Alison moved to Sweden from the UK in October 1987 and was employed by a Stockholm based Shipping Company working in many different areas during her 30 year in the branch.In January 2018 Alison was made given 1 year’s redundancy
Chapter 1 – Redundancy
Redundancy is unfortunately not unfamiliar to me. I have probably negotiated the redundancy of about 40 people over the years as union representative in my company. However, it was not a word that I had ever thought I would associate with myself. I always believed I would either resign or retire.
My initial feeling when I signed the redundancy papers in January was huge relief. I had been miserable in my job for a long time and had started looking actively for new jobs. In my head I was already half way out of the door. I knew I wanted to make a radical change from working within Shipping and Logistics and knew that redundancy meant access to Trygghetsrådet which would mean help with career coaching, group activities and courses to give me guidance and get me back into the workforce.
Right now what is feeding me with energy and spurring me on is the fantastic support I have been getting from everyone, my friends, my network and of course most importantly my family. I tell everyone I meet that I have been made redundant and I listen in a different way now to people around me to hear what they work with and how they like their jobs. I am inquisitive to find out what opportunities there are and amazed at how many “leads” I have received through my network. The big advantage of the majority of people over 50 is that they have gathered so many contacts over the years.
What is killing my energy is that still have to go to my old place of work. As far as I understand the norm is “garden duty” but since it is not clear yet how and when my duties will be transferred to our owners I will have to press on for the time being. It is difficult to sit and focus on something you know you will only be doing for a short time. Your head is constantly in another place thinking about the new future and that you need to press on with finding something new.
So what next? Follow me and my journey and transition. The ups and downs of re-schooling and see where I end up in January 2019 when my redundancy time is up.