People made redundant during the credit crunch are taking a break from their careers, according to an employment law expert.
Mark Bestley, a senior employment lawyer with Cheshire law firm SAS Daniels, said 60% of the people he saw who had lost their jobs said they had no intention of looking for new employment until after Christmas, up from about 10% a year ago.
“There’s no doubt that the current economic climate makes job hunting very difficult, so people who are losing their jobs for whatever reason are choosing to take four, five or even six months out,” he said.
“There seems to be no bitterness, they’re just being very fatalistic. They’re certainly not, in most cases, on the verge of despair – they are being very considered in their options.”
He added that the main reason for this outlook was that, in contrast with previous downturns, the people losing their jobs were highly qualified professionals and believed they would find other jobs in a better climate.
A quarter of UK employers have drawn up plans to make redundancies over the next 12 months, according to research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and management consultancy KPMG.
