As of yesterday at 4.30 it was announced the company i work for have gone in administration.
The administrators now have complete control of the company and now deemed as insolvent.
There is interest in sections of the company and the administrators will scale the company to an amount they deem they feel they can sell to new owners.
As of last night we were told there were redundancies that could happen as soon as today.

At ten this morning 14 people have been made redundant and further 2 more asking for voluntary redundancies.

Its a very sad time, they company had been around 41 years and heart breaking as for some people, the company is all they know.

On lady as she was sobbing stating she has been there since 16. Her 50th birthday is this year.

I am fortunate atm that the side of the company i work for seems to have value and i have been kept for the moment but unsure for how long.
I had the jobs today i telling clients of the news, informing suppliers they wont get paid and getting the vehicles and assets from the engineers themselves which made a very difficult day for me. Yesterday they were working for me without an idea. 4 of my engineers made redundant today.

Unsure as my effective usefulness though as my commercial qualifications have ran out and told even though i am booked in Monday they cant pay for them.

Anyone else been through the administration process.
Im finding the goodbyes very difficult.

Ouch.

Sympathies, Reuben.

It may well be worth paying to take those qualifications if you can at all do it.

Majority of the contracters in my place have been told they are all on notice as of this week and will most likely be out on their ear this time next week.

Will be over 100 people site wide out of work.

Times are tough i try to be positive but wherever you look these days it is doom and gloom.

Sub contractors have it even worse. They have been told they wont be paid by the administrators with one i have heard being owed over £60,000.

Gutted for you Reubs How long have you worked there?

Not directly but I've worked where large parts have gone.
It seems that until recently many people made redundant actually were better off, large payment and back in work within 3 months.

My advice is unless you can afford not to work, do not wait for redundancy look for work now! A lump sum is tempting but a job is worth 10x more.

Good luck, hope it all works out.

Keep your chin up Reuben,all will work out ok in the long run mate.

Im unsure atm, i have been offered work on several different basis including and option of starting up with a joint venture.

I wont really get a lump sum only about £1.5k from the government due to only being there three years.

Atm i need to pay the bills at the end of the month and as it stands we now work directly for the administrator and will be paid for each day we work for them.

Three years service, i am concentrating on completing my HNC which finish's in March.

Hopefully, you'll be ok Reubs although I feel for the others who are losing their jobs/not getting paid

I'm glad in a way that I'm at the lower end of pay scales and can find a job a lot easier than most.

When I walked out of one of my jobs a couple of years ago, I found my problem wasn't getting interviews or finding jobs, it was the fact that employers have a huge choice of potential employees and weren't willing to accept that I was also committed to another job, even if I was applying for a job that wouldn't have been affected by the other one.

I found one in the end, but took 18 months to find an employer that didn't care if I had a second job or not

Sorry to hear this Reubs and it's never a good process to go through I understand - however most people i know who've been made redundant have bounced back to be at least as well employed as they were before. A guy i work with has been redundant 4 times and views it as a cleansing process, his attitude is great.

We chatted a couple of years ago about you going out on your own, and i'd certainly consider the joint venture thing in the short term if you end up going. Long term, there's always going to be work in that industry and as long as you keep qualies up to date, your destiny is pretty much in your own hands - chins up mate

Sad news Reuben, especially so close after Xmas

Chin up, as Steve says this might be an opportunity to completely change the way you work so that your efforts pay off greater giving you a better income, and a happier job

Sorry to hear this because it always feels tough.

BUT, as above, I've been through this countless times either doing it to other people or, just as many times, having it done to me (I think it becomes just part of working life) and, in my reasonably broad experience, it nearly always turns out for the best. I'm just out the other side of the latest one and I've got a better job with a better company - that wouldn't have happened without the push. The ONLY person I know who has struggled is my brother who, when his business finally failed (through no real fault of his own) felt a complete failure himself who had let down his staff. He's still now (quite a few years later) on the path to recovery but not there.

Good luck to everyone affected - but stay positive and look forward and I'm reasonably sure you'll be better off.

Good luck soon CD, the worst part is already "now" as you've just had the news and it's sinking in.

So (sorry Gripped ) as the others have said, this is your chance to think forward and up!

If you need any advice on going alone/a joint venture, I'm only down the road

Cheers for your kind words guys and the offer Jonny. I maybe in touch.

I am going to write down today a list of opportunity's and possibility's i may have and trash them out with my manager and Mrs. Need to get them out of my head atm.

Mixed feeling atm as i felt a sense of responsibility to the guys and guilt even though i had no idea of the situation before hand.

I was even approached by a contractor yesterday randomly as he had be taken by the company for £12.5k. He had seen the van and thought he would wait and ask some questions. He wasn't too offensive but obviously disgruntled and what could i say? All i could do was agree how bad the situation is for us all.

Not looking forward to the office on Monday as i feel there maybe a second wave of redundancies.

Reuben,
good luck tomorrow. Been there myself although slightly differently - the small company I worked for was sold out to a larger one and all employees were made redundant. Comes as a shock, but just regard it as an opportunity to sit back, take stock and after a period of uncertainty you will probably be better off and happier.

Tim

Sorry to hear this Reubs, I hope things work out for you.

I always find that these things are great catalysts. Especially if you were bored or a little disillusioned with the role anyway.

How people cope with this is how they want to. It's happened, move on and look at it as a chance to get things where you want them to be.

There is a way to cope with change a way to not to cope with it IMO. Not nice but that's how the cards are laying. You must move upward and forward.

Good luck Ruebs

Reubens, really sorry to read what you are going through.
I appreciate we do not know each other, so hopefully you will not mind but here are some thoughts I hope which may help, from when I or others I have known, have been in a similar situation:-

1. As others have said, try to see things as a new opportunity. I know that seems easier said than done!
It's really important at times like this to gravitate towards your network of friends and associates who can offer positive emotional support. People who know you well, will really understand your qualities and know your worth even if (by being at the centre of things) you might be in danger of losing sight of it yourself.

2. Obvious I know, but ACTION cures fear.
Be dynamic, decide what YOU want to do and start talking to those you think can help you achieve or do what it is you want to. They will be your sounding board. They may even be able to point you in the right direction or put you in touch with others who can help.
A way forward can become apparent from there...

3. Write things down. If it helps, do a SWOT analysis (Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats???) Fold a piece of A4 in four , put a heading of Strengths and Weakness on one axis and Opportunities and threats on the other. With the right mind-set, you should end up with twice as many Strengths to Weaknesses etc. This can help to restore your inner belief and self worth, as well as perhaps highlight in which direction to aim?

Best of luck and keep us posted.