[General] "Redundantee" - the right word to talk about employees who are laid off?

[loveleeyoungae]

Hi,

Due to low oil price, my company has to find a way to cut cost. So, some employees (including me) will stop working next week. At the same time, the First Deputy GD (Mr. X) will retire.
So the company is going to have a farewell party. The secretary (also the interpreter) is preparing a bannner with this message:
Dear Mr. X and Redundantees!
Thank you for your valuable contributions to our company.
Wishing you all the best for your future.
You’ ll always be remembered with love and warmth .

I have uncomfortable feeling with this message, but I'm afraid that my knowledge is not so good. That's why I'm asking for your advice here:
1. I made a quick google search and found that the info on the word "Redundantee" is extremely rare. I somehow feel that using that word in this situation is an insult.
2. The last sentence seems to only be used when someone has passed away? For normal situation, we should change that to "We will miss you"?

Am I wrong or does this message actually have issues? What would you suggest to edit to make it a better message?
Thank you very much in advance.

 

[Barb_D]

Re: "Redundantee" - the right word to talk about employees who are laid off?

Sorry about your job loss! I hope they gave you a nice package to help you transition to your next assignment.

I have never seen the word "Redundantee" and even if it is in the dictionary, I would never use it.

I don't have a good term for "people who are about to be laid off."

Perhaps you could try something like "and our soon-to-be former colleagues" or even something that tries to be cute like "our future former colleagues" but there is no way that being reminded that you are about to lose your job will make you happy, by any name.

Given that this is for a banner, I would omit the first line entirely. Just start with "Thank you... " And I agree that "We will miss you!" is shorter and to the point.

However, I don't think that "You'll always be remembered with love and warmth" is suitably ONLY if someone has died. It's a rather nice way to say "We'll miss you," I think.

Good luck with your job search.

 

[GoesStation]

Re: "Redundantee" - the right word to talk about employees who are laid off?

1. I made a quick google search and found that the info on the word "Redundantee" is extremely rare. I somehow feel that using that word in this situation is an insult.
2. The last sentence seems to only be used when someone has passed away? For normal situation, we should change that to "We will miss you"?

Am I wrong or does this message actually have issues? What would you suggest to edit to make it a better message?
Thank you very much in advance.

Sorry for your situation.

1. I understand what the company means by redundantee. I can only guess that whoever wrote the message couldn't think of a word for "newly-laid-off employees" and invented that one. We don't use the phrase made redundant for employees in AmE; we say they were laid off. I wouldn't take the invented word as an insult though.

2. It would have been better to write we'll miss you, we'll miss working with you, or other words to that effect.

Lots of people have trouble expressing themselves appropriately, especially under trying circumstances.

 

[tedmc]

Re: "Redundantee" - the right word to talk about employees who are laid off?

I think the name is kind of insulting though the intention is innocent. Nobody likes to be reminded what one is leaving a company for, given the circumstances.
For a name as form of address, what about "our departing colleagues"?

 

[loveleeyoungae]

Re: "Redundantee" - the right word to talk about employees who are laid off?

Oh, thank you very much for your encouragement! Didn't think I would get one when I started this thread

Actually, we were notified about the situation 7 months ago, so we all have prepared and have no negative feelings now. It's just about what GoesStation mentioned - "invention". The secretary usually have strange experiments with inventing and combining words to show off her knowledge :-|

In my mother language, "made redundant" is worse than "is fired". That's why even I didn't know about "Redundantee", I knew it's not the right word. Barb_D's suggestion "future former colleagues" was also what I thought of - long phrase but easy to understand is obvious better than trying to find one weird word.

Once again, thanks for your replies. I will definitely tell them to edit the message

 

[Tarheel]

Re: "Redundantee" - the right word to talk about employees who are laid off?

Please note that "encouragement" is not a count noun. Perhaps:

I didn't think I would get any when I started this thread.