Losing your job is tough. Losing it when widespread economic gloom makes the chances of getting another one seem slender, is even worse. But without wishing to appear glib or unrealistic, it may be possible to turn unemployment into an opportunity.
And in some respects at least, museum people - accustomed to working on limited contracts, but also creative thinkers and often possessed of rare expertise - may be better equipped than others to seize the day.
Speaking from his berth beside a Grecian swimming pool in 30-degree heat and about to seek out his first iced coffee of the day, Mark Suggitt initially presents a sunny picture of life after redundancy.
The former boss of Museums, Galleries and Heritage in Bradford left in November 2008, his post abolished under general restructuring and a slimmed-down council leadership team.
After seven years' service he declined to stay on in a different role and left with a redundancy package including a lump sum and index-linked pension to cushion the blow. Although he can afford to holiday in Greece, this is not the way he wanted to leave.
"There was still a lot to do in Bradford. I probably would have stayed another three years, but the situation just wasn't going to happen," Suggitt says. "I left because the deal to stay was nowhere near as good as the deal to go."
Post-Bradford, work has been a mixture of consultancy projects, including lottery bids, often found through existing contacts. One of the benefits of being freelance is that people value your services and opinion more, Suggitt says.
It is satisfying because people actively want to work with you and it can also be very rewarding financially. But the projects have mainly been small-scale and Suggitt likes to get his teeth into complex, demanding schemes. It was the reason he enjoyed his previous role.
"What I really want to do is continue to be intellectually stimulated. I liked management because it was intellectually interesting. And I like big projects and managing and working with people."
He is unsure about what he will do in the long term. He would like to go back into a full-time leadership role but, at 53, has doubts about whether he would be considered for such posts. The way local authorities are perceived by outsiders may also count against him, he thinks.
"It's the issue of transferable skills, which might be different for someone from a local authority. People who have worked in local authorities are commercially and politically aware, but that is not always taken into consideration by others. Some people's view of what local authorities do is 20 years out of date and that goes for some recruitment consultancies, too."
On the other hand, there are the other small bonuses. "When it rains, I don't wake up worrying about all the leaking roofs of the buildings that have not been invested in for 20 years," Suggitt says.
Nic Boyer was regional development manager, leading on museums, for the Museums, Libraries and Archives (MLA) East of England until the end of 2008. When news filtered through that reorganisation was in the offing and redundancies loomed, he chose to jump before he was pushed.
"At the point that I left, it wasn't clear what the new jobs would be, who could go for them or what your rights would be within the new organisation. I could have waited, but without that information it was difficult, the future was unclear," he says.
The reorganisation announcement was greeted with shock, though Boyer praises the way it was handled by the MLA leadership in the region. Once the news had sunk in, he says, staff at the organisation quickly came to terms with the idea that they had to take charge of their own destinies.
Personal resources
He left to take up a maternity cover post as museums development officer for Hertfordshire County Council and since that ended, has been busying himself mainly with consultancy work. At 54, he's at the mature end of the jobseeker spectrum, but he is relaxed about his prospects of work of some kind.
"There are lots of short-term opportunities in a whole range of fields, such as those connected with the finalisation of Renaissance funding deals in each region," he points out. "Ideally, I'd like to use my East of England knowledge in some capacity."
Preferably, he would like to get back into full-time work - and capitalise on his regional knowledge and experience - but he acknowledges this may not happen, given that short-term projects predominate now.
Staying positive is not easy, in the current climate, and he says he has to review his finances at the end of each month "to see how much flexibility I have" - but on the other hand he sees no merit in wallowing in gloom.
"I'm a great believer, as the sector itself has to be, in being resourceful, resilient and creative. It's easy to feel that you are trapped in the situation, but within that there are opportunities to turn things around.
"It's a good time, if you are at the end of a contract, without sounding glib, to reflect on one's own personal life and ambitions and priorities. One has to see it as a chance to develop and go into things that one might not have tried otherwise."
Communication is vital
Jenny Duke, 55, a former colleague of Nic Boyer, is similarly upbeat. She took redundancy from her job as regional learning officer at MLA East of England, finally leaving in April this year. She could have applied for a new job similar to the work she had been doing on strategic commissioning, but decided, after five years, that the time was right to move.
"I think [the reorganisation] has left a hole in the region because there is less capacity to do things together. But I had worked there for five years and felt it was probably time to do something different."
She has done some consultancy work along the same lines as her MLA role, looking at how museums can help deliver local authority agendas, and wants to take on more. She also embarked on a degree course in illustration at Anglia Ruskin University, using her redundancy payment to fund it.
Duke was a teacher for 20 years and wor-ked for a local authority on the education standards team before joining MLA and does not fear upheaval. Having changed jobs and careers a few times, she is sanguine about switching course again.
"You don't expect a job for life, certainly the next generation doesn't expect that. And there is change everywhere at the moment."
Suggitt, Boyer and Duke show a relatively optimistic face to redundancy. But for leaders who have to decide where the axe will fall, there is little upside. On the one hand, they have a responsibility to their organisation to make the cuts necessary for its continuation; on the other, they see the cost not as figures on a spreadsheet, but in human terms.
When the Royal Cornwall Museum had to lose a dozen posts under its own restructuring programme, it brought in a human resources specialist to give dispassionate advice, to make sure the right processes were in place and that people were treated fairly.
It is an intensive process and takes up vast amounts of management time, says Georgia Butters, head of development and communications at the museum. She lists communication with staff as the vital priority at all stages and face-to-face meetings with individual staff were critical once the process was under way.
Nevertheless, the whole process has still been awful for everyone concerned, says Butters. And in the aftermath of the cuts, "morale nose-dived".
"The managers feel rubbish because they have been involved in the process and may have friends who are leaving," she continues.
"People who have kept their jobs feel guilty and although we take every measure to reassure those that are losing their jobs that it wasn't about their performance, it was about the organisation as a whole and their roles in it, no matter how impartial that is, people still feel it's a reflection on them.
"You have to recognise that people are grieving," she adds. "If people want to be angry, you have to let them be angry and look for ways forward after that."
Julie Nightingale is a freelance writer
And in some respects at least, museum people - accustomed to working on limited contracts, but also creative thinkers and often possessed of rare expertise - may be better equipped than others to seize the day.
Speaking from his berth beside a Grecian swimming pool in 30-degree heat and about to seek out his first iced coffee of the day, Mark Suggitt initially presents a sunny picture of life after redundancy.
The former boss of Museums, Galleries and Heritage in Bradford left in November 2008, his post abolished under general restructuring and a slimmed-down council leadership team.
After seven years' service he declined to stay on in a different role and left with a redundancy package including a lump sum and index-linked pension to cushion the blow. Although he can afford to holiday in Greece, this is not the way he wanted to leave.
"There was still a lot to do in Bradford. I probably would have stayed another three years, but the situation just wasn't going to happen," Suggitt says. "I left because the deal to stay was nowhere near as good as the deal to go."
Post-Bradford, work has been a mixture of consultancy projects, including lottery bids, often found through existing contacts. One of the benefits of being freelance is that people value your services and opinion more, Suggitt says.
It is satisfying because people actively want to work with you and it can also be very rewarding financially. But the projects have mainly been small-scale and Suggitt likes to get his teeth into complex, demanding schemes. It was the reason he enjoyed his previous role.
"What I really want to do is continue to be intellectually stimulated. I liked management because it was intellectually interesting. And I like big projects and managing and working with people."
He is unsure about what he will do in the long term. He would like to go back into a full-time leadership role but, at 53, has doubts about whether he would be considered for such posts. The way local authorities are perceived by outsiders may also count against him, he thinks.
"It's the issue of transferable skills, which might be different for someone from a local authority. People who have worked in local authorities are commercially and politically aware, but that is not always taken into consideration by others. Some people's view of what local authorities do is 20 years out of date and that goes for some recruitment consultancies, too."
On the other hand, there are the other small bonuses. "When it rains, I don't wake up worrying about all the leaking roofs of the buildings that have not been invested in for 20 years," Suggitt says.
Nic Boyer was regional development manager, leading on museums, for the Museums, Libraries and Archives (MLA) East of England until the end of 2008. When news filtered through that reorganisation was in the offing and redundancies loomed, he chose to jump before he was pushed.
"At the point that I left, it wasn't clear what the new jobs would be, who could go for them or what your rights would be within the new organisation. I could have waited, but without that information it was difficult, the future was unclear," he says.
The reorganisation announcement was greeted with shock, though Boyer praises the way it was handled by the MLA leadership in the region. Once the news had sunk in, he says, staff at the organisation quickly came to terms with the idea that they had to take charge of their own destinies.
Personal resources
He left to take up a maternity cover post as museums development officer for Hertfordshire County Council and since that ended, has been busying himself mainly with consultancy work. At 54, he's at the mature end of the jobseeker spectrum, but he is relaxed about his prospects of work of some kind.
"There are lots of short-term opportunities in a whole range of fields, such as those connected with the finalisation of Renaissance funding deals in each region," he points out. "Ideally, I'd like to use my East of England knowledge in some capacity."
Preferably, he would like to get back into full-time work - and capitalise on his regional knowledge and experience - but he acknowledges this may not happen, given that short-term projects predominate now.
Staying positive is not easy, in the current climate, and he says he has to review his finances at the end of each month "to see how much flexibility I have" - but on the other hand he sees no merit in wallowing in gloom.
"I'm a great believer, as the sector itself has to be, in being resourceful, resilient and creative. It's easy to feel that you are trapped in the situation, but within that there are opportunities to turn things around.
"It's a good time, if you are at the end of a contract, without sounding glib, to reflect on one's own personal life and ambitions and priorities. One has to see it as a chance to develop and go into things that one might not have tried otherwise."
Communication is vital
Jenny Duke, 55, a former colleague of Nic Boyer, is similarly upbeat. She took redundancy from her job as regional learning officer at MLA East of England, finally leaving in April this year. She could have applied for a new job similar to the work she had been doing on strategic commissioning, but decided, after five years, that the time was right to move.
"I think [the reorganisation] has left a hole in the region because there is less capacity to do things together. But I had worked there for five years and felt it was probably time to do something different."
She has done some consultancy work along the same lines as her MLA role, looking at how museums can help deliver local authority agendas, and wants to take on more. She also embarked on a degree course in illustration at Anglia Ruskin University, using her redundancy payment to fund it.
Duke was a teacher for 20 years and wor-ked for a local authority on the education standards team before joining MLA and does not fear upheaval. Having changed jobs and careers a few times, she is sanguine about switching course again.
"You don't expect a job for life, certainly the next generation doesn't expect that. And there is change everywhere at the moment."
Suggitt, Boyer and Duke show a relatively optimistic face to redundancy. But for leaders who have to decide where the axe will fall, there is little upside. On the one hand, they have a responsibility to their organisation to make the cuts necessary for its continuation; on the other, they see the cost not as figures on a spreadsheet, but in human terms.
When the Royal Cornwall Museum had to lose a dozen posts under its own restructuring programme, it brought in a human resources specialist to give dispassionate advice, to make sure the right processes were in place and that people were treated fairly.
It is an intensive process and takes up vast amounts of management time, says Georgia Butters, head of development and communications at the museum. She lists communication with staff as the vital priority at all stages and face-to-face meetings with individual staff were critical once the process was under way.
Nevertheless, the whole process has still been awful for everyone concerned, says Butters. And in the aftermath of the cuts, "morale nose-dived".
"The managers feel rubbish because they have been involved in the process and may have friends who are leaving," she continues.
"People who have kept their jobs feel guilty and although we take every measure to reassure those that are losing their jobs that it wasn't about their performance, it was about the organisation as a whole and their roles in it, no matter how impartial that is, people still feel it's a reflection on them.
"You have to recognise that people are grieving," she adds. "If people want to be angry, you have to let them be angry and look for ways forward after that."
Julie Nightingale is a freelance writer
Advice from the union
Mark Suggitt, Jenny Duke and Nic Boyer were chosen for interview at random, so it's a coincidence that all are over 50. There's no suggestion that any of them were earmarked for redundancy because of their age, but elsewhere in the sector there is a suspicion that employers are looking to ease out long-serving individuals on grounds of cost, according to Dave Allen, a negotiator with the union Prospect.
"The concern we have is that when the need to save money
is so pressing, it is the more long-serving members of staff who are made redundant because they are earning more. It is having a disproportionate effect on workers in their 50s," he says.
The other trend emerging as museums and galleries seek to save money is an increase in non-renewal of fixed-term contracts when they come to an end. Some are also operating an unofficial recruitment freeze, leaving posts unfilled when people leave, even if they are not seeking to make full-time staff redundant, says Allen.
People whose organisations are looking to lose staff should be asking for individual consultation and to have the business case for the redundancy explained clearly to them. They can then see whether they can make any redeployment suggestions the employer may have overlooked.
On the legal side, make sure that the redundancy package is consulted on correctly, you are told what other opportunities might be available, and that the notice period is correct, he adds.
"And remember that, if cuts for permanent staff are unavoidable, employers have a statutory duty to avoid compulsory redundancies,
so they need to explore all other avenues first."
Mark Suggitt, Jenny Duke and Nic Boyer were chosen for interview at random, so it's a coincidence that all are over 50. There's no suggestion that any of them were earmarked for redundancy because of their age, but elsewhere in the sector there is a suspicion that employers are looking to ease out long-serving individuals on grounds of cost, according to Dave Allen, a negotiator with the union Prospect.
"The concern we have is that when the need to save money
is so pressing, it is the more long-serving members of staff who are made redundant because they are earning more. It is having a disproportionate effect on workers in their 50s," he says.
The other trend emerging as museums and galleries seek to save money is an increase in non-renewal of fixed-term contracts when they come to an end. Some are also operating an unofficial recruitment freeze, leaving posts unfilled when people leave, even if they are not seeking to make full-time staff redundant, says Allen.
People whose organisations are looking to lose staff should be asking for individual consultation and to have the business case for the redundancy explained clearly to them. They can then see whether they can make any redeployment suggestions the employer may have overlooked.
On the legal side, make sure that the redundancy package is consulted on correctly, you are told what other opportunities might be available, and that the notice period is correct, he adds.
"And remember that, if cuts for permanent staff are unavoidable, employers have a statutory duty to avoid compulsory redundancies,
so they need to explore all other avenues first."
