We’re not all geezers inbowler hats with snotty accents

THE vicissitudes of capitalism washed over my colleagues and I this week.

On Monday, while driving between Cork and Charleville, it came over the radio that our firm had been closed down with immediate effect due to accounting irregularities uncovered by the Central Bank. On the previous evening we were given the stark consequences. Statutory redundancies would take effect over the next four weeks. This was the final blow after four years of tough trading, salary cuts and downsizing.

“Headcount reduction” is a cold term often used when describing job losses. We all use clichés like “restructuring” and “rationalisation” to discuss company and industry changes that help immunise us from the human side of such change. Up close the reality is tougher. Young people trying to build a career have been abruptly stopped. Others, with young families and mortgages, face formidable financial challenges. Older colleagues who hoped to mature their careers in a conventional manner are forced to think differently. Some who have invested many years in the firm are unable to receive a corresponding redundancy payment because the requisite cash has gone.