Dismissal vs. Redundancy?

A question about : Dismissal vs. Redundancy?

Hi,

I'm in a tricky situation. I took a sales job around a year ago, and the company has been struggling. This, combined with a slow start for me led to a performance review back in November, at which I was given a modified target to reach by the beginning of Feb.

The company has already made some people redundant, mainly consultants who are experts in our field.

It's looking as if I might miss the new target, which could result in my dismissal in February. Luckily I have a 2 month notice period, and I think I would have a valid case for claiming any commission due for work secured for the business but not yet delivered on top of those 2 months. That should give me another month or two to find work.

My main concern is how to approach potential new employers should I be let go. I understand that there's no great shame in being made redundant in the current climate, but that might not necessarily be strictly the case for me. Would a future employer have any way of knowing whether I had been dismissed or made redundant?

When we met last it was made clear that should I be let go I would be given a good reference, so I'm hoping I can ask them to frame it in terms of redundancy rather than performance. What are the implications of that?

Is there any specific technical documentation a future employer can ask to see that would confirm whether or not it was redundancy, or would there be no way of them telling unless my current employer decides to make a point of it?

Best answers:

• people use the term redundancy as it sounds better than saying you were dismissed,normally if you are dismissed you have `broken the rules` or forced to retire
• Exactly. That's what I want to do. Althought I haven't "broken the rules" or anything my revenue hasn't been as high as expected. I'd rather say I was made redundant that say I was dismissed. My question is about whether a potential employer would be able to tell the difference.
• Unfortunately a potential employer would be able to tell the difference. When a reference is given by your previous employer they would state the reason for you leaving (eg redundancy/resignation/dismissal).
  I'm not an expert on this and obviously don't know the details of your case but it does not sound like your current employer has grounds for dismissal. It would be much more likely to be a redundancy, especially if they have stated that they will give you a good reference. If you are worried is there anyone in your HR department you could talk to? If the worse comes to the worst you could always resign. You may lose any commission but that's probably better than being dismissed.
• I suspect that the organisation will make it as easy for me as possible. I'm still on good terms with the Sales Director, but at the end of the day if the numbers aren't what they need from me they can terminate my contract.
  If they technically make me redundant then presumably they can't recruit a replacement, which they may decide to do. So, if they terminate my contract for performance reasons, but agree to give me a good reference is there any reason I should get caught out if I say I was made redundant?
• I really think it would be a good idea to talk to someone in your HR department about this. I thought that they had to state the reason for leaving on your reference so if you said you were made redundant and then the company says they dismissed you it's not going to look good. Like I said before though, I'm no expert on this and I could be completely wrong. The reason I suggest talking to HR is that it's them that give and receive references so they would be more likely to know exactly how it works.