Redundancy: A nightmare or a new opportunity

Redundancy is the “state or fact of being unemployed because work is no longer offered or considered necessary” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuIJRKVUFLQ&feature=related/ 00:50 min)

During the times of economic recession, everyone is worried about their job. Business contraction affects everyone within an organisation- the managers, the workers, even the cleaner. Redundancy is something terrible which means basically losing your job. However it depends on every single employee to make the most of it. To be made redundant does not mean you are not doing your job well or you are not qualified enough. It means that the company you are working with is in a bad situation and contracts its business which leads to closing job positions. And if you are “lucky” you will be working in the wrong department.

But if you are made redundant this does not mean you are fired. Therefore you need to get compensation package, the so called redundancy package, and negotiate an alternative job position within the same company or in a new one. This gives you the chance to start at a new place and grow in your professional development. Everything however is in the ability to negotiate and persuade the employer to give you the best compensation possible. This means every employer should know their rights and be ready to use that knowledge in order to save themselves from the potential crisis that comes along with losing your job.

However, very often these redundancy negotiations grow into confronting conflicts which are difficult to be solved. This way both the employer and the employee lose because neither of the two party’s needs are met. You need to remember not to break the relationship with the employer but try and maintain it as longer as possible. This way they could link you to other employers or even offer you another job position within the same company.

Remember the steps you need to take in case of being made redundant:

•          Avoid any conflicts with the employer
•          Keep your relationship with the employer and make the most of it
•          Learn your rights and negotiate the best conditions for you

And do not forget to leave the aggression away!

Just graduated? No, sorry we need someone with at least five years of experience.

Have you just graduated? Have you ever heard that excuse? Or the right question should be: how often do you hear that excuse when applying for a job?

The truth is that for students it is extremely difficult to find a good, well-paid job qualifying the preparation they have received from the university and the sphere in which they want to develop professionally. Any employer wants to have experienced people working for them. Very few people are willing to take the risk and trust someone who has just graduated and has no experience.

However it is a matter of negotiation and ability to persuade the employer that you deserve the job position more than someone who has much more experience. In order to achieve this, everyone needs to go prepared to a job interview with a developed BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement). Your BATNA determines the lowest value acceptable to you for a negotiated agreement. You should be able to make the other party an offer that is within their BATNA. You need to make sure that you offer something unique to the potential employer and list other qualities and achievements which compensate your lack of experience.

However there is another problem which stands on graduates’ way. It is true that many big companies have alumni schemes which help young people make a start in their career. But the problem here is that most of these companies are located in London. So does it mean that anyone who wants to have a bright career start needs to go there, where it is at least three times more expensive than in any other town or city in UK? Graduands, welcome to the real world...

Have you ever been discriminated on the workplace?

“Discrimination is the practice of treating one person or group differently from another in an unfair way.” (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English)

Nowadays we are living in a multicultural society where everyone is or at least should be treated equally. However too often we witness unequal treatment in our everyday life and sometimes even become victims of it. When this unequal treatment is done in an unfair way, then we speak about discrimination. Almost everyone has been discriminated against in their life. That is simply because there are so many types of discrimination as all people are part of a particular group- ethnic, gender, social group etc. Being discriminated against affects one's mentality and makes them feel they do not fit in a particular place or position just because they are different in some way.

One of the most common places, where discrimination takes part, is the workplace. A whole variety of conflicts arise on the workplace which predispose people in using unfair methods like discrimination. The most common type of discrimination on the workplace is ethnicity and gender discrimination. Many women are not allowed to reach managerial levels in their jobs because of stereotyping. The equality between the two genders is an issue of concern since very long time. The conflict arises from the fact that men and women are not treated in the same way for the same behaviours. This leads to lack of satisfaction and desire for change in one of the parties taking part in the conflict (the female party) which on the other hand will affect the interests of the other party (the male one).

On the other hand, the ethnic discrimination is an issue with no less importance. Many intelligent and well-educated people are not given the chance to have a good and well-paid job or develop in their career just because of the ethnic group they belong to. For example, there is a long-standing conflict between two Balkan countries- Macedonia and Bulgaria. As a result of this conflict, people who determine themselves as Bulgarians and hold Bulgarian passports are discriminated against from the Macedonian government and are kicked out from their jobs, bullied, ans simply are not allowed to have a normal life.

The discrimination on the workplace causes a serious conflict which could be between managers and employees or team members or leaders. These conflicts cause serious problems which need to be pointed out and discussed on time because otherwise they affect the overall company performance.