Worried about redundancy?

Know your rights and the quickest route to new employment

How secure do you feel in your job? In an effort to gauge the levels of job security felt by workers across Europe, the Monster Meter asked this question to site visitors across 14 countries in Europe. Over 14,000 took part in the survey, which revealed:

15% (2,189 votes) said: I feel very secure.
18% (2,606 votes) said: I feel redundancy is imminent.
29% (4,088 votes) said: In this economic climate, it's hard to know what is around the corner.

38% (5,453 votes) said: I am out of work at the moment.
According to the results, the Dutch and Danes currently feel least threatened by redundancy, each with a comparatively high percentage of 23% claming they feel very secure. However, workers in the UK, Spain, Belgium and Italy feel most insecure, with 21%-24% stating that they feel redundancy is imminent.

In the current challenging economic climate, issues relating to redundancy are brought to the forefront of the workplace agenda, comments Hernan Daguerre, head of communications for Monster Europe. It is utterly important that people, especially those who feel at risk, prepare in advance for the eventuality and understand what they are entitled to. Even the small effort of activating your CV on a job site like Monster can make a huge difference, since it makes the process a 2-way street and companies could be looking at your skills even while you're having your morning shower.

If we compare statutory redundancy pay across Europe, it becomes evident that redundancy is much more daunting for some Europeans than others. Generally payments to those who have been made redundant depend on factors such as an employee's length of service, their age, their previous salary, and the type of work done. State benefits across Europe range from a flat rate of Ä90 per week in the UK to figures as high as Ä406 in Denmark. explains Simon Osborne, managing director of redundancy insurance specialists SalaryProtect.com who provide income protection and redundancy insurance in the UK.

In France, for example, a state-wide Unemployment Insurance Scheme is in place, which is contributed to by employers and employees. If an employee has involuntarily lost their job, the Scheme will pay out up to 75% of the previous salary, providing that contributions have been made by the employer to the scheme whilst they were working. Similarly in Germany, if an employee has contributed to an insurance scheme, they can claim around 60% of their salary for a duration of 6 months, depending on their age and how long insurance fees have been paid. In the UK, the situation is somewhat different: there is no state-wide insurance scheme, but companies are obliged to make a one-off payment to an employee who has been made redundant. The basic guidelines for calculation of redundancy pay in the UK are as follows:

1 week's pay for each completed year of service whilst aged 41 to 65
1 week's pay for each completed year of service whilst aged 22 to 40
week's pay for each completed year of service whilst aged 18 to 21

It is not hard to see that redundancy payments in the UK are somewhat minimal compared to those in other European countries. In fact, benefits available across the EU differ so vastly that workers in countries such as France and Spain can afford to be more relaxed, even in the current economic situation. In the UK, employers are only legally bound to give the employee a minimal one-off payment. After this, state benefits (also known in the UK as the dole) must be relied upon - a flat figure of just Ä90 a week. It would seem that the European Union has taken steps to show it has workers' best interests at heart as we have seen with the recent flexible working legislation, though it is a long road to standardisation of employment law across Europe.

When state support is limited, such as in the UK, people are increasingly looking to protect their income. They'd rather pay a few pounds a month while they're working than face financial meltdown when they lose their job comments Osborne. Setting up a private redundancy insurance scheme allows people to still have a sensible level of income should the 'rainy day' arrive.

The results of the current Monster Meter are based on votes cast by Monster users in Europe 31st March 2003 to 14th April 2003. Only one vote per user is counted toward the final tabulation. The Monster Meter, a product of Monster.com, the leading global online careers site and flagship brand of TMP Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: TMPW), is a series of online polls that gauge users' opinions on a variety of topics relating to careers, the economy and the workplace. Anyone interested in voting in Monster's current online poll may do so by logging onto Monster.com at www.monster.com and selecting your local site.