Everyone is nervous about layoffs and downsizing in a stumbling economy. On the big stage, with the US automakers hemorrhaging, leaking employees from every artery of the business, layoffs are a weekly occurrence.
Even more troubling is the intertwined dependence of every small job shop and machine parts manufacturer in the country, on the auto industry. Many of these companies see layoffs as their only big ticket opportunity to cut costs and avoid business failure.
The banking and insurance worlds are suffering unprecedented losses in the stock market fiasco and retail businesses are going down with the sinking ship. So how do you protect yourself and avoid being laid off in this brutal environment?
Layoff Avoidance Strategies
There are no guarantees, but here are some ideas to reduce your chances of being a target in the next layoff:
- Practice Due Diligence - Keep yourself busy at all times on the job. This means you refrain from making personal phone calls. Keep your cell phone on vibrate so that everyone in the office is not aware of your calling habits. Better yet, leave your cell phone in the car.
- Stay Healthy - You owe it to yourself and your employer to keep yourself healthy and work worthy. This means you get seven or eight hours of sleep each night, eat right and exercise regularly. If your employer sponsors flu shots, get one annually. If not, you may want to consider getting one anyway, especially if you are in a high risk category.
- Be Motivated - Those workers who are industrious and willing to take on new tasks and shoulder a bigger workload are the ones that will be kept on. Everytime a position is eliminated, it means that those who are still working must absorb the duties of the eliminated job. If you look on the positive side of this equation, this makes each team member even more valuable and crucial to the business than ever before.
- Be Positive - Possessing a positive attitude is a priceless commodity to your employer. Making decisions about who to keep and who to let go comes down to critical factors like job seniority, performance and attitude. When seniority is not a required denominator because of contractual and union employment considerations, having a good attitude at work often becomes the deciding factor, where performance is otherwise equivalent.
- Be Proactive - If you see something that needs to be done, do it. Make suggestions for improving things if you don't have the authority to make the needed changes. Buddy-up with your supervisor and offer to take on new responsibilities. Make yourself known as a team player and a take-charge person.
- Whine - NOT - Beyond the issue of having a good attitude is the corollary concern about the importance of refraining from whining or complaining about the company, your boss, the workplace, the benefits, etc. Once you are perceived as having the "whiner" label, it is almost impossible to get rid of it. More often than not, the whiners are among the first to get hit when layoffs are looming.
Before you find yourself cleaning out your personal belongings with a pink slip in your hand, take a few moments to internalize the suggestions in this article. It may be the smartest work move you make this year. Job survival of the fittest, the brightest and the best has become a stark reality.
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