Shocking news today.....

[Zugara]

Well,

 

All of us were called into a meeting today, to be told that the company I work for has been sold to another company with a 5billion turn over PA.

Shocked to say the least as I have been in this position before, and it never turns out in favour of the current employees after the Tupe period ends.

 

Any advice from anyone

We not privy to who the new company is though

[rmgthatsme]

I work for one of these multi billion dollar multinationals in a corporate role and we swallow up competitors of various sizes from time to time. There can be many reasons for doing this e.g. penetration into a market where the target is entrenched e.g. through having a sustainable moat such as a dominant brand, entrenched sales or distribution network, technology IP, under valued assets etc. and it would cost more to fight than buy.

 

What I might suggest you openly do for the time being is...nothing! Privately, study the company. Try and learn of their behaviour in past cases if any. Each company has it's corporate DNA and often follows the same behavioural pattern. Try to understand the motivation for the acquisition. With a clear understanding you can best plan your actions. What someone working in a recently acquired company would do if the reason for acquistion was securing a dominant brand is very different from the actions to be considered in the case of purchase for the value of a distribution system. Also depends very much where you are in the corporate food chain in terms of your function and your level in the heirachy.

 

Please also have a quiet night out with the missus or GF and get a second opinion. Not from your workmates as they are naturally biased or in an unsettled frame of mind. Get a 3rd party view from someone who is divorced from the situation and who only has your interests at heart. Many acquisitions work out very very positively for the target's employees. Remember, your company was acquired for a reason and you need to identify the value your firm provides to the new parent company. Understand the value and you will be a lot better positioned to make an advantageous personal career strategy. Hope this helps mate! (and sorry to sound like a consultant )

[ATTAK Z]

Byzac ?

[Zugara]

Thanks of the info Very well written and easy to understand.

 

I work for one of these multi billion dollar multinationals in a corporate role and we swallow up competitors of various sizes from time to time. There can be many reasons for doing this e.g. penetration into a market where the target is entrenched e.g. through having a sustainable moat such as a dominant brand, entrenched sales or distribution network, technology IP, under valued assets etc. and it would cost more to fight than buy.

 

What I might suggest you openly do for the time being is...nothing! Privately, study the company. Try and learn of their behaviour in past cases if any. Each company has it's corporate DNA and often follows the same behavioural pattern. Try to understand the motivation for the acquisition. With a clear understanding you can best plan your actions. What someone working in a recently acquired company would do if the reason for acquistion was securing a dominant brand is very different from the actions to be considered in the case of purchase for the value of a distribution system. Also depends very much where you are in the corporate food chain in terms of your function and your level in the heirachy.

 

Please also have a quiet night out with the missus or GF and get a second opinion. Not from your workmates as they are naturally biased or in an unsettled frame of mind. Get a 3rd party view from someone who is divorced from the situation and who only has your interests at heart. Many acquisitions work out very very positively for the target's employees. Remember, your company was acquired for a reason and you need to identify the value your firm provides to the new parent company. Understand the value and you will be a lot better positioned to make an advantageous personal career strategy. Hope this helps mate! (and sorry to sound like a consultant )

[Roo]

I second the above. I have seen our company aquire many staff via TUPE. And in most cases there has been some sort of redundancy eventualy but not always where you expect it.

In my experience it has been used to get rid of underperforming and troublesome staff . If the company taking over is smart they will want to loose as few skilled staff as possible and may use any "alignment" excercise to weed out some of their own underperforming staff.

[Zugara]

The problem is this:-

Company is based in Southampton. 80% of the work load is Birmingham and above Inc Ireland, southern and Northern.

Once the new accountants start running the business, surely the question will be asked Why are people travelling from the south coast to Scotland etc.

I can already foresee the relocation of this business to the Midlands, which admittedly is better placed to serve the entire country, there-in-lies the biggest problem IMO. Yes, staff would no doubt be offered a relocation package, but, if you don't take the offer, you effectively make yourself redundant, in turn loosing any redundancy payments.

 

I can just see dark days ahead, I am sure they will come into meet us all, with smiling faces, firm handshakes and expensive suits, splurging about how safe our jobs will be under the new ownership blah blah blah, but really they are just the smiling assassin's.

 

I second the above. I have seen our company aquire many staff via TUPE. And in most cases there has been some sort of redundancy eventualy but not always where you expect it.

In my experience it has been used to get rid of underperforming and troublesome staff . If the company taking over is smart they will want to loose as few skilled staff as possible and may use any "alignment" excercise to weed out some of their own underperforming staff.

[coldel]

Been made redundant twice in the last 18 mths, once because of what you mentioned mate, about them wanting to relocate me (to the USA!) and a downgrade in job status but still on the same money. I turned it down and in effect manufactured my own redundancy, but, I did get a redundancy payout. I found the other company very good though, yes nice suits, but with an element of humanity about it all. I was just up front with them.

 

Second redundancy was when I was at under-performing company, it had to lose 60% of the workforce to stay afloat and me being somewhat a luxury item at the company was on the list. What happened there was that we had new leadership come in and I was straight on the case looking for other work, I had already had a couple of interviews before I even had the chat about redundancy with my current employer.

 

Think you are doing the right thing mate, stay calm, sit down with someone who you trust who is not connected with it and go through your options. Try to put yourself forwards a few months and how you feel about say living in the midlands, or maybe working somewhere else, you will know what you really want to do. Just dont let them dictate to you, take some control yourself now and it makes the problem a bit easier to deal with.

[spursmaddave]

I think you hit the nail on the head Paul, sound like a willingness to adapt and relocate will count for a lot more than experience...

[Will370z]

Been on both ends of stick in the past with companies that have taken over others and been taken over themselves.

 

Very tricky to forecast what will happen but inevitably things do change for the company being taken over, even if the purchasing company says the impact will be minimal.

 

I would have to say given the poor match in location of your base and the clients i would think a relocation is highhly probable.

 

On a positive note at least it means you get rid of that idiot boss of yours if hes the current owner, bad side is hes likely to walk away with a nice payout, but lets not dwell on that.

[glrnet]

I understand your concerns and have been through this twice.

 

Emotions will run high and that is understandable but rmg has offered some very sensible advice and you really have to find out as much as you can about them so that you can be well equipped and ready to turn your, as yet, unfounded fears into positivity. Yes, I agree, it all may seem uncertain at the moment but by the same token YOU may be invaluable to the the new company which is why it makes sense to follow rmg's advice quietly and individually find out as much as you can about them.

 

Hope it all works out for you buddy

 

The problem is this:-

Company is based in Southampton. 80% of the work load is Birmingham and above Inc Ireland, southern and Northern.

Once the new accountants start running the business, surely the question will be asked Why are people travelling from the south coast to Scotland etc.

I can already foresee the relocation of this business to the Midlands, which admittedly is better placed to serve the entire country, there-in-lies the biggest problem IMO. Yes, staff would no doubt be offered a relocation package, but, if you don't take the offer, you effectively make yourself redundant, in turn loosing any redundancy payments.

 

I can just see dark days ahead, I am sure they will come into meet us all, with smiling faces, firm handshakes and expensive suits, splurging about how safe our jobs will be under the new ownership blah blah blah, but really they are just the smiling assassin's.

 

I second the above. I have seen our company aquire many staff via TUPE. And in most cases there has been some sort of redundancy eventualy but not always where you expect it.

In my experience it has been used to get rid of underperforming and troublesome staff . If the company taking over is smart they will want to loose as few skilled staff as possible and may use any "alignment" excercise to weed out some of their own underperforming staff.