Although the economy is healthy, companies are still laying thousands of people off for a multitude of reasons. According to a January release by executive outplacement firm Challenger, U.S.-based companies cut over 500,000 workers in 2018. Sometimes companies lay people off because their job is redundant, because of new acquisition, or simply because the company is no longer profitable. While there many reasons companies lay people off that are seemingly outside of your control, there are some things you CAN control.
Follow These 3 Steps to Reduce Your Risk of Being Laid Off:
1. Prove yourself valuable. A general rule of business is to either find a way to save your company money or earn your company money. If you are doing at least one of those two things, you will be considered a valuable employee. Do not waste company time or money. If you are salary, make sure you are at least working a 40 hour work week, not wasting company time and resources. And, if you have a company credit card, or you travel for work, only spend money on the necessities.
2. Show you are versatile. Sometimes there will be situations where responsibilities are no longer needed; therefore, the workers assigned to those tasks are no longer needed. I myself have been in this exact situation, and everyone on my team was laid off. However, I was moved to another team because I had proactively asked to be cross-trained in other areas. By doing this, I showed that I was capable of doing a wide array of different projects and not singularly focused on one job duty.
3. Remain positive. We’ve all worked with someone who has a, “Sky is falling,” mentality. No one likes working with that person. It may be difficult, but if you remain positive and continue to come to work with a smile despite rumors of an impeding layoff, the higher-ups will take notice. This shows the leadership team that you genuinely want to be at work, and that you also want what is best for the company. If there are two people who know how to run a proprietary database, but you are the only one who completes the database requests with a smile, then you will be the one selected to stay.
If you are still worried about the potential of getting laid off, we are here to help. It’s always smart to have your resume ready just in case. Check out all of the professional services we offer, so you will always be prepared, no matter what life throws at you.