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• Redundancy news delivered from afar

  Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times , is a smart man. Faced with the prospect of telling hacks that he had to make 100 of them redundant by the end of the year, he decided to steer well clear of the newsroom and feign illness. Here are the opening lines of his letter, sent to staff on Monday. "Colleagues, I had planned to invite... Posted Oct 21 2009, 09:09 AM by Guru Filed under: global, employee relations, redundancy, letter, new york times

• Fancy your job cuts with a twist of irony?

  In one of life's great ironies that the gods send down to amuse all us little people, news reaches Guru that trade union Unite is making some staff redundant. The so-called 'super union' is looking to make cuts across all departments, with the number or job losses as yet unconfirmed. Cuts are happening because it expects the recession will... Posted May 20 2009, 11:51 AM by Guru Filed under: job losses, trade unions, Unite, redundancy, GMB

• War hero in the redundancy firing line

  Territorial Army soldiers go off to war with the security of knowing that, once their tour has ended, they have a job to come back to. At least that's the theory. While our brave boys might be used to receiving honours for gallantry like the VC and GC, one unfortunate soldier got nothing more than a P45. Simon Sunderland returned home after fighting... Posted May 18 2009, 10:47 AM by Guru Filed under: workers, redundancy, war, soldier, Cummins

• How to select redundancy candidates

  The credit crunch is forcing everyone to make touch decisions; there's a risk that we might need to lay off Andre... Guru notes that the HR manager is the only one sitting down - must be exhausted. Read More... Posted May 13 2009, 09:33 AM by Guru Filed under: human resources, credit crunch, redundancy

• The Hunt for Gollum fan film: how to spend your redundancy package

  A lot of people are being made redundant, and a few lucky ones are getting decent pay offs from their employers are part of those redundancy packages. So what to do now you're unemployed with a large pile of cash burning a hole in your pocket? One idea is to make a low budget short film. A group of Lord of the Rings fans has just released a short... Posted May 07 2009, 09:08 AM by Guru Filed under: internet, redundancy, fan film, Hunt for Gollum

• How to make staff redundant - Singapore style

  Disciple Joan contacted Guru after spotting this gem of a story about an innovative way of informing your workforce of redundancies, courtesy of a Singapore-based company. No doubt the scheme was masterminded by the HR director... A fire alarm rings at 4pm when almost all shift employees are in the office - approximately 5,000 people. As usual, the... Posted Apr 14 2009, 12:02 PM by Guru Filed under: global, Singapore, redundancy, employees, fire alarm

• A day without a telephone

  Yours truly has screened his fair share of calls in the past, avoiding telemarketers at tea-time and Mrs Guru the rest of the day. But it appears redundancies are now providing a reason for some offices not to answer the phone at all. Read More... Posted Feb 19 2009, 07:42 AM by Guru Filed under: workers, employee relations, staff, redundancy, phone, cold calls

• HR must improve kill rate, study reveals

  HR's reputation as bearer of bad news is long standing. Workers across the UK will be dreading that call from their manager to 'come down to the HR department for a quick chat'. The sense of dread that envelopes you is tangible, as you make your way slowly down the corridor, down the stairs to the ground floor. (Why is the HR department... Posted Feb 17 2009, 08:54 AM by Guru Filed under: HR, human resources, redundancy, sacking, execution

• Tasty proposal for redundancy 'cook-off'

  When Guru was a jobbing HR director he was always looking for different ways to motivate the workforce. Duvet Days, free sweets, boozy Fridays, quiz nights, naked Wednesdays were all trialed - with varying degrees of success. One piece of advice Guru can offer disciples is don't try and combine boozy Fridays with naked Wednesdays; the results are... Posted Jan 06 2009, 09:51 AM by Guru Filed under: staff, redundancy, teambuilding, cooking, teppanyaki

• The real cost of redundancy revealed

  Guru has noted that the one organisation doing particularly well out of the recession is the CIPD. The institute has been getting some fantastic media coverage over the past few weeks with its chief number cruncher, John Philpott, becoming almost Robert Peston like in his omnipotence. Need a quote about how tough things are going to get? Want to know... Posted Jan 05 2009, 11:31 AM by Guru Filed under: HR, jobs, CIPD, human resources, employers, John Philpott, redundancy

• Top ten tunes Woolworths staff are listening to

  Music, they say, is the food of love. But this is the credit crunch and music has far more important roles to play. Guru has been sent a superb email trail from disgruntled Woolworths head office staff - some already made redundant, others merely awaiting the inevitable axe - selecting suitable tunes for their iPods. All the raw emotions that redundancy... Posted Dec 11 2008, 10:42 AM by Guru Filed under: office antics, credit crunch, redundancy, Woolworths, top ten tunes, iPod

• 10 sure-fire signs you're about to be made redundant

  Redundancies happen in much the same way as various other horrible things happen. Without swearing on a family blog, excrement happens.You have to accept that sooner or later, and the BBC's doom editor Robert Peston would no doubt delight in explaining it to you, your own little business bubble is probably going to burst. No matter, however, how... Posted Nov 14 2008, 12:47 PM by Guru Filed under: job cuts, employment, redundancy, 10