Redundancy and aftermath

 HR sent us an e-mail. “CEO will give us a speech. Please make sure to log on to computer. ”

By that time, we cancelled all the businesses we have prepared for the year 2020.

One day during lunch break, I chatted with some of the sales staffs, and was enlightened that they were working on few quotations. “I don’t know the exact purpose, but some are seemingly traveling abroad. Not sure if they are travelling from Japan. They are all last-minutes booking. I can only give them a couple of days to decide whether they want to book or not.” 

So, we still had some businesses. I knew the volume was not sufficient to feed us all, but looked like business was still continuing – but until when? That was the biggest question I think most of us had in our minds.

At the speech, the CEO formally announced that the company will lay off some employees. The detail was to be announced through managements.

I remember we were all very quiet, listening to what the CEO was saying through the computer screen. Through his speech, we could understand that the company tried hard to keep the employment. But with such a tiny businesses, such as hotel booking for a very limited number of traveller, the company couldn’t possibly keep every one of us while Covid virus was prominent.

During an individual meeting with my manager, I was given a suggestion for early retirement along with redundancy payment. I tried to insist that I could be of some asset to the company. In return, I was informed that many, including those serving over 30 years - much longer and much experienced than I was - were also made redundant. It was obvious that there was absolutely no possibility that I could remain.

I quickly changed my mind and signed the paper agreeing for early retirement. With travel industry, especially oversea travel in such a chaos, it was unlikely that I could get a job within travel sector for next few years. I made up my mind to move on to another industry for the time being. I was thinking only to make a quick move while there were still job openings.

I believe the same story goes for many people worked for service industry. With the country requesting to close their business over a month, there must have been a large number of businesses which had to give up operating or decide to lay off their staffs. Around the autumn of 2020, I believe many people gradually became out of job, and started to look for a job.

All in all, I think my employer was honest and straightforward. And I think they made decision for redundancy fast enough, at least before the job market slowed down.

Strangely, I was not panicking, nor feeling depressed. It was partly because this was not my first time to change job, and partly because I was keeping a hope to return to travel industry when Covid is over. 

Leisure travel is not essential. You wouldn’t die without it. But it is something people want, to see, eat, meet, experience and explore something new. It always adds some precious value by providing something different from ordinary life.  I was confident that the industry would surely make a comeback one everything went back to normal.

One weekend, my mother suggested to have a break at a café. Usually this place is quite crowded by lunch time, but it was empty. We had all the place just for two of us. We had a cake called Tosca cake. On the menu, it was said to be a popular cake in Finland and Sweden. Very wholesome cake with almond flavour, not too sweet, not too heavy. We enjoyed it very much. I was ready to brace up for my next challenge.