Your job is no longer needed here

I settled down to work in local government.  Yes, I was a Council worker.  But I was one of the few that  you don't often hear about.  I didn't have games on my computer.  I did work past 3.30pm on Friday afternoons.  And I stayed working in my job for 15 years.

It was then that my employer decided to go into "partnership" with a private company (who for obvious reasons will remain nameless).  We spent a year of worry - and a solid 12 months of giving the interested companies all the info they wanted as well as doing the day job.  It was exhausting.

For a while it was worth it.  I was on holiday on day one of the transfer but I even got a phone call from my new Head of Service welcoming me to my new company.  After years of dealing with tired and exhausted Council workers, it was a refreshing change to work with such a dynamic and eager company.

However, on day 3 of the contract, we were hit by our first restructure.  They cleared away a lot of dead wood.  In a company with 350 employees, we lost about 50.  Admittedly, some were scared and took off voluntarily, but it was still a bit of a shock.

After that, we tried to put it behind us and move on.  We went through the usual heartache that happens with setting up a new company.  For that's what it was.  Our Council didn't so much have a partnership, they had someone new to blame for anything going wrong.   And they left us in the lurch to set everything up, almost from scratch.

The company just didn't account for how very clever some of the senior Council managers were.  What the company thought was a sound, financially viable option to take over a part of a Council, obviously wasn't.

The last straw was the latest round of cuts to all Councils in the UK  Changes had to be found and found quickly.  I still wasn't worried.  I knew I was a hard worker.  What I wasn't prepared for was restructure round 2.  

Restructure round 2 was to put 30 jobs at risk.  When you have a workforce of 300, that is a massive impact.  But they only pick the faces that don't pick right?  Surely the people who knuckle down and work hard aren't going to be hit?  Wrong !

Four weeks ago, I was told that my current job was no longer required in the structure.  And until I go through the consultancy stage, and through the redeployment options, that's all the info I can give up to now.

But I'm left with racking self doubt, money worries and colleagues who don't know what to say to me.   The team are preparing for life without me and I'm left out on a limb and feeling as useless as a wet lettuce even though I should be working until the end of the year.

I just don't know what to do now.

Will there be a job here for me?  Will I be slotted into it?  What's the minimum salary I can live on?  Do I apply for other jobs?  How can I ever sleep through the night again?

There is hope out there somewhere.  I am going to find it.  I will.