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Redundancy help and advice

18/12/2020

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I was recently made aware of a facebook post containing some very useful content if your job is at risk from redundancy, or you're worried it might be. You may also find some of the content helpful if your role is secure but redundancies are happening around you (managing survivor's guilt).

Full credit, this list was shared in the 
MA Workforce Covid Support Group on Facebook, but as that's a private group, I can't just reshare the original post, so here are the links in full, in a format anyone can access.
Redundancy signposting
https://www.museumsassociation.org/careers/redundancy-hub/

Government
https://www.gov.uk/redundancy-your-rights/being-selected-for-redundancy?

Citizens Advice
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/leaving-a-job/redundancy/voluntary-redundancy/

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/emp-law/redundancy/factsheet

ACAS
https://www.acas.org.uk/your-rights-during-redundancy

Prospect
https://prospect.org.uk/topic/redundancy/

I feel like this being a post to end 2020 is kind of awful. It is awful. As of December 15th 2020 the Museums Association had recorded 3,997 redundancies in the UK museums workforce from March 2020, (find out more here) and that number will inevitably only go up. 
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Redundancy is awful, you're not.

If you are reading this because your role is redundant or under consultation, it's awful, it will always be awful. Don't let people tell you otherwise, or to get over it, or suck it, up, or that it could be worse. You are living through what you are living through, and are equipped as only you can be.

You will most likely carry deep and complex emotions about the challenge of redundancy for the rest of your life. But the situation itself will pass into new, different situations. You may be surprised by how you can change. It may take a lot longer than you hope, or it may shock you by being something you suddenly slew off like an old skin. You may find that redundancy of your role creates an emotional scar which can suddenly and unexpectedly open in the future. You may need to look for extra help and support. But, you will be there, and that's what matters, you being and doing and making and creating and coping and living.

Here's to being here in 2021, for whatever that brings us.
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Your toilets matter more than ever as Lockdown Loosens

25/6/2020

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Toilets.
Not very exciting, eh?

They really matter to your visitors if you work at almost any venue open to the public, (you probably know this) and it can be surprisingly easy to overlook them as a factor in visitor satisfaction. With Covid-19, cleanliness and shared spaces are now even more of a concern, and that means your toilets really matter more than ever.

There's some very interesting and useful information in this Youtube video about what will help visitors feel confident and comfortable in visiting your site when it reopens after lockdown. Graphs, and data, and everything! Have a gander, and perhaps pass it to those making the decisions, if it's not yourself.


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The woad to Mary Rose, via MERL. AKA daft museum tweets.

13/3/2020

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Some parts of the internet are just awful, little breeding pits for spite and horror. But then, you find those gems, those people or accounts who are just smart, supportive, informative, or plain old silly.

You may know of the Museum of English Rural Life as the twitter account where the staff, being allowed to have some fun, ended up with an absolute unit of a sheep go viral. It was unusual to say the least. The Mary Rose twitter people are also allowed some leeway for levity, bringing personality to their account. Attendant's VIew, urm, does what it likes, there's no managerial oversight here, just me spouting nonsense and ocassinally getting insenced at things.

Fine folks, let me take you on a journey with The Mary Rose...

https://twitter.com/TheMERL/status/1237022027040595969
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The State of Things - Something Rotten

19/6/2019

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It’s been a bit quiet around here, and I feel it’s worth explaining, rather than just letting the dust gather.
The reasons are threefold really.
​
  • I’ve not been out front of house as much, and tales about spreadsheets and exhibition design aren’t quite as appealing.
  • I’ve been busy, and time to sit and draw properly, or snatch time in work to doodle rapidly, hasn’t been easy to manage.
  • Finally, so many of the tales submitted by the contact form, or relayed to me by peers, are just, in a word, depressing.
​
I’m told less and less about the fantastic kids a FOH worker dealt with, or the comedic actions of colleagues, and more and more about the frustrations. The sad side of staff feeling undervalued, overworked and under-resourced by an increasingly financially squeezed workplace. Or outright redundant, and now scrabbling for one of the few paid roles remaining.
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Hired help

15/5/2019

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When looking for advice and support online about recording a collection, and creating accompanying documentation, from almost scratch:

Most Sources: Hire a trained Archivist.
Me: Do you think I'd be searching the internet if that was an option?
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Getting inventive, and celebrating success

31/10/2018

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Display label is missing from display.

Can't insert head into the cabinet at the right angle to see if it's dropped behind the display plinth.

Use phone to take a photo down the back of the plinth, to find the label is there.

Dob blue tack onto name badge, and use phone camera feed to see where to aim it behind the plinth.

Successfully stick name badge to display label and pull both out.

Replace display label in correct location.

Feel proud of ingenuity.

Realise no-one is around to recognise achievement.

Go and treat self to posh coffee to celebrate. 
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May The Toys Be With You - Exhibition Review - Yeah, we had fun...

2/9/2018

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I'm not a raging Star Wars fan, perhaps a bit more so than the usual bod on the street, so the May The Toys Be With You
exhibition at Leicester museum
 
pricked my attention, and was also a great way to catch up with two Star Wars fans and small child at the same time.
 
Rather than trying (and inevitably failing) to write a polished review, this is going to be the first of my “Explaining it in a pub” reviews. Essentially, the near stream of consciousness I'd give if you asked me “How was that place you went to? Worth it?”
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​We were excited as we entered the Exhibition space, the first few cabinets had some familiar and some unusual toys, and quickly made a direct connection to a local manufacturer, which helped the exhibition feel genuinely relevant rather than just a crowd pleaser. We could see there were lots of cabinets, well set out with space for excited kids, plus large decals on the otherwise white walls.

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Send Chocolate

27/7/2018

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That silence you hear? 
That's the blissful silence of a room not full of 11 to 16 year old children. 
Because they just ran through half of the museum like a swarm of whooping vermin and are now two rooms away.

Dear teacher, if you have just entered the room and are greeted by blissful silence, that's probably an indicator that your students are in another room.

If your students are in another room, you are no longer accompanying them on their visit.
Now is not the time for you to take a slow and gentle stroll, engrossed in each cabinet's contents.

Please don't look at me like that when I ask you to be in the same room as them.
It's not my fault that you bought a group of howler monkeys into a public space, who glared at me with barely veiled disdain and amusement when I asked them to stop running and shouting, and pointed out all of the glass hazards and other visitors.

-----

Asking your oldest student to make sure the others don't go into the third room is a sort of solution.
Half your students are now accompanied, the other half are now only one room away. Which is an improvement.

Eight students are leaning on a set of doors, obeying "Don't go in that room yet" while also forming an attractive barricade.

There are another couple chasing each other in circles around a glass cabinet.

-----

There's no education session or tour arranged, but trying to get them on board with not just running and yelling is worth a try.

Attempts to engage them in looking at things and taking an interest in anything for more than ten seconds is greeted by sullen silence, or flickering mayfly attention spans accompanied by yelled exclamations, or flat out walking away to annoy each other.

The teacher, now in the room, is vaguely apologetic, and haphazard in any attempt to regain control.
Yes, they are obviously enjoying themselves. But not really in any way I'd describe as positive.
Shouting "That looks like your minger sister! Minger! Minger! Minger!" is, in a way, engaging with the exhibits.

-----

Hang on, those six kids in the cafe... Oh, so they are part of the school group, but were slow eating lunch and the teacher decided they could catch up once finished.
​
Shall we revisit - If your students are in another room, you are no longer accompanying them on their visit?


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Unsolicited Best Intentions

16/6/2018

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The awkward moment when your museum finds that a local facebook page has been cheerfully copy/pasting your facebook events to create Their Own event pages, because they think it'll help your events reach more people.

What is mainly seems to do is reach people, confuse them, and make them frustrated over unanswered questions in the event discussion section.

Why didn't we answer your question on the event page? We weren't notified about a question on the event page. There isn't a question on the event page. Oh, that's a link to an event page which isn't ours. But looks exactly like our event page...

Road to hell, best intentions, paving, and all that.
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Let's share good news

13/6/2018

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 I'd like your good museum stories!

I mentioned while chatting with a representative from Museums Journal that museum staff should embrace and shout out more about the good things which happen to them. Because it's those moments that keep us going, and often tip the day massively back into the light again.

I'd like to turn some of your "then suddenly the noisy kids were engrossed" or "my colleagues bough me flowers" into cartoons which show the rewarding side and beauty of working in museums and galleries.

Please comment here, drop me a message on my contact form, or let me know on Facebook or Twitter!

​You can be anonymous if you like (I know most of you prefer that) or open about who, what and where. It's your choice.
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