Career Break

I work for Bank of Ireland. I'd been planning on taking a break of 6 months starting shortly.
I know the bank will have no problem - suits them well at the moment.
However in the present climate the idea is making me nervous. What if there are redundancies during my time out. What rights do I have ? Would being on a career break leave me out on a limb or shortchanged on Redundancy payments ?

Normally the job is pretty well protected but everything is so shaky now.

For personal reasons the time suits me now. I may not get the opportunity to take a break till retirement - which is 12yrs away BTW.
Am I mad ??

Advice would be greatly appreciated.

Perplexed said:

Am I mad ??

Click to expand...

Yes.

Watch the news.

I do watch the news avidly. But nothing concrete has been mentioned about redundancies in the BOI. It's part of our employment terms & conditions that no involuntary redundancies will be imposed.
I'm not on a wonderful salary. I'm on the lowest level as I returned to work after rearing my family. To be perfectly honest I'd leave tomorrow if they offered me a good parting package !
Pressure has become intense and I'm disillusioned with my employers. On the bottom rungs we have worked very hard and the better heeled top ranks have caused all our problems. Now we're supposed to clean up the mess !

Hi Perplexed,
My understanding is that if redundancy is on the cards down the line they simply deduct your period of time away from the workplace when calculating the redundancy payment, ie if its in a years time and you have been with the Bank 13.5 years they calculate it as 13 years taking your 6 months leave into consideration. But if you look up www.redundancy.ie it will give you any information you may need.
Ultimatley, its something you want to do so if its something you can afford you should go for it.

Thanks for all the comments & the practical info. I thought the views would be mixed !

I'm going to have patience for a few months and get a better picture of what may transpire.

If you are out on career break and redundancy is offered while you are out you may not be eligible. I know in the public sector you must be at work in order to be eligible for redundo - career breakers do not qualify but it may be different in the banks.

On the issue of the "higher ups" being to blame - was it not a general cultural issue? People at all levels in the banks were benefiting from a system based on marketing products to customers irrespective of risk. This may not apply to you personally but many junior/middle level bank people were getting bonuses (albeit hugely less than the CEOs were getting) that encouraged them to sell - however inappropriate the product.

putsch said:

On the issue of the "higher ups" being to blame - was it not a general cultural issue? People at all levels in the banks were benefiting from a system based on marketing products to customers irrespective of risk. This may not apply to you personally but many junior/middle level bank people were getting bonuses (albeit hugely less than the CEOs were getting) that encouraged them to sell - however inappropriate the product.

Click to expand...

And who created this culture? It wasn't the bank clerks. The people who decide who markets, what products they market, how, when and to whom are not the bank staff. They don't set the targets or the bonus structure. They have nothing to do with it. Those who work at the bottom rung in banks were put under enormous pressure to meet 'targets' and achieve their bonuses. They were turned from clerical staff into sales people in the course of about a decade and this happened worldwide. They had no choice in deciding which products were or were not suitable for customers. They were instructed to sell as much as possible and they followed their instructions, as any sensible employee would do if they value their job. The decisions on risk assessment are not made at the bottom of the pile.

Yes people who work in banks benefited from marketing products to customers irrespective of risk. They benefited by getting paid a salary and by getting to keep their job by meeting their sales targets. Bank tellers are not trained in deciding which products are or are not appropriate for a customer. They were not provided with that training. They were told to sell anyway and were given bonuses for it. It's no use blaming some kind of vague ether of 'culture'. The culture of a bank is not created by its staff. The OP is clearly unhappy in her job and describes the completely normal experience of feeling under intense pressure, being over-worked, underpaid and disillusioned with management. If you talk to most people in a bank they'll describe the same. She's doesn't deserve to be dragged into some kind of let's spread the blame around equally game.

Interesting point putsch about career breakers not being entitled to Redundancy pay. Must check that one out.
Thanks Mallow for the support.
For the record, if you want to talk about bonuses - last one I received was 3yrs ago & that was for €2500 before tax ! You may gather I'm not much of a salesperson. The bank I initially joined was more about service, which is what I do best - I'm sure lots of my customers would vouch for that.
I went to the effort of getting my QFA (Qualified Financial Advisor ) status, attended lectures & studied in my own time so that I personally would not recommend an innapropriate product to a customer.
Yes, it is the people on the top who decide the targets etc. They're the ones that crack the whip & get the nice perks when us underlings achieve what they want. Believe me there are very few perks on the ground. Your basic cashiers etc are on a start up pay of appox €22k. I don't think for the responsibilities thats over the top by any means. Please don't tar us all with the same brush.
It's those of us on the coal face of banking that get the brunt of peoples frustrations.......we're the only bankers you get to meet. I also find it heartbreaking seeing some of the people coming in now in great difficulty. Some because of unemployment or no fault of their own who are really struggling. The Celtic Tiger didn't make everyone well off.