SaddleUp!

Fisher & Paykel’s David Woollcott launches a not-for-profit to support redundancies.

Our vision is to reduce the personal and psychological impact of redundancy, understand the circumstances, give hope, show respect and encourage meaningful, ‘forward-facing’ steps.

After hearing of a large number of lay-offs, I was upset and concerned so I sent out quick post to my LinkedIn network (whilst making dinner), offering free advice and a listening ear. By 7am the following morning, this single post had received 50,000+ views, countless shares from all over the world, hundreds of heart-warming words of encourgement and 70 requests for call! That’s a lot of social media action for someone who specialises in luxury appliances! Being the MD of a growing organisation in the UK, 60 hours per week is the normal. By 9pm that evening, I had completed 3 fascinating video calls and was booked out until October. The need was demonstrated by this small activity and I was determined to find a wider application and scale it, quickly. The need is now and this had quickly become my ‘side-gig.’

“WHO SAYS THAT REDUNDANCY IS ALWAYS A BAD THING, AT TIMES IT IS A RELIEF!”

Following a call out on LinkedIn, appointments were booked.

By mid-August, I have completed more than 50 calls with would-be strangers to help them through such challenging times. It has been an incredible experience, one which has given way more to me than it has taken. This is what I have spent some of my evenings and my weekends doing.

Thanks to the first callers, I now have a model on which I want to improve and build on. I want to create a not-for-profit. Already, many have found their next role and when they write to me I cannot explain the happiness I feel, that I was able to help and encourage an unknown professional, in their moment of anguish. When we help one another, without commercial gain or favour, it is an amazing feeling and it’s needed now more than ever!

In 18 years, I have directly and indirectly recruited over 300 people and am recruiting currently so have a long history of what stands out, what attitudes are required and how to ‘SaddleUp!’ I cannot sprinkle fairy dust or wave a magic wand but it is amazing what peer-to-peer encouragement can do; how it can turbo-charge someone’s self esteem.

The Government is reporting record redundancies, not seen since the GFC and companies are planning for the end to the furlough support arrangements. It’s an unsettling time and we cannot rely on the Government alone to find the solutions. It is businesses, large and small and individuals who will drive our economy back to full strength but it will take some goodwill and charity from our leaders across all business sectors.

“In reality, we may see that our industry fairs well as people focus on their home environments by investing in their kitchens, bathrooms and gardens. Afterall, the annual trip to the Med, Cornwall and France or further afield has been difficult if not impossible to achieve this year. In the meantime, companies may well shed staff to save costs and protect their core.”

The government has spent a fortune propping up industry and providing a life-line to most sectors but they have admitted that redundancies and the social consequences will be severe in the short term. The impact on mental health and families is more severe still.

At this time, the strength of our industry is in its ability to drive competitive forces for the good of our customers, whilst sticking together and collaborating. At Fisher & Paykel, we understand human values deeply and are encouraged to lean on these at all times. If our team can commit energy to these causes, we are more than happy to support it.

With this thought, I decided to build a concept for a small not-for-profit and commit just 2 hours per week to those who wanted to talk to me. I have nothing special to offer, apart from having been made redundant in the past and having made redundancies myself, I am also a good listener and take a deep interest in people. What I don’t do is give advice! Both being made redundant and making redundancies are horrible, emotionally draining experiences which need supporting by peers, friends and family. I decided I can offer this in addition to leading the changes going on in our own business. The weekends and evening provided a window in my diary to connect.

The project is called ‘SaddleUp!’ It only exists as a small communications platform on LinkedIn and FaceBook, supported by friends and experts who are guiding me through and providing encouragement. Some of my contacts and colleagues have been incredibly generous with their time. This isn’t my typical area of expertise! They are all seeing the need, they get the concept immediately and cheering me on. Many of my friends who have been made redundant or have suffered a career wobble wish that they had a free, no pressure service like this to get started.

I am not a psychologist or trained councillor, this is important; I don’t offer advice. But what I do focus on is listening and steering the professional towards their own way of thinking, their own plan and their own future. I then try to chunk it down into some small steps. This isn’t a complex skill and I’m confident that I can find the right people from all sectors to join me, in time.

Each caller has been at a very different stage. Some have been furious and needed someone to vent to, I was happy to take this call as confronting as it may be. They can’t shout at their spouse, their family or their friends but they can tuck into me! Hearing the relief when they have said what they have always want to say is amazing, it’s the beginning of the rebuild. During the height of the Covid-19 lockdown, pubs and restaurants were closed, so this avenue of light relief was also shut off.

Some were pragmatic and relaxed but just wanted a business leader, manager or mentor with an empathetic ear to understand the concern and see it impartially.

I also shared my experience of redundancy and having made great people redundant, both of which were deeply unpleasant. I think it is important to understand that the HR Manager or business leader who is sat across the table takes no pleasure in making a redundancy. It is often a commercial necessity to save the business and the remaining employees.

The vision is to recruit fellow industry leaders (or leaders outside of my industry) who have been in a situation, which is a reality of today’s environment. The truth is, many learn from the experiences and go on to do bigger and better things, look at Oprah Winfrey, Walt Disney, Steve Jobs and millions of others…. They were all made redundant and went on to do amazing things. My Dad was made redundant in 1980 and went on to set up his own business, which was successful, he wouldn’t have done this without a letter of redundancy. I am also much happier following my own redundancy and want to turbo charge this line of thinking in others.

There are between 50,000 – 100,000 people who are made redundant in any given month in the UK. That is around 17,000 per week! It is a financial burden, a mental health issue and a destroyer of confidence. My vision is to tackle the mental health issues and the damage to self-esteem in good time to allow a bounce back, a Saddle-Up! The economic impact is also vast. Our ability to bounce back as a nation and not take a set-back, a national tragedy as a mortal wound will be incredibly important. I want to call on industry and civic leaders in all sectors to engage very directly with those who are personally impacted. This means opening up.

Employers are also terrible at the redundancy and restructuring process in my experience. It is full of litigation, silences, fumbled communications, NDAs and that all lead to frayed relationships and potential PR disasters. We need to understand the human element and treat each other as equals, as humans. There is fear on side of the employer as well as on the side of the employee. I can’t think of a more artificial, in-humane process from employers who were once your biggest supporter. No wonder it feels like a betrayal.

Long term, I would like to see wider and longstanding IR and employment reform where a redundancy process is outlined before someone is employed. Competitive and comparative forces will be then be set up to drive improvements.

Fisher & Paykel has a strong social focus and an even stronger set of human values. We apply this to our customers and our own teams.

SaddleUp! has its own LinkedIn page and Facebook page but remains in its infancy. David is working with his contacts and friends pro bono to build a website quickly to expand the reach of this free of charge service. The limits will be my time, so I need to recruit a team of ‘Saddlers’ from different industry sectors willing to give up 2 hours of their week.

What SaddleUp is:

- A peer to peer, human to human call where the Saddler listens to someone in their approximate industry who has just been made redundant.

- Experiences and insights are shared, empathy is shown and a relationship of mutual respect, encouragement and hope is built.

- The Saddler can also review past employment, LinkedIn profiles and CVs and provide a few hints and tips to get started and become slowly future focussed.

- SaddleUp shows that leaders across a wide category of industry sectors cares for its people, supports them in challenging times and understands human frailties.

- SaddleUp also respects companies who have had to make difficult decisions

What SaddleUp isn't:

- SaddleUp isn’t medical or psychological and shouldn’t be presented as such.

- SaddleUp doesn’t generate revenue or refer to businesses who charge fees, it isn’t a pool for recruiters.

- SaddleUp doesn’t provide fixed advice or steer conversations.

What's Next?

More research, more fact finding and more calls. As it exists at the moment, it is working and of great value for some people who I am connected with and that’s good enough for me.

Ultimately, I believe in a bigger topic, a wider conversation and more decisive action from each and every one of our business and civic leaders across the country and would love to think that SaddleUp! could be the inspiration.

If you want more information about SaddleUp! find out more on LinkedIn: Keep up to date: https://bit.ly/2Qicc2X