Redundancy or the threat of it, is likely to throw you in a high state of anxiety. Planning emotionally and financially can help you lessen the effects of losing your job.

If you know that your job can be on the line, then you need to take a long hard look at your income and expenditure and see where cutbacks can be made. Also, it is important to know what you are entitled to – redundancy payments, unemployment benefits and tax rebates among others.

Redundancy can be a cause of major stress and cause severe disruptions to our lives. If you or your partner are currently in work and fear that you may be next in line for the ‘axe’ don’t shut your eyes and hope for the best but don’t simply assume that all is lost. Speculating about the worst can send us into a spin tail of anxiety but ignoring problems are seldom helpful. Instead, plan and take actions which will help you to remain positive. Keeping a positive mental attitude will help you get through the more challenging days.

Apart from the financial loss incurred, another strong reason why being made redundant can be very distressing to an individual is because much of our identity is tied up with work. So, by losing our jobs we feel like we do not know who we are. This can cause feelings of low self- esteem and self-worth which can get exacerbated the longer you are out of work.