u/Former-Resource-3026

I was recently told I am at risk of redundancy.

I was told today that it’s just me being considered and this was due to my role no longer being required due to there being a reduced demand for the work I do and because the company wished to cut costs.

They have insisted it is the role and not the person they wish to eliminate. When I pointed out the workload isn’t low and is likely to get higher they insisted that wasn’t the case.

They then sent me a job opening they felt I could consider applying for and it’s basically my current job with a different name, plus a requirement to visit customers, which I can’t do due to my health and disabilities (which they are aware of)

I replied to highlight this and said that clearly the workload and cost cutting can’t be much of an issue.

The spec is the role I do now in terms of bid management and supporting the wider team. Plus some potential travelling that I wouldn’t be able to do.

So despite their claims that it’s purely driven by workload demands and cost cutting - their issue must be my health and disabilities, or this new job wouldn’t exist.

They said they will look into this and get back to me.

I can’t fathom how we’ve got to this point. It seems incredibly irresponsible on their part, no? Is this normal?!

TLDR - 11 years in job, hugely positive reviews and broad range of responsibilities. Had sick leave. Returned to reduced responsibilities without consultation. Still outstanding reviews.

Company tried to move me off commission into a bonus scheme before realising they can’t without giving me a new contract. Have been acting weird asking me why I don’t attend things despite my occupational health report outlining my disabilities and accommodation needs which also included not having to attend these events as they’re unnecessary.

Despite being busy they’re now claiming there’s not enough work and they may need to make me redundant.

More detailed info:

I have been in my role for 11 and a half years, employee number one at a firm which was eventually sold to a larger group.

These week I was told I am being considered for redundancy because there’s ‘simply not enough work’

My job is to manage large bids and tenders. Originally just for one part of the group (the part I started out in). But the flow of workload could rise and fall seasonally so alongside this my responsibilities included marketing, sales coordination, business / vendor coordination and a ton of other things, even fixing the companies janky website.

It’s worth noting here that I am disabled. I have an Occupational Therapy report work had made to outline my needs which included me working from home and outlining that attending large events and big group events was not something I was able to do. Which was only ever really going to be relevant a handful of times per year at best.

I’ve been outstanding at my job throughout, to the extent that I was awarded an ‘Outstanding Contribution’ award in mid 2024 for the part I’ve played in the companies success. In one of my last reviews with my then MD he was astonished and impressed by how much of a role I played in the vast majority of the companies profits and turnover.

I was given a raise and my job role was respecified to consolidate my responsibilities a bit more directly and I agreed to spread my focus from just the original part of the group I worked in, to cover all parts of the group. Which was seen as a way to increase my benefit to the wider group and to keep me busier, the biggest incentive being that I’d get commission from a vastly bigger group of tenders than I normally did.

Then unfortunately I became extremely sick in Nov 24. I was off until August 25. Checking in every month as required. Doing the odd bit of work here and there to help my colleagues out because they messaged me on teams. The MD left during that time. There was a bit of reshuffling going on around the business.

When I returned I was told there’s been changes and I was no longer part of the sales team, but I’d been moved underneath a bid director from the group. They’re lovely and we get on well etc.

I was told to settle in slowly so after a week or so I asked about the wider stuff I did. The marketing, the site, the vendor work, there was a long list. I was told that it would just be bids, but don’t worry we’re super busy etc.

So since September we’ve been working on these bids, reviews are fine etc and every month I’d get asked what bids I’d worked on. I’d send a list. My commission would be updated etc.

Then in December I didn’t get asked. So I sent my list. I got a confused response saying that I should have been told that we were moving to a quarterly bonus scheme.

I hadn’t been told. I got an “as we discussed” email which I replied to saying “we didn’t discuss this” and I outlined that if we had discussed this I would have flagged that my contract specifically states I receive commission when the customer pays the firm. So if we are to move to a quarterly bonus, I would need to understand what they’re offering and sign a new contract.

We end up on a call with HR. A woman I have never seen before. Not the woman I reported to while on sick leave etc. She’s so rude. Tells me my work isn’t worth the cost. I point out that I’ve had nothing but glowing reviews. She tries to insist that it’s happening, bid managers don’t normally even get commission etc. I say that’s irrelevant. I do. This debate is unnecessary because it can’t change without a contract discussion and nobody in their right mind would accept a huge pay cut on bad terms if that’s what is offered.

She says she will come back to me. Then resigns as she had issues.

My boss kind of shrugs it off and tells me she’ll let me know when they want to revisit it but til then it’ll be business as usual.

I have to chase every month to sort my commission out. They’re being a bit crap with it tbh. Trying to act like “oh I didn’t realise that counted” etc

HR person 2 gets hired, I start the call by saying I’m concerned with how hostile the first one was and I hope we can be civil in this one. She assures me she’s not like that. It’s a lovely call where she empathises with me.

Then she resigns a few days later.

So we continue another few months as is.

In my most recent review it was glowing. I mentioned I am still unwell but closing in on a diagnosis and expect to be healthy soon. My boss writes that even though I’m not 100% myself I am delivering 100% of the work expected of me. The only thing she mentions in her write up is that I could try to attend more group events / meetings at work. I reminded her of my OT report and she accepted that.

This past month there were 2 big meet up events from one of our directors. A sales meet up and a company kick off. Not being part of the sales team I didn’t think this was for me and also knowing it was going to be a formal meet up with a massive crowd of strangers I wasn’t going to be up for that and I figured they knew this.

When I didn’t go, my boss was asked why by the board. I reminded her why and she fed that back. Then we got invited to this company kick off. 3 hours each way, an overnight stay at some place where 200+ people will be mingling etc and doing activities. I didn’t RSVP because this has been established info for years and they’ve been reminded twice in the past month. But days before it I’m asked to provide a justification for not attending because this director is querying why I’m not coming. I remind them again. Nothing is said.

Last week I get a call. My role is being considered for redundancies because they want to cut costs and there simply isn’t enough work to warrant the role.

This doesn’t add up:

The number of tenders to do has been consistent throughout , it has ups and downs but we spend the downs looking for more and making changes to process etc.

I haven’t pointed out yet that I’d have also had even more to do if they hadn’t randomly decided to silo me on bids.

My boss is constantly busy because their workload is high and I’m busy because we have tenders on but il admit there are times it is quieter, May-July is a big period of time where there are fewer bids. In prep for that I had (off my own back) found over 100 opportunities that were awarded during this period of time in previous years with an expiry date due before September etc. Which I proposed we should be strategising around etc to fill this period of time.

We also talked about doing some training. Essentially improving while we build up to the much busier sept-May period.

Things have been busy so they were even Paying for third party bid support to help manage some of the larger bids because they’re considerable projects.

They have been trying to build an Ai bid support tool to strip out answers from old bids so we can edit and submit tenders quicker and do more. Which feeds nicely into my suggestion of us tracking these big lists of renewals etc - especially in tech they’ve not really understood because it’s what my previous part of the group focused on. Untapped potential etc.

So we’re at this point where they’re calling me to say my job is being considered for redundancy and I’m like:

- This can’t be about the workload (as they say it is) as the workload is consistent and they’ve actively chosen to make me less busy by reducing what I do (without changing my job description or title) and by paying for third party support on the bigger opportunities.

- It seems more like they’re upset about the fact I get commission instead of a bonus. But they’ve made absolutely no effort to offer a contract, the constant chop and change of HR folk has not aided this either.

- It seems despite telling me how pleased they are with my work and how I’m 100% delivering expectations etc, they are wary about my health. They’re downright irritated by my disabilities.

I asked a legal advice service I get through insurance about this and they told me that in my initial consultation meeting this week I should raise a grievance about this.

I am ok to do that but I’m not sure what the approach needs to be or if I’ve missed anything they might or can do or whatever.

My thought process is:

Begin my pointing out that they’ve said it’s because of workload but we’ve been busy with [hard numbers about our work] and I’ve been actively seeking additional opportunities [refer to that].

I also thought I can probably find quite a lot of written messages outlining how busy we are from the past month.

Then I thought I would raise that my concern is they’ve seen my long term sickness last year and think I’m at risk of being off again (I haven’t had a day off sick since my return despite being unwell) I also kept them informed that I’m waiting on test results that should diagnose and then cure this issue.

I also feel this may be tied to the lack of public appearances and adhering to the accommodations outlined in my OT report.

I feel like if I’m pushing back they’re probably not going to look favourably upon me and this is probably a bridge burning move. But equally I don’t see what other choice I have?

Can anyone help with advice and perspective on this?

Sorry it’s long!