Layoffs are still going on, although the economy as a whole is improving. In advertising, when accounts are lost, heads often roll because there is less money to pay people. In other industries, layoffs are caused when two companies merge and there are ‘redundencies’ of positions, so one is eliminated. One company in every merger is the dominant culture and more of their employees tend to survive with positions intact. Do you keep your ear to the ground in your company? How do you gauge what the climate looks like?
Understandable but there is a profound consequence in any company when layoffs occur. Morale tanks as people mourn lost colleagues and friendships. With less hands to do the work (which still needs to get done), most employees work harder and feel less appreciated. Depending on the scope and level of surprise about who is let go, fear can stalk the halls as people wonder if they might be next. Trust in the company is damaged and leads to a ‘We shall see…’ attitude when upper management speaks blithely about things getting better, turning around. It doesn’t look like it to us in the trenches when layoffs happen. Trust, once lost, is hard to restore.
What can be done? Well, there are a few possible ways to react.
1) Pretend everything is OK and your job is secure. In fact, you believe yourself to be indispensable. Bad move – nobody is irreplaceable, NOBODY. You might want to consider expanding your skill set to increase your marketability or creating a financial safety net, just in case.
2) Do your job with a bare minimum of effort, dust off your resume and start contacting headhunters for a way out. Be serious about this if you are going to make a move. Operating with one foot out the door is an impossible way to keep working effectively and, too many mistakes may lead to termination against your will. Talented people often leave after a round of layoffs because the work environment is so painful and unsettled and they can find another job easily. They won’t be back once that trust is broken.
3) Do your job with excellence and wholeheartedly and set up additional streams of income (real estate, online marketing, network marketing, businesses, work from home options, etc.) on the side. You have been kept for a reason and you are valuable and appreciated. As long as you choose to stay, do your very best. Know that uncertainty is part of the job market ALWAYS, with ANY company and prepare for it. This is the option I favor.
The only elements you can control are your own skills, marketing, endeavors so, if you can identify your strengths and weaknesses, you can capitalize on one and complement with alliances for the other. If you are not reliant on any one market, as markets go UP and DOWN always, you have a better chance of riding it out. Also, the practice of excellence in all your circumstances (whether or not you feel like it) is a mark of character that is noticed in the world, trusted and invested in.
Maybe your company is thriving and there is no danger of layoffs at this time. And maybe it’s not. Whatever your situation, are you ready?
Showing posts with label Jobs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jobs. Show all posts
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Friday, November 6, 2009
The Blindness of Corporate Cost Cutting - What Do You Think?
I keep hearing stories of employees in the same job for 10, 20, 30, 40 years being laid off. They thought they were safe - great at their work, well liked and vital to the team. At the top, some executive says cut $1,000,000 or more from your staff budget and suddenly none of the value that employee brings to the company matters. Fired, laid off, downsized, rightsized...
So what effect does that produce in the company? When long-term staff disappears, sometimes with little notice, it produces a seismic shift that shakes everything. Morale tanks and everyone gets afraid and/or angry. People start looking around for financial safety nets because there is no certainty. The continuity of projects and campaigns is damaged. Employees work more and more hours to pick up work that used to be covered by staff who are gone. Burn out increases and the work is done faster or less comprehensively by exhausted people. Quality diminishes and the corporate identity is damaged. Freelancers come in because the company does not have to pay health care for them. Good for me as a freelancer but... The advertising firm where I worked went from about 1500 people to about 500 and the effect on all of us was shocking. Trust is deteriorated and, when a company no longer seems to care about their employees, they begin to care less too.
And what effect does corporate cost cutting have on the economy? The economy is always either expanding or contracting. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, since 1945, an average recession lasts 18-24 months and an average expansion lasts 5-6 years. Even more interesting, there is a lag time to their reporting because the Bureau makes their assessment publicly ONLY AFTER two quarters of GDP decrease (recession) or increase (expansion). There's an opportunity in that gap for prosperity. Companies are still not hiring, holding on to their reserves. Banks are still not loaning, causing businesses to purchase less inventory. Individuals and families are not spending because uncertainty in the job market means people are holding back money for emergencies, buying necessities instead of wants. Investors Business Daily has a category called the Consumer Confidence Index because people buy and sell stocks based on their trust in the company and product. The economy also grows on confidence and trust so when that's missing, we expand more slowly or not at all.
Obviously, this is simplistic and only barely touches on the why and how companies cut costs and their consequences. Of course, companies need to be fiscally responsible. What is striking for me is how disconnected upper management and accounting departments become from the staff executing the company's work. Cutting money costs without careful consideration does not take into account people costs, company costs and quality costs. The human suffering from all these layoffs and the high unemployment lives, in my opinion, primarily in the feeling of powerlessness, uncertainty and secrecy which makes it difficult for individuals to plan competently for their own financial security and prosperity.
OK, it's not fair but I'm throwing this out with no solutions really, only questions. What are your experiences, comments or questions about this topic? Do my observations jibe or differ with what you see?
So what effect does that produce in the company? When long-term staff disappears, sometimes with little notice, it produces a seismic shift that shakes everything. Morale tanks and everyone gets afraid and/or angry. People start looking around for financial safety nets because there is no certainty. The continuity of projects and campaigns is damaged. Employees work more and more hours to pick up work that used to be covered by staff who are gone. Burn out increases and the work is done faster or less comprehensively by exhausted people. Quality diminishes and the corporate identity is damaged. Freelancers come in because the company does not have to pay health care for them. Good for me as a freelancer but... The advertising firm where I worked went from about 1500 people to about 500 and the effect on all of us was shocking. Trust is deteriorated and, when a company no longer seems to care about their employees, they begin to care less too.
And what effect does corporate cost cutting have on the economy? The economy is always either expanding or contracting. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, since 1945, an average recession lasts 18-24 months and an average expansion lasts 5-6 years. Even more interesting, there is a lag time to their reporting because the Bureau makes their assessment publicly ONLY AFTER two quarters of GDP decrease (recession) or increase (expansion). There's an opportunity in that gap for prosperity. Companies are still not hiring, holding on to their reserves. Banks are still not loaning, causing businesses to purchase less inventory. Individuals and families are not spending because uncertainty in the job market means people are holding back money for emergencies, buying necessities instead of wants. Investors Business Daily has a category called the Consumer Confidence Index because people buy and sell stocks based on their trust in the company and product. The economy also grows on confidence and trust so when that's missing, we expand more slowly or not at all.
Obviously, this is simplistic and only barely touches on the why and how companies cut costs and their consequences. Of course, companies need to be fiscally responsible. What is striking for me is how disconnected upper management and accounting departments become from the staff executing the company's work. Cutting money costs without careful consideration does not take into account people costs, company costs and quality costs. The human suffering from all these layoffs and the high unemployment lives, in my opinion, primarily in the feeling of powerlessness, uncertainty and secrecy which makes it difficult for individuals to plan competently for their own financial security and prosperity.
OK, it's not fair but I'm throwing this out with no solutions really, only questions. What are your experiences, comments or questions about this topic? Do my observations jibe or differ with what you see?
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Jobs and Unemployment
I just read an article on the Internet by Anthony Balderrama of CareerBuilder.com on the Best and Worst States for Jobs which was very interesting. The article claimed that the best places to find jobs are where unemployment stats are lowest (Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), January 2008) - makes sense. Of course, he quoted a national average of 5% and it's higher now (6.1% from the news programs).
Best 15 states for finding a job, as of January 2008 BLS statistics, are South Dakota, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraka, Utah, Hawaii, North Dakota, Virginia, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Delaware, Maryland, Iowa and Vermont. Their unemployment rates were between 3% and 4%. The mean annual wage (nonfarm payrolls) ranged between $30,460 and $44,030. In South Dakota, Idaho, Nebraska, Utah, North Dakota, Montana, New Hampshire, Delaware, Iowa and Vermont, the top industries are trade, transportation and utilities whereas in Wyoming, Hawaii, Virginia, New Mexico and Maryland, the top industry is government.
Worst 10 states for finding a job, as of January 2008 BLS statistics, are Michigan (duh!), Mississippi, South Carolina, Alaska, California, District of Columbia, Ohio, Arkansas, Nevada and Kentucky. Their unemployment rates were between 7.6% and 5.7% (below the current national average). The mean annual wage (nonfarm payrolls) ranged between $30,460 and $61,500. In Michigan, South Carolina, California, Ohio, Arkansas, and Kentucky, the top industries are trade, transportation and utilities, in Mississippi, Alaska, and the District of Columbia, the top industry is government and in Nevada, it's leisure and hospitality.
OK, so here are some questions this raises... where are the other 25 states unemployment rates? If the national average unemployment rate has gone up 1.1%, has that increase happened across all states or not? If not, what factors within the individual states are driving it up or down? What proactive actions are state governments taking to decrease their unemployment rates? Which industries are most recession resistant? Are there standard of living criteria included when demographers look at the economy? For example, you can't buy a shack in most parts of California for $61,500. Anyway, simply looking at unemployment, population, mean wage and primary industries seems very shortsighted to me. What skills does the job being sought entail? Are they transferable across several industries? Is telecommuting or cybercommuting a possibility? Are the jobs being offered in that state or sector full time, part time, flex time or freelance? What is important to that particular individual; higher salaries, more flexibility, health care, urban, suburban or rural setting, etc.? What size business do you want to work for? What is the trending economy in the area, up or down, and for how long, months or years? What if you'd rather build your own business instead? So it's not so simple looking for a job after all.
Best 15 states for finding a job, as of January 2008 BLS statistics, are South Dakota, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraka, Utah, Hawaii, North Dakota, Virginia, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Delaware, Maryland, Iowa and Vermont. Their unemployment rates were between 3% and 4%. The mean annual wage (nonfarm payrolls) ranged between $30,460 and $44,030. In South Dakota, Idaho, Nebraska, Utah, North Dakota, Montana, New Hampshire, Delaware, Iowa and Vermont, the top industries are trade, transportation and utilities whereas in Wyoming, Hawaii, Virginia, New Mexico and Maryland, the top industry is government.
Worst 10 states for finding a job, as of January 2008 BLS statistics, are Michigan (duh!), Mississippi, South Carolina, Alaska, California, District of Columbia, Ohio, Arkansas, Nevada and Kentucky. Their unemployment rates were between 7.6% and 5.7% (below the current national average). The mean annual wage (nonfarm payrolls) ranged between $30,460 and $61,500. In Michigan, South Carolina, California, Ohio, Arkansas, and Kentucky, the top industries are trade, transportation and utilities, in Mississippi, Alaska, and the District of Columbia, the top industry is government and in Nevada, it's leisure and hospitality.
OK, so here are some questions this raises... where are the other 25 states unemployment rates? If the national average unemployment rate has gone up 1.1%, has that increase happened across all states or not? If not, what factors within the individual states are driving it up or down? What proactive actions are state governments taking to decrease their unemployment rates? Which industries are most recession resistant? Are there standard of living criteria included when demographers look at the economy? For example, you can't buy a shack in most parts of California for $61,500. Anyway, simply looking at unemployment, population, mean wage and primary industries seems very shortsighted to me. What skills does the job being sought entail? Are they transferable across several industries? Is telecommuting or cybercommuting a possibility? Are the jobs being offered in that state or sector full time, part time, flex time or freelance? What is important to that particular individual; higher salaries, more flexibility, health care, urban, suburban or rural setting, etc.? What size business do you want to work for? What is the trending economy in the area, up or down, and for how long, months or years? What if you'd rather build your own business instead? So it's not so simple looking for a job after all.
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