Redundancy: From ending to opportunity
Before the end of 2025 and now into 2026 I’ve seen a number of businesses have to make tough decisions. For those impacted it involves, redundancy conversations, consultation processes, and then that sudden moment where their employment ends.
Having gone through redundancy myself and then supported many people as the navigate the sudden end to their jobs, I’m always at pains to reinforce that whilst the situation is difficult, it is not the end if you apply the right mindset.
Why redundancy feels so unsettling
As humans, we struggle more with uncertainty than almost anything else. Not knowing what’s coming next is often more stressful than knowing something is definite.
When work disappears, the questions flood in:
How long will my money last?
What will I do next?
Who am I without this role?
With such questions and uncertainty consuming our it is easy to feel ourselves spiral into a pit of despair, rather than use the new energy created to focus on taking action.
It’s not just about work
When we lose our jobs, especially when it is not our choice, one mistake people often make is treating redundancy as a purely professional problem. It isn’t.
Work is tangled up with our identity, our security, our sense of purpose, and our place in the world. When a job goes, it activates some very human fears all at once including:
Survival – how will I pay my bills?
Identity – what do I say I do for a living?
Meaning – what will give me a sense of purpose each day?
Freedom – how do I decide what I do next?
Isolation – how do I gain the support I need?
All these questions are completely natural, albeit, if we don’t engage with them properly they can keep us trapped rather than propel us forward. To this end, it is natural to feel calm one day and panicked the next. However, when experiencing this emotion, the goal is not to suppress it – the goal is to use the energy to drive forward deliberately and with confidence.
3 Steps to turn redundancy into opportunity
- Get Practical (Calm the Nervous System)
Clarity reduces anxiety.
Ask yourself:
• How much money do I actually have?
• What are my real monthly costs?
• How long is my runway – i.e. savings / costs?
Once you know the numbers, the fog of anxiety starts to lift because you can be more deliberate about how you manage your resources.
- Create a wider plan (Think beyond “the next job”)
Instead of asking:
“What job do I want next?”
Try:
“What are all the ways I could generate income?”
List everything – short-term, part-time, consulting, retraining, experimenting. Talk to people, asking them thoughts about where you should focus and opportunities they know about. The reason for focusing on generating an income rather than looking for that perfect next job is that again it helps ease the anxiety. It also means that you keep yourself more open to opportunities that may present.
Beyond just an income, also focus on protecting your energy by sticking to routines connected to self-care and self-talk.
- Use the moment to rediscover yourself
Ask yourself:
• Who am I — beyond my job title?
• What really matters to me now?
• How do I want to live and lead from here?
These aren’t quick answers. But they’re clarifying questions to ask because in our busy day-to-day lives we rarely get the time to properly think about what we want to do with our lives.
From threat to turning point
Whilst experiencing redundancy will always feel threatening because it impacts so much of our lives, it does not mean that we can’t use it as a turning point.
Yes, you will feel the panic of needing to find a new source of income, but in doing this make sure you stay calm, focused and use the moment as an opportunity to redesign how you want to live and work.
Through all my experience in supporting others, time and again I’ve seen redundancy become the doorway to a life that’s more aligned, more meaningful, and more human.
Need further support? Contact Rob@purposefulleader.co