Originally Posted by
davidjohnson6
It's quite common in large companies that an employee comes to work as usual one day, receives a phonecall from their manager asking them to come to a meeting room where HR are present (act as witness and ensure process is followed strictly in case employee decides to sue for unfair dismissal), pre-prepared "consultation" papers are handed over, employee is escorted to their desk to put belongings in cardboard box and then escorted off premises. Phonecall to walking out the building in 20 mins. No sympathy, no support, just HR following a process
Eh no
HR cannot act as a witness, they are employed by the company and it would automatically get chucked out at an Employment Tribunal. HR are part of the process not divorced from it.
The majority of redundancies at middle / senior level are compromise agreements where employee is met, talked to by HR and Line manager, provided a statement of potential payoffs and given time to consider this as well as an opportunity to consult an external solicitor.
Employee will still be paid during this consultation period until a second meeting where they can have a witness with them if required.
Majority of people happy to sign a compromise agreement as it is generally enhanced and way better that statutory redundancy.