There is no legal reason why a "Head of HR" or sole HR bod cant be made redundant. Yes many (though not all) of your tasks may have to be reallocated and split up, payroll to a finance clerk perhaps, recruitment to line managers etc but that's a decision for the employer. In theory they could bring in a much more junior person to do some of the role

The only thing they cant do is outsource it en-mass without considering if TUPE applies 9although you may not want this).

It does sound like they have not planned properly and budgeted your role appropriately with the two pay rises/promotions. Which is a real pity but that's life.

You could suggest alternative means of saving money that would save your role and they need to consider these.

You now need to look forward and consider what is best for you now. Good luck

Hi Kate

Really sorry to hear this, it sounds very bizarre when you've recently had a promotion and pay rises!

I was made redundant from a stand alone role which sounds similar to yours, and they basically handed all the HR etc workload over to line managers and centralised the payroll part. Any major HR issues were to be handled by the Company Secretary, who was already doing this for other companies in the group.

As with my experience, I can't see that what they are doing is realistically going to save any money and it certainly won't improve service levels!

Hope things work out OK for you in the end.

Ishbel

In reply to Ishbel:

Thanks Ishbel. Sorry you've had to go through it too! I built the role up from nothing so feel very personally invested in the ongoing welfare of the organisation - though I suspect I'll get over it!

In reply to Keith:

Thanks Keith - I have spent the last year instigating cost-savings in my sphere of influence and was congratulated on how well I had done only 8 weeks ago.

As you say, onwards and upwards!

In reply to Kate Sanderson:

Hi Kate

Bad news: American oil industry employers, in my (limited but quite deep) experience are entirely without scruples or empathy or helpfulness when it comes to such things

As Keith observes, the fact that the same things need to continue to get done doesn't prevent them in employment law from rearranging how they do them and 'right-sizing' (to use their typical parlance) their headcount etc

Such employers often I think tend to walk on the thinnest of ice when doing such things, but usually get away with it, but may muck up the process enough for you effectively to take it to independent challenge / scrutiny

But a far better way might be to examine thoroughly during consultation whether or not they'll end up making real or significant cost savings. If they refuse to engage with you in doing this and make it clear that minds are made up etc then that may amount to muck up as above

Hi Kate - sorry to hear about the situation you find yourself in, good to see you're receiving some really helpful support and advice here from fellow community members. As a CIPD member, don't forget you have access to the personal legal advice line. You can ring them and talk through your case. Here are the details taken from the the website:

Phone: 03330 431 215

This helpline is provided by LAW Express, an independent company. Individual CIPD members can obtain confidential, one-to-one advice on personal difficulties affecting them at work covering issues such as them being made redundant or dismissed, contracts of employment and other aspects of employment law relevant to their personal situation.

How does it work?

It provides CIPD members with one free call per annum (1 July-30 June) to obtain in-depth advice on a work-related personal problem.
Telephone helpline only - no letters, faxes or e-mails, please!
Follow up or further advice in the same year is charged at £33.85 (including VAT) per call - credit card payments only.
Calls last no more than 15 minutes.
Calls may be recorded for training and monitoring purposes.
Lines are open 09:00-18:00 Monday to Friday.

It does not:

provide advice on personal problems that are not work-related
deal with non-legal aspects of personal problems eg counselling
provide information for third parties - clients, colleagues, family or friends.

In reply to Kate Sanderson:

Thanks Kate. I had been with the company for 19 years, and spent 12 years as HR Manager so it was a real thought putting myself out there and looking for another job.

I used part of my redundancy money to put myself through a CIPD course, and that plus the time I've spent on the Community has (I think!) made me a more able HR professional and given me greater confidence.

In a weird way it also helped when I've been dealing with any redundancy consultations since then, as I can remember how it felt and that you don't actually take very much in after they've said that your job is at risk...

If they do go ahead with this, I hope there's something great waiting for you around the corner - I was very fortunate in that I got the first job I applied for, and with the part time hours I was looking for!

Good Luck :)

In reply to David:

Some really helpful points there about pushing for evidence of planned cost-savings, thanks.

In reply to Johanna:

I was totally unaware of this service so thankyou for bringing it to my attention. If needed, I will think very carefully what questions to ask in my allotted 15 minutes!