Jack’s Empowerment and Inspiration

Monday, 29 December 2025

141. SHOULD THERE BE SHAME IN REDUNDANCY? Jack’s Redundancy Empowerment - empowering redundancy - empowering redundant workers

141. SHOULD THERE BE SHAME IN REDUNDANCY? Jack’s Redundancy Empowerment - empowering redundancy - empowering redundant workers - empowering redundant staff - empowering redundant employees - making redundancy work for you - is redundancy a dead end? - is redundancy the end of the road? - making the most of redundancy - empowering the redundant worker - Jack Lookman - Rita Nnamani - Olayinka Carew - Ola Carew - Jack Lookman Limited - Amebo - Olofofo - Ire o - Ire kabiti - Empowerment and Inspiration - Empowering And Inspiring Generations - Yinka Carew - Olayinka Carew aka Jack Lookman - Jack’s Empowerment and Inspiration

Redundancy still carries an unspoken stigma in the UK. Many people internalise it as a personal failing, even when it is clearly the result of economic shifts, restructuring, or decisions made far above their pay grade. That misplaced shame quietly undermines confidence at exactly the moment clarity is needed most.

The first thing worth saying plainly is this: redundancy is not a verdict on competence, character, or value. It is an organisational decision, often driven by cost pressures, strategy changes, or market conditions. Yet emotionally, it rarely lands that cleanly. People replay conversations. They question their choices. They compare themselves to colleagues who stayed. Shame fills the gaps where explanation should sit.

Part of the problem is cultural. In the UK, work is tightly bound to identity. We ask “What do you do?” before we ask almost anything else. So, when a role disappears, it can feel as though something essential has been taken with it. That emotional reaction is understandable, but it is not evidence of failure. It is evidence of how deeply work has been allowed to define self-worth.

There is also a quieter fear underneath the shame: how redundancy will be perceived by others. Employers. Family. Friends. Will it look like underperformance? Will it raise questions? In practice, most experienced hiring managers understand redundancy well. Many have lived through it themselves. The real risk is not redundancy on a CV, but how someone interprets it internally and allows that interpretation to shape their behaviour.

Here’s the reframing that matters. Redundancy is a disruption, not a judgement. It removes a role, not capability. Skills, experience, judgement, and professional credibility do not evaporate because a position no longer exists. Treating redundancy as shameful gives it power it does not deserve and narrows thinking at a moment when wider perspective is needed.

That does not mean pretending redundancy is painless. It can be unsettling, destabilising, even bruising. But discomfort is not the same thing as disgrace. The healthier response is to separate emotion from meaning. Acknowledge the hit. Then challenge the story forming around it. Ask better questions. What still holds value? What has been learned? What constraints have quietly been lifted?

The practical shift is subtle but important. When shame drops away, decision-making improves. Conversations become more honest. Options expand. People stop hiding and start repositioning. That is where momentum returns, often faster than expected.

So, should there be shame in redundancy? No. And holding onto it serves no useful purpose. The more productive move is to treat redundancy as a professional interruption, absorb what it reveals, and respond deliberately rather than defensively.

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