Whilst unpaid leave is certainly better than redundancy, I suspect some will see little difference after receiving the email today. I am sure there are some tough discussions taking place tonight in some homes, as some struggle to see how they can survive financially for a year with no salary. This will sadly force some into a corner and feel that resigning and taking the provident fund will be a better option.
Apologies if this may not settle well with some but I suspect the intent of the company is to force some to resign. The bigger the familiy, the harder it will be and this often correlates to increased costs for the company with schooling etc. I am still at a loss as to why some or all of the provident fund is not available to those affected!
The term constructive dismissal springs to mind and I had a hunch it would be the next card dealt by the company. Resignations are less embarrassing for management than yet another round of redundancies.
Good luck to all. 👍🏻