Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts

Sunday 4 March 2012

Rain rain go away....

I'd hoped that we could go marching into March with positivity on the financial front, but its been a bit of an odd week. On Wednesday my mum rang me while I was on the train on my way to work to tell me that my Dad's company has had the financial funding from the Germans pulled and they've all been told they could either receive a letter telling them they're redundant at any time or they could turn up in the morning and the gates be locked and they get nothing in terms of redundancy pay.

She said that a lot of people that work there take the mick by calling in sick lots and being late, and that there is a lot of office staff who do nothing and my Dad has been told that everything to do with him is excellent so he may be one of the last left but it seems like a bit of a sinking ship. I always get the urge to look around to see what's out there in terms of work as soon as the alarm bells start ringing but she said he hasn't looked for anything yet. The thing is, all he needs is some work for the next three years and then he gets his MOD pension. My mum's wages should cover the mortgage and bills etc so it won't be a complete catastrophe, but my Dad has been made redundant about five times and the last time he spiraled into depression so it's not exactly welcome news.

On Thursday I went into work and found out there were two redundancies at our London office, one an account manager dealing with new business. I guess if that's his full time job and the new business isn't there, or providing as much income as the company want that's his job over. The next was one of the creative team on my floor, apparently his role had changed a few times and he was doing bits and bobs so I guess his role just doesn't exist any more. Then Friday afternoon came and news from downstairs told us of an account director had been told he was also being made redundant. The reason for this is because the head of the company wants the younger grads to develop, but he didn't rule out taking another account director on in the future so that suggests they wanted to get rid of him on the grounds of either his performance or that he didn't seem very well liked, I'm not sure.

The strange thing is that this year we had a work Xmas party where there hadn't been one for three years previously as there wasn't the money for it, then over a company call we were told the company performed much better than expected in January...so it was a bit of a shock for this to happen. At the moment our team is making 7% more money than predicted, unlike quite a few departments. I just can't help but worry, especially as my biggest client Loyds Banking Group has put their call center recruitment on hold for quite a while (although things with this account seem to change within the space of a day).

It just seems that no-one is really safe at the moment, and everything has a knock on effect. If clients don't have jobs to advertise, we don't have jobs. With unemployment at a 17 year high (I think that's the latest figures) and with the cost of living ever increasing (I caught site of the cost of petrol today- ouch!) I just don't know how this country is going to get out of this mess. It seems the only real option is upping sticks and moving to another country for a better quality of life.

Anyways, enough of the doom and gloom though the weather certainly isn't helping matters, I guess I can only work towards our goals in the here and now- I don't have a crystal ball so can't predict the future. This weekend has been a good one money wise, I set aside £20 for Friday and managed to squeeze in a pub lunch in aid of the redundant people (kind of weird, what do you say to people in that situation if you don't even know them that well?!) and drinks out, as well as a nighttime bike ride- saves on cab fares! I then did a mystery shop combined with an essentials food shop and pound world trip for toiletries, batching them all together to save time and petrol.

Then in the afternoon after getting our room straight I got a call from the BF, someone at the pub had a family emergency so couldn't come in- could I cover? I had no plans and wasn't feeling all tired so said yes to some extra pennies.

The pub manager also popped in today and wants the BF to have everything sorted for his promotion within the next three weeks so I really hope he gets that sorted out so he can help me with this saving lark- I think then it will feel like we are both in the same boat and it may feel a little easier, even though he is much more blase and laid back about the whole situation.

Today the weather is pretty grim so I think it will be another lazy/organising type of day.