22 Feb How Do You Create Real Job Security?
How important is job security to you? For me, it’s everything, and in my 30+ year career, it’s the first thing I have always researched about a company before making a job change! Can you sleep at night if you don’t feel secure in your job? I can’t. In HR employee polls time and again, working for a stable company and having job security won out over having a short commute and working for a socially responsible organization as the two most important aspects of a work environment. It’s that important!
Downsizing & Furlough – the “softer & gentler” words for Layoff
Downsizing and Furlough are the new politically correct, “softened” words that employers are using instead of the saying Layoffs. Is there a more frightening word for employees than Downsizing? I don’t think so. The word sends shivers not just through employees but the entire company when Downsizing actions are announced. Any unexpected job loss can be devastating not just financially but can affect your well-being and especially damaging to your self-esteem.
We as a nation and as a world re-discovered the word Furlough in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Downsizing wasn’t the right action word and Lay Off sounded too final, so we elevated Furlough as the word to signify your job and your pay is gone. It may be a temporary job & pay loss, but it’s still a loss – due to no fault of your own. Your world has just been flipped upside down
We effectively “furloughed” entire industries last year, Airlines, Hotels, Restaurants, Sports arenas. On the other side, Downsizing in the last decade has hit historically safe companies like IBM, AT&T, Sears, and Citigroup. We’re not talking the loss of hundreds of jobs; we’re talking 40-60,000 jobs lost to Downsizing. When these companies downsize, many can use Downsizing as an opportunity to shed long-time (older) employees with higher salaries. Your loyalty is repaid by being the first one booted out the door! Millions of employees lost their paycheck through no fault of their own – not feeling the job security here!
Downsizing: My Experience – 10 years of Loyalty Meant Nothing!
For me, I experienced Downsizing twice in my 11 years with a huge multinational company. The first time I came through unscathed. My second Downsizing experience came in my 10th year with the company. We were told that our division would lose up to 50% of our staff. With 10 years loyalty and several company performance awards won, I now had a 50/50 chance of keeping my job.
But the “fun” didn’t stop there. I was told that to keep the job that I have held for the past 10 years (award winner), I would have to submit my resume (for my job), interview (for my job), be re-hired (for my job) and then if I actually won (my job) back, I would have to relocate! Talk about ZERO control and a complete lack of job security! The good (or bad) news is that I was re-hired back to work my job, at a 10% loss of salary, and had to relocate.
It Gets Worse!!
The saddest part of my Downsizing experience is that even with that deplorable treatment, I still had the employee mindset. After leaving that company, I went back to Corporate America and found a different company that I thought had job security, until last year when I was…you guessed it Furloughed due to Covid-19. For me this was the last straw for Corporate America and any hint of job security.
Break the Employee Mindset and Embrace the Entrepreneur Life!
After the furlough I finally allowed my eyes to be opened to the Entrepreneur life. As an Entrepreneur, I now control my own life’s destiny and I know that the words Downsizing or Furlough will never affect my life again. I want to help you transition into the Entrepreneur life, so follow us at The Biz Wizards for more help on becoming a successful Entrepreneur.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Entrepreneur = Job Security
Job security – does it exist anymore? If you believe YES or you believe NO, you could be right. It’s a great question to talk about and debate. Some industries have high job security but many of the high job security jobs are government jobs. I am a firm believer that due to downsizing and furloughs, Corporate America jobs, for the most part, have little to no job security these days. So, the only way to gain true job security is to become an Entrepreneur, be your own boss, and enjoy true job security.
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