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Been through it only once so far and it was all fairly civilised. The
company I worked for provided outsourcing to larger companies and all
the big companies were being hit and were cutting back. As the work
dried up my company moved those affected to doing general editing,
market research etc - basically anything they could to keep people busy
but everyone knew it was just a matter of time. In the end about 10%
went. I was lucky (considering times were hard) in that I got another
job straight away. It wasn't all writing or great pay but it kept the
bills paid. Now THAT was a good company. The site I was working at was
being closed in about a year so most of the jobs were temporary. The
company recognised this and allowed the use of computers/phone etc to
job hunt and paid you if you took time off to go for an interview!
As far as employment law goes it's a bit different here in the UK. Not
as proscribed as it used to be but still better than the US (as far as
I can see). Generally when you join a company you sign a contract that
lays out how/when etc you can be fired. Generally (often after a
probationary 3 month period) it's 1 month notice on either side. If you
want to leave you've to give 1 month's notice, ditto if they want to
fire you. This gives a reasonable handover period. However, if they
want you out NOW (security etc) you can be asked to go at once but
you're not officially off the payroll for a month and they have to pay
you for that time.
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