Layoffs are spreading like a virus. Chrysler, Yahoo, Goldman Sachs, Xerox, Merck all announced job cuts in recent days and most economists now believe the economic downturn is going to hit employees hard.
Jobless claims are at recessionary levels already and most analysts believe the worst is yet to come.
Everyone out there wants to tell you how you can keep your job during the bad times, but it’s time for a reality check folks.
There isn’t a lot you can do if your number comes up when managers are crafting the pink-slip list. I’ve been through a few downturns in my day, and most often the head honchos at most companies panic during times like this. They hack and slash and hold their collective breaths, hoping that the stupid, seat-of-their-pants moves they make will help them from loosing their jobs.
That’s just the way it goes. Few managers actually think about the bottom-line, about the long term and how certain employees will help them weather the tough times.
All they see is a bunch of heads and they typically start cutting the most expensive heads first, that is, not those in the corner office, but those regular Joes and Janes that make more than the other Joes and Janes.
But unfortunately, the idiots push out the people with the most experience as a result, experience that probably would come in handy right about now. And that’s just a dumb idea.
I’m telling you this because I want all of us to take a deep breath and realize that there will be little rhyme or reason to what happens at many firms as the employee cuts come down. So people, don’t take any of this personally and don’t spend too much energy trying to figure out why they cut you as opposed to someone else. That’s a lot of job-searching energy wasted.
With all that said, I will still offer you some tips on ways that might help you to keep your job. Emphasis on the “might.”
Maybe you work for one of those companies that actually use some forethought before they start handing out the pink slips. For this reason, and this reason alone, I’m offering these suggestions.
1. Make sure people think you’re working hard right about now. Coming in late and leaving early is probably not a great idea.
2. Make some friends. Loners are typically the ones with targets on their heads so take a coworker out to lunch, or ask a supervisor to have a cup of coffee.
3. Move to a division that’s making money. If you’re sure your department is bleeding red ink, it might be a good time to move to another department if you can, even if the position you can secure isn’t the perfect one.
4. Let people know what you’re doing. To often we assume our bosses know how hard we’re working and what we’re accomplishing. This is a load of crap. No one is watching your every move, especially in tough times. So keep your managers up to date on your work. Don’t be a pest, just send an occasional email, or pop into your manager’s office now and then to update them.
But I’m not saying you should kiss anyone’s ass right now. Just do your job and be smart about what the future may hold.
If you suspect layoffs maybe coming, it’s a good time to update your resume and reach out to contacts you have in your industry. If you haven’t gotten on LinkedIn or Facebook yet, pick one already and sign up.
Before the ax is about to fall and you know it’s going to behead you, Stephen Viscusi, author of “Bulletproof Your Job”, had a good suggestion that may save you your job. He suggests you talk to your boss about alternatives. “Say, ‘Let me take less, or work 3 days a week, instead of 5,’” he advises. “It is better to have a job than none.”
And be a bit selfish, Viscusi adds.
“Don”t worry about co-workers losing their jobs. Devise your own strategy for you only. Gossip is gold. Don’t be ‘the office gossip.’ but know who that person is, there is a grain of truth to all gossip-find out the who and the what of is going on — be prepared.”
Unlike me, he believes a bit of brown-nosing isn’t horrible.
“If it came down to brown nosing, what is wrong with that? Everyone loves flattery, even the boss. However I am describing getting the boss to ‘empathize why they should keep you’, and fire someone else. It is about making the boss’s job easier, being low maintenance, and letting the boss know the personal you. For instance, if your husband died in 9/11 and the boss did not know that, now is the time to bring it up.”
What do you all think? Is Viscusi pushing the keep-your-job envelope too far?
October 27th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Eve,
I must say, if often find that your posts often carry an emphasis on the negatives of “the man” - the employer.. This post is rife with it.
Having been on both sides of the layoff coin- having been let go and having let go, I know how difficult it is for most managers. Contrary to the idea that such layoffs have little rhyme or reason, in more than 20 years working - having done professional development, coaching, consulting, and during literally hundreds of conversations with management and their staff, I have found that they lose sleep trying to make layoffs that will help maintain productivity while reducing headcount to meet their budgetary constraints.
It is extremely stressful and emotionally draining in the huge majority of cases. They are often in a nearly impossible situation.
While there may be managers who could care less about their staff or the company, it is not the case typically. Or I am just extremely lucky or others are extremely unlucky.
On the flip-side, I remember working for a large corporation and hearing a large and vocal percentage of staff talk about how they were put upon, how much work they did that was unrecognized, how much smarter they were than management, how the only people that get ahead were brown-nosers, etc.
They fostered an Us. Vs. Them mentality and then complained when their “contribution” was not recognized.
I started ensuring I spoke to, went to lunch with, and talked openly of my career aspirations with management. For this “offense” I was often excluded by the “Us vs. Them” proponents… I had befriended the enemy - I actually got along with and respected management.
How dare I do such a thing!!!
Turns out what I thought was simply being friendly and getting along with people, is brown-nosing. Yeah right…. whatever.
I had one person write me after reading my book and he said, “In 20 years, having worked for 8 different companies, I have never had a good manager. Every one of them has been ignorant or stupid - often both. How do I get ahead in that type of environment?”
Are you kidding? Sadly, I am certain he was serious. Listen, if you have bad management at every company you ever work for, you might want to take a look in the mirror. I’m just saying.
Eve, I would love to hear a more positive slant on both good and tough economic times. I believe the best way to help the worker who may need to look for a new job in these tough times is to foster a mindset that places the value they bring their employer (current and future) and an ongoing attitude of being a team player.
Couple that with great networking skills - that do not start when your job is in jeopardy but during times of gainful employment.
And a key to that networking is providing great leads, opportunities, and advice to your network of contacts - so that the only time they hear from you is not when you are looking.
Of course, if you are good at offering advice and opportunities out to your network and at getting along with staff, managers, and executives, you will - by some very vocal but mostly trite co-workers - be branded a brown-noser.
That’s my opinion - for what it is worth.
October 27th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
hey matt,
sorry the posts are sounding negative toward the “man” but lately i’ve been inundated with emails from workers who are struggling to keep their jobs, and many who have lost their jobs in, what they believe to be, random layoffs.
i have also seen first-hand these types of non-sense layoffs among may coworkers during my career, most of which were the high earners in organizations, and also the ones with all the institutional knowledge. at a newspaper, when that kind of knowledge goes out the window you might as well kiss the paper good bye.
also, recently in interviewed a bunch of HR folks and they told me they struggle to get their managers to think sensibly about layoffs and not just kick out the ones with the biggest paychecks.
that said, i know of many great managers, managers that do lay awake at night worried about their layoff decisions.
one top executive told me, she would go in the bathroom and throw up after every layoff she had to do.
managers do have feelings, they do bleed when we cut them, i know. i’ve also been close with some bosses during my career.
but just being friends, sharing career aspirations, isn’t brown nosing to me.
sharing personal stories with a boss just to keep your job does smack of it though.
and btw, your opinion is worth a lot to me!
your opinion is worth so much that i bet it would be the first one fired if there were layoffs on my blog.