By Andy Sloane & Tim Baer

The Redundancy Playbook.

How to take control of your money, reputation and runway.

The rules they don't tell you.

A battle-tested guide for managers who refuse to leave money, dignity and runway on the table. Written by people who have lived this — at director level, in FTSE companies.

"Most managers leave tens of thousands of pounds — and months of runway — on the table. Not because they are weak. Because nobody ever prepared them for this moment."

The Redundancy Playbook

Most redundancy advice is written by lawyers. The problem is that legal advice only gives you one perspective — it tells you what your legal rights are, but it does not tell you what to do when you are sitting across the table from a seasoned HR director whose job is to get you out as quickly and cheaply as possible.This guide fills that gap. It is written by people who have lived this — at director and senior manager level, working for FTSE companies — with real transcripts, real emails, and real outcomes that put significantly more money and runway in their pockets than they would have had otherwise.Different companies. Different tactics. The same rules.

You have just been told you are at risk

The clock is ticking. You need to know what to do before your first consultation meeting. This is where to start.

You have seen the signals

Something feels off. 5 to 10 minutes of focused attention a week could potentially put tens of thousands of pounds in your pocket one day.

You are in the middle of a process

You have had the first meeting. You want to know how to control the written record and what to negotiate — and how.

You want to be ready — just in case

If it happens, you win big. If it never happens, all you have lost is a few minutes a week. The preparation is never wasted.

The Opening Line

"At our company, towards the end of every financial year, some managers and directors disappeared. The company never commented beyond the normal 'a colleague X decided to leave the business…'. But everyone knew what was happening.Having watched this play out for a few years, I always knew it could happen to me. I was not naive about it. And yet when it did — when I was sitting in that meeting and the words were said — my world still fell apart.

This is exactly what they are counting on!"

HR will use your shock. Not maliciously — but deliberately. The consultation process will be initiated as quickly as possible, while you are still reeling, still processing, still hoping it is not real. They want you moving fast, signing things, agreeing to terms before you have had time to think.The single most valuable thing I did was slow down. Take time to prepare. And then — on the advice of my lawyer — make them feel uncomfortable. Not aggressive, not difficult. Just ask the right questions, calmly and deliberately, until they started making mistakes.

That decision was worth tens of thousands of pounds.

What's inside

Three phases. Seven Chapters. The complete playbook

  1. Spot the Signals

  2. Get Your Paperwork in Order

  3. Prepare for the First Meeting

  1. How to Show up in the Room

  2. Control the Written Record

  3. The Negotiation

  1. Landing Well

Most managers facing redundancy leave tens of thousands of pounds on the table.Not because they aren't capable. Because nobody ever told them how the process actually works — what HR knows, where the leverage lies, and what gets said in those rooms that should never go unchallenged.

The Redundancy Playbook changes that!

Andy Sloane & Tim Baer

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