a) 3 years only and b) minimum legal entitlement.

I've known some people to get about 2 years salary (and majority is not taxed) via redundancy

 

[Caesar]

I've known some people to get about 2 years salary (and majority is not taxed) via redundancy

nobody gets this much money as a forced redundancy payout

The people who walk away with 1-2 years' salary generally have a lot of entitlements saved up, and get some kind of multiplier for taking a voluntary redundancy. My dad worked for the same company for 45 years, took a VR and walked away with about 1.5x his annual salary - but only about 12 weeks of that was his actual redundancy entitlement. He also had ~20 weeks of LSL, ~2 weeks of AL and got a 1.75 multiplier for jumping early.

Forced redundancies are never worth hanging around for unless you're going to use it to retire early. Much better to secure a new job as soon as possible and not risk an unfunded break in employment.

 

[PoppedCorn]

Ours is capped at 60 weeks which u reach at twenty years service
Plus all entitlements banked that you have on top

 

[Caesar]

Ours is capped at 60 weeks which u reach at twenty years service
Plus all entitlements banked that you have on top

Jesus, what industry is that? Unions must have you by the balls

 

[PoppedCorn]

Im union
Id rather it not be capped obviously

 

[two blue tiger]

My old boss tried to dud me out of mine when the business I was working for was sold to a conglomerate (ASX listed healthcare company). I worked as Finance Manager - this role was taken into the new head office. Nearly five years service. Minimum redundancy 8 weeks. Boss told me I wasn't redundant, as I left prior to the sale going through. Total BS. Didn't quite get to lawyers at 20 paces, but some stern words exchanged. Got just under 12 weeks eventually and a very nasty taste in the mouth..........

Moral - ask, be firm, no BS, just the facts.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

i personally never understood why businesses paid anything above what they are required too. The reason most occur is to save money, seems counter intuitive to spend more than you need to to save money. I suppose they do get tax write offs for it.

I suspect most of the "Golden Handshake" part of redundancy's are because more senior people have lengthy notice periods in their contracts. That is the bulk of any payments. My notice period is 6 months for example.

Redundancy typically adds up to include.

Notice Period + Redundancy Payment (Per Legislation) + Annual Leave + Long Service Leave (if applicable)

 

[kaiserchief13]

i personally never understood why businesses paid anything above what they are required too. The reason most occur is to save money, seems counter intuitive to spend more than you need to to save money. I suppose they do get tax write offs for it.

I suspect most of the "Golden Handshake" part of redundancy's are because more senior people have lengthy notice periods in their contracts. That is the bulk of any payments. My notice period is 6 months for example.

Redundancy typically adds up to include.

Notice Period + Redundancy Payment (Per Legislation) + Annual Leave + Long Service Leave (if applicable)

Lots of places have an enterprise agreement that has better redundancy entitlements than legislation

 

[_Mike_]

Jesus, what industry is that? Unions must have you by the balls

Without putting names in, an employer that I worked for (large international company) paid out at 4 weeks redundancy for every year of service, uncapped. I personally know of 2 employees going all the way back to BHP IT days that walked away with huge payouts.

 

[utility]

I received a redundancy package years ago. The EBA defined the payout, I didn't bother negotiating. Three years is a relatively short tenure so I wouldn't expect much.

 

[TheEscapeClub]

BHP Nickel West when I was there :
12 weeks up front
2.5 weeks for every year of service
Any LSL or AL owing
100% of your yearly bonus no matter how far into the year you are.
If you were in the BHP matched share scheme, any shares not already matched (typically 2 years worth) were automatically matched.

For BHP Iron Ore (WAIO) when I transferred there it was the same except for the first 2 lines, they were :
14 weeks up front
2 weeks for every year of service.

No caps on either.

 

[Kwality]

Hi,

I work in the finance industry, due to a restructure my role may be made redundant. Unlike some companies our redundancy is the award only.

I work in a senior role reporting into the exec team. I have been with the business for 3 years.

Has anyone had experience where they have been offered/negotiated a redundancy gratuity or ‘golden handshake’ over and above the award?

I am a believer in you don’t ask you don’t get, but interested in the likliehood.

Thanks

I'm late here, how did you go ?

My advice would have been to build a presence in the wider industry / area of your competence. Usually takes out of hours socialising but when the head hunters come knocking you are in a far stronger position to negotiate.
Agree nothing wrong with asking & do not take the first answer as the end of the discussion.

I've been on both sides of the fence including a project where the principal backer pulled the backing & the company was put into Administration & the management team asked to work for nothing for 3-4 weeks.

 

[Nice Swan Brother]

I'm late here, how did you go ?

My advice would have been to build a presence in the wider industry / area of your competence. Usually takes out of hours socialising but when the head hunters come knocking you are in a far stronger position to negotiate.
Agree nothing wrong with asking & do not take the first answer as the end of the discussion.

I've been on both sides of the fence including a project where the principal backer pulled the backing & the company was put into Administration & the management team asked to work for nothing for 3-4 weeks.

Thanks mate, kept my job, same pay, down a rung on the ladder.

We are a large private without an EBA. Very generous parental leave benefits, but little more than that outside the award.

Thankfully the role allows that level of networking by default, so all good from that perspective.

A mate of mine didn't make it, got 6 weeks, and his 4 week notice period tax free. He is on the highest tax bracket so essentially walked away with the after tax equivalent of 20 weeks pay and started a new role, on similar coin the next week. So didn't miss a pay check.

 

[Kwality]

Thanks mate, kept my job, same pay, down a rung on the ladder.

We are a large private without an EBA. Very generous parental leave benefits, but little more than that outside the award.

Thankfully the role allows that level of networking by default, so all good from that perspective.

A mate of mine didn't make it, got 6 weeks, and his 4 week notice period tax free. He is on the highest tax bracket so essentially walked away with the after tax equivalent of 20 weeks pay and started a new role, on similar coin the next week. So didn't miss a pay check.

real world experience, great to hear.

 

[nobbyiscool]

You can try and negotiate whatever you want.

I left a job before the probation period was up, it was just a nightmare fit for both of us. They didn't owe me a cent - but I knew where the bodies were buried, I suggested to them that they should probably purchase a confidentiality clause from me, and that's what they did.

 

[evolved2]

Without putting names in, an employer that I worked for (large international company) paid out at 4 weeks redundancy for every year of service, uncapped. I personally know of 2 employees going all the way back to BHP IT days that walked away with huge payouts.

I get 6wks notice plus 4 wks per year of service or part of.

 

[juss]

It can be extremely beneficial if you've been there a long time, you can either fund a career break or get ahead with a new job early.

I wanted to be made redundant at my last company of 10+ years but they knew it and never offered it because they probably knew I was searching elsewhere anyway

 

[PoppedCorn]

Eba neg due next year for us

Always fun

 

[Harro59]

So we have a restructure coming up at my work. My department is moving around a bit, not sure if they'll split us up or what yet.

However just doing do due diligence, and our EB has our redundancy clause in it. Basically is 4 weeks notice and then the payout is 3 weeks per year of service and then any LSL and AL is added on.

Not sure goe this will all end up, I van see us cutting too many of my ilk, that being Enigneers, because we have had some trouble getting in people at the moment.

However we shall know more in the coming weeks.