What happens if you ARE fired or made redundant after a merger?
Much of this website and blog is about how to reduce the chances of being made redundant if your company is acquired or merges. But as I’ve also noted both here in earlier blogs and in my book on surviving M&A, most mergers result in 10-15% of the employees and managers being fired, so there will be some people who ARE going to leave the firm. Some will see the handwriting on the wall and leave voluntarily, but most will wait to collect their redundancy and termination packages.
So, what to do if you are one of the unlucky few to leave? (Although note the advice in the book that you might just be one of the LUCKY ones if you leave, as most mergers and acquisitions ultimately fail and the deal may be the impetus you needed anyway to move on to something better.)
There actually IS life after redundancy or being fired. There’s a useful, short article written by an executive coach in Yorkshire saying exactly this (‘Life after redundancy‘) in which she says: ”The good news is that people can move on after redundancy. Even better news is that only one out of all the people interviewed said that he’d have his old job back, given the chance.’ Read the article, but note that she does have several excellent suggestions, including
- Don’t rush into another job too soon. Use your time to think about what you really want and don’t want.
- If you want to do something different, go for it. Don’t be put off by re-training. It’s an experience in itself.
All very sound advice!
Surviving M&A 
[…] Make the most of your company being acquired and in earlier posts on this blog (see, for example, ‘What happens if you ARE fired or made redundant after a merger?’), I have mentioned that one of the first things that you need to do if your company is being […]
Be your own boss « Surviving M&A
1 October 2010