Work attitudes can affect redundancies

Can my lack of enthusiasm count against me when layoffs are on the cards? Dr MARIE WILSON is associate professor of management at the University of Auckland, research director of the ICEHOUSE business accelerator and a veteran of 20 years in corporate management and small business.

Q. There are rumours that my company is going to make lots of staff redundant. I am probably not seen as very enthusiastic. Can they get away with getting rid of me because they don't particularly like me?

A. Redundancy is about excess positions, not people. The company will have to thoroughly review its staffing and identify positions that would be made redundant, and consult the staff who might be affected.

If your position is one that is made redundant and the company has to select among staff, your employment agreement might set out how staff are to be selected, or the company might have to develop some criteria to assist in this process.

At that point, your lack of enthusiasm might enter the equation, particularly if this has affected your overall performance.

Q. I come from an Asian country and have worked for a reputable New Zealand company for the past five years in a middle management position. Recently in a meeting one senior manager (not my boss) used offensive language against me because I opposed his proposal on technical reasons.

I want to bring this incident to the attention of management but I am afraid of losing my job because this person has a good influence on the GM. My boss joined the company recently and will be reluctant to deal with the issue. Could you please advise my approach.

A. All employees should expect to work in an environment where they are not subject to offensive comments or abusive language. If this is a one-off incident then you might begin by addressing this issue directly with the senior manager who used the offensive language.

If you are hesitant to discuss this directly, you might send a brief letter or email.

Remind him of the situation at the time, that you raised an objection to his proposal on technical grounds and then he used language that was directed at you personally and was offensive to you. He may regret his words and apologise.

If you get no response, or a dismissive one, I would suggest that you discuss it with your manager and/or your HR manager to explore what processes would work best for you in your company.

Q. I am discovering just how stressful the house-buying process is and I've had to have some awkward conversations to do with it in an open-plan office. Some of those calls to lawyers and real estate agents and the like have taken up to half-an-hour each.

Nothing has been said, but I feel that I might get myself in trouble for wasting time, even though I'm generally pretty conscientious.

A. It's too late now to tell you to keep these calls to your lunch hour or personal time, or at least to conduct them away from your open-plan office so that you don't disrupt others.

Since this has already occurred, discuss it openly with your manager. Explain that you didn't realise it would be so difficult or take so much time.

Discuss ways to manage this type of situation in the future (assuming the house purchase isn't completed yet).

Depending in the nature of your work, you might offer to make up the time.

And now that everyone knows you're buying a house, you might want to throw a small celebration when the deal is finally done. Then you can all relax!

* Email your questions for Dr Marie Wilson to answer.