re ‧ dun ‧ dan ‧ cy /rɪˈdʌndənsi/ BrE AmE noun ( plural redundancies )
1 . [uncountable and countable] British English a situation in which someone has to leave their job, because they are no longer needed SYN layoff :
The closure of the export department resulted in over 100 redundancies.
Two thousand workers now face redundancy.
An employee is not eligible for a redundancy payment unless he has been with the company for two years.
voluntary/compulsory redundancy
We were offered a £3,000 cash bonus to take voluntary redundancy.
2 . [uncountable] when something is not used because something similar or the same already exists
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ make redundancies
The company is to make 1,400 redundancies.
▪ face redundancy
Up to 300 leather factory workers are facing redundancy.
▪ take/accept redundancy
Twenty staff members took voluntary redundancy.
▪ volunteer for redundancy (=offer to take redundancy)
Nearly 40% of the workforce volunteered for redundancy.
■ adjectives
▪ compulsory redundancies (=when workers are forced to be redundant)
He promised there would be no compulsory redundancies.
▪ voluntary redundancies (=done willingly, without being forced)
Wherever possible the cuts will be achieved by voluntary redundancies.
▪ mass/large-scale redundancies
The company is preparing large-scale redundancies at its British factories.
■ redundancy + NOUN
▪ redundancy money/pay
He spent his redundancy money on a plot of land.
▪ a redundancy payment
He was not entitled to a redundancy payment.
▪ redundancy terms (=the conditions of a redundancy agreement, for example how much money someone will receive)
Some staff had chosen to go because the voluntary redundancy terms were attractive.
▪ a redundancy package (=a set of things offered to someone who is being made redundant)
The trade union negotiated a generous redundancy package for its members.
▪ a redundancy notice (=a printed statement telling a worker that they are being made redundant)
1,100 of the bank's 1,260 staff in the UK were given redundancy notices.
■ phrases
▪ a round of redundancies (=one set of redundancies in a series)
The industry has announced a new round of redundancies.
▪ a wave of redundancies (=a sudden increase in the number of redundancies)
The latest wave of redundancies resulted in 4,000 job cuts.