Careers and Jobs

Arnotts has announced that it will make 600 retail staff redundant. This is a huge blow for the staff and their families. Although the announcement was expected the numbers affected are greater that expected.

Voluntary redundancy will be offered but with 600 of the 950 staff need I guess they all will not be voluntary. These staff are facing a tough job market.

There are couple of points that are being under emphasised in most reports.

a) The store will employee 1200 staff when it reopens in 3 years time. Ok this is no consolation for the staff losing their jobs.

b) This is a 750 million redevelopment project so I guess it will support a struggling construction sector. I guess one workers pain is another workers gain.

Lets hope the staff affected are well looked after in their redundancy package and the proper supports are put in place for them

It’s official – we all knew it but the facts now prove it. It takes Irish workers an hour on average to get to work each day. This is twice as long as it did 5 years ago. In 2003 we took about 29 minutes to get to our job but now it takes 55 minutes. That means that we are traveling for the equivalent of 12 working weeks a year. Even more depressing is the fact that a survey before Christmas indicated that only 6% of Irish workers survey loved their job.

What can you do?

There are two options available. Try to find a resolution with your employer. Many employers appreciate the hardships on staff caused by daily commutes as many suffer with their staff. There are many possibilities to explore such as remote working, flexi-time or a condensed working week. If this is not possible the other option is to find alternative work.