Nobody wants to be laid off, but who’s to say if you’re not going to be next. You might as well be ready when the axe falls on you. Here’s how to prepare for this eventuality. Over the years, I have separated hundreds of employees involuntarily. It is a very difficult task to do as an HR professional. And no matter how many times you have done it, you will never get used to it. For it always leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Invariably, one can’t avoid talking to these employees just before, or even long after, their employment ends. My formal and informal talks with them always lead to any one of these questions: a) What could I have done differently to prevent me from getting laid off? b) What should I have done to ensure that I could easily find another job after being laid off? c) What could I have done that would have allowed me to survive involuntary separation?
Once, we had to force into retirement a junior manager of our company. He was in his late 40s and had been with the firm for almost 20 years. He was not a bad performer, but neither was he outstanding. He had been merely happy to coast along. When the company was doing well, his contribution was considered adequate. However, when crunch time hit and jobs had to be cut, his performance was deemed way below that of his peers. Thus, the axe fell on him.
During the exit interview, he admitted to me that there was no one to blame but himself. He had been content just to coast along-getting his assignments done on time, but never going the extra mile. He had seldom, if ever, taken the initiative. He also never exerted much effort to develop himself professionally. Many of the managers who were hired at about the same time as he had overtaken him - they were already senior managers or executives while he was still a junior executive.
I remember another organisation I worked for, which, when acquired by another company, had to let go many of the executives and managers. Only three of us were retained. More than a year later, the former president of the company invited all of us to a get-together at her place. After exchanging the normal greetings, everyone gave updates on how they were doing. From the contributions, I was able to draw a few conclusions.
Those who landed good jobs immediately had a great deal of exposure outside the company. They networked in their chosen profession a lot and were active in their professional organizations. They also knew many people, some of whom served as impressive references. A few of them got their jobs through friends and contacts, others through headhunting agencies. Those who were forced to take “undesirable” jobs, or who were still jobless at the time, had limited or no social contacts outside the company. They were very good performers, mind you. Some were even better than those who immediately landed new jobs. During their employment with the company, however, they were either too focused on their job or did not develop outside contacts. Thus, they were virtually unknown outside the company. Early on in my career, I joined a textile company that eventually folded up. While working in that company, I was with a group known as the Poker Club. We were all senior managers who would meet twice a month to play poker. When the company closed, we also went our separate ways.
I moved down south to work in a start-up company. After three years, I moved back to work for another company. I visited the members of the Poker Club one by one and found out that different fates had befallen them. One of them had moved to another company and was doing all right. Two others went into business and were doing badly. One was into construction subcontracting and could barely meet his payroll needs. The other was into the poultry business and was hardly making both ends meet. However, two others became very rich. One had a large auto parts and accessories store, an auto repair shop, a bakery, and a restaurant. The other had a prestigious elementary school in the village where he and his family lived.
What was the difference between those who were doing well and those who were not? The latter only started their business ventures after they left the company. The one who went into subcontracting did not have enough contacts to land big contracts (which he could have cultivated even while he was still gainfully employed, since he already knew the business then). The one who went into poultry farming thought it was easy running this kind of business even if he knew nothing about it. The successful ones, on the other hand, already had ongoing concerns when they went full-time into their businesses. The guy who eventually ventured into the auto supply business started with a repair shop. When he got unemployed, he used his separation pay to start up the auto parts and accessories store. His customers in the repair shop were already a captive market, who would benefit from a one-stop shop and his very competitive prices. It wasn’t long before his clientele grew. His wife was already operating the bakery when he was laid off. She soon branched out into the restaurant business after her husband was terminated, using his separation pay as capital. The one who had an elementary school already had a preschool, which was being run by his wife, when he lost his job. He used his separation pay to extend the school facilities and expand the preschool to include elementary. When I visited him again a couple of years back, he had just graduated his first batch of high school students and had started expanding to include college courses. These real-life stories teach us valuable lessons which, when applied, would minimise our chances of being involuntarily separated or, assuming the inevitable happens, help ensure that we would easily find another job or succeed in other ventures outside of employment. First, do not be complacent in your job. Strive to excel so that the company will find it difficult to let you go. Second, open yourself to the world. Do not just limit your life to your work-join professional organisations, develop external contacts and make yourself known in your chosen field. Third, do not depend completely on your job. If possible, start a business even while you’re still employed. It does not have to be a large one. You can start small. If you are too busy in your work, have your spouse or someone else you can trust run it. If it succeeds, you may even leave your job so you can make it grow further. As a saying goes, “Wise is he who learns from his own experience. But wiser is he who learns from other people’s experience.” In other words, do not wait for something to happen before you act. Do it now!
No comments:
Post a Comment