The Angry Accountant: Stories from the frontline of being made redundant in Australia
There is a good chance you know someone or know of someone working in the financial sector who has been made redundant recently. In Australia alone, more than 3,300 people were laid off by the big four banks in 2011. What’s fascinating is not these alarming statistics, which continue to rise, but the human stories behind them. People who are indebted to a mortgage, have a family to raise, and a livelihood to maintain now suddenly find themselves without a job. For those faced with this predicament and searching for a new job and some answers, here are stories of encouragement from people I know who were re-employed after being retrenched.
Don’s dilemma
Three years ago, Don was laid off from a US investment management firm where he had worked tirelessly as a financial accountant. After being told the bad news by his two managers, and before he was shown the door, the firm prevented Don from collecting his personal belongings for fear he’d “steal” company property. It also forbade a proper farewell to his team members and refused to give him a reference.
It was hard enough trying to grapple with the initial shock of losing a job without the disgusting way the process was handled. A state of shock was an understatement. Don was thrust into a state of impasse; not knowing what to feel, how to react, or even what to do next.
Don thought the best thing to do was surround himself with his two closest friends, so he could offload some of his anger, resentment and bitterness. To some degree this helped. But it wasn’t until he returned home that day that it all finally sunk in. A circus of thoughts ran rampantly through his mind such as: “Why did this happen to me?”, “Why was I not good enough for them?” and “What am I going to do tomorrow?” He even worried about the mountain of unfinished work left he had behind.
Jobless Jane
After 10 years of loyal service, Jane and 100 other colleagues at the mortgage and settlements division of a leading bank were made redundant. She was given a year’s notice and within that time she had to pass on her technical knowledge to low-cost counterparts in India.
As much as the bank tried to compensate the retrenched staff with generous severance packages and job-search assistance, this was no compensation for disbanding a happy group of employees who had an unparalleled bond that couldn’t be found elsewhere.
As the months stretched into that final farewell, Jane learnt that life needed to go on, in the hope that he career would move forward. She was fortunate enough to secure another job at the mortgage division of a competitor bank while her ex-colleagues either moved onto similar roles or took the opportunity to take a break and raise their family.
Life lessons
A powerful piece of advice Don wants to share with those who are still in the raw stages of coming to terms with their redundancy is to be thankful for what happened – impossible as this may sound. It was during his long period of uncertainty and unemployment that he subconsciously began learning different things about himself, such as his strength of character, and he discovered incredible things about other people and life in general that he would not have had the opportunity to know otherwise.
What happened to him was certainly not fair, but at some point he needed to let go of the financial worries and frustration that were overpowering his perspective and well being. After taking a long walk at a local park, still laden with heavy emotions, Don decided it was time to release all hios anger, for good. When at last he was honest with himself and believed everything was going to be ok, his phone rang. It was recruitment agent making a job offer.
