Time For A Change

[Estrella]

She didn’t know, and it was a bit of a shock. She asked me not to share with the team until tomorrow. So will be telling them at stand up in the morning.

[Ella]

How do you feel? I do t like it when they ask you not to say anything, but I suppose they’ll immediately start getting questions about what’s happening, so I get it.

[Estrella]

I’m excited about the new opportunity and I’m planning out handover now. Yeah, I was a bit miffed about it. And then told my second in charge in the team (and told her to look surprised tomorrow) because I’ve asked for them to put her into my role in the interim. I felt so deceptive when I was running the fortnightly team meeting today and I was giving updates on recruitment and broader team changes.

[Edith Bacon]

I understand why they ask for time before it becomes wider knowledge but it’s horrible, both to have to deceive and to be deceived.

Congratulations, Est!

[Teasel]

Good luck Smunder!

I'm glad it went on EST but it is frustrating when they ask you not to say anything.

I've told my manager and the manager who is taking her role when she leaves but they know I won't be formally resigning until I've received my offer letter.

[Jupiter]

Congratulations Est and Teasel!

Good luck, Smunder.

[Estrella]

I got offered an interview for the Olympics job today. But have withdrawn. It was with Dept of Premier and Cabinet and while it sounds super interesting I’ve heard on the grapevine they’re already behind schedule and the politics of the Dept bother me a bit. And I felt bad having literally just accepted the other one. Maybe I should have gone to interview but nevermind.

[Glint]

Great news that you got an interview, but you are right to withdraw if something was niggling you about it.

[Duophonic]

Congratulations Est and Teasel.

Trust your intuition, Est.

Good luck Smunder - exciting!

[Beena]

That's so exciting Smurf! Good luck!

Congratulations Teasel and Est!

I'm toying with applying for something outside of my usual field, but its a fixed term contract and that feels like a dodgy move as there aren't many opportunities.

I don't mind my current job, I know what I'm doing, I'm good at it, I have plans and there's so much potential, but the organisation's t&cs are frankly a piss-take. Salaries are fixed and have been for at least 10 years. There's a lot of talk about improving matters, but it's all wind and hot air.

Something was said today that made me wonder why I'm desperately trying to keep everything afloat, if that is how what we do is valued.

[Ella]

I have some trivial job news, but it’s a really long (boring) story. I couldn’t face mentioning it at the time when it happened, and now the longer I leave it, the weirder it gets not saying anything, so even though it’s not very interesting, I feel I should mention it. Clear ?

I’ve had the contract through today to start a new job at another company in January. I’ve actually been on paid leave for a few weeks, as my previous role was suddenly made redundant as part of a cost-cutting exercise. It was a really horrible shock at the time. Anyway, I’m over it now, and very grateful for the chance to have a proper break. Anyway, now I’m absolutely shitting myself about the new role, so even though I have the contract now, I can’t seem to bring myself to sign it .

Anyway, this is a bit “stream of consciousness” and I hope nobody minds but I thought I should probably mention it . (Sorry if I know you in real life and didn’t mention it. I found it all quite stressful, and literally only told my husband. Apologies!)

[Edith Bacon]

What a horrible shock for you, Ella; I completely get the not wanting to talk about it.

Are you OK?

[Edith Bacon]

And congratulations on the new role! Sorry - I probably should have led with that

[Pippedydeadeye]

What Edith said, but in the right order. ;)

[kiwi]

I hope you were treated well Ella and very good luck with the new job!

[Ella]

Thanks, guys. I felt like I was treated appallingly at the time, even though they were generous enough with the financial stuff.

The worst bit was that I wasn’t allowed to tell my team, so neither my peers or my direct reports. I just literally had to vanish one day. (I did get an employment lawyer involved at that point because if somebody just leaves suddenly without saying anything, you think they’ve been fired or died, don’t you? I had direct reports tracking me down on LinkedIn, asking where I’d gone and hoping I’d come back soon, bless them. I know my previous employer did this because there were/are more targeted redundancies coming, but I’d done nothing wrong, and it was so shitty of them.)

I feel really daunted by the new role. The remit is much bigger/harder, and my confidence has taken such a kicking.

Ok, will stop emoting everywhere now. Somebody else get a job offer now .

[sally maclennane]

That sounds awful Ella, employers always think that they can mitigate the effects of redundancy as long as they throw money at people. It's so much more than money, it's the impact on people's confidence, their relationships at work etc. It's lovely that people wanted you back, but not at all surprising.

I'm so glad you have a new role and I'm sure you will be amazing at it. If you have moments of doubt, just channel your inner mediocre white male ;)

[Disco]

That sounds so unsettling to hve the rug pulled out from under you like that, Ella. It sounds horrible. It's been and continues to be a worrying time for all manner of reasons over the last three years and then that. I hope you can shake the bad feelings off and enjoy your time off before the new start and new year.

[Pippedydeadeye]

It sounds horrible not least because you always sounded happy there (to me).

[Ella]

It was a really nice place to work. It had started to change slightly since last January and I knew (due to an IT decision they’d taken that made literally no sense and cost millions more than they’d expected) that there would be serious cost-cutting coming, so it was already starting to change for the worse. Cold comfort.

I think the worst bit of all is that network of people, the friends you chat to every day, was just ripped away almost overnight. (I thought I was ok with it all now, but typing this shows me that I’m probably not .)

Anyway, I hope everybody else is doing ok, and I keep saying I’m going to shut up, so maybe this time I will?