In 2004, Agra-based Shabd Mishra was
working with a leading research company as its head of sales, earning a
package of millions annually. As a newly-wed, he was looking forward to a
bright future, when he was sacked because of structural changes in the
company.
“I was left with almost no money as I
had deployed most of my savings for my wedding just a month previously. I
tried to get another job, but most companies offered a lower salary or
position, which was humiliating,” says 36-year-old Mishra. Thankfully,
he could depend on his wife, a corporate lawyer, to keep the home fires
burning. However, everybody may not be as lucky him.
How can you tell if you are likely to
lose your job in the near future, and what can you do to safeguard
yourself against such an eventuality? Bunch of experts spoke on how to
help you with these dilemmas.
Financial experts explain that in most
cases a pink slip doesn’t come out of the blue. Sometimes, job loss
results from employee incompetence and negligence, and at others, it is
because of inevitable, external circumstances, such as cost-cutting
measures or a change in the company management.
In either case, as Darryl Cabral,
partner at Total Solutions, a Mumbai-based human resource consultancy
firm, explains, there are sure to be certain tell-tale signs indicating
an imminent job loss. Employees, on their part, must learn to read these
signs so that they are never caught unawares.
“Not getting a salary increment or a
promotion is a clear indication that the management is unhappy with the
performance of the employee. So, chances are that he could be asked to
leave within a short period of time,” says Cabral.
Often, this is a deliberate attempt on
the part of the management to anger or frustrate the employee into
leaving the organisation voluntarily, thus saving it the trouble of
handing out a pink slip.
A similar strategy deployed by a company
is to look through the employee, making him feel invisible. “He won’t
be given any work or even any feedback about his work. If you think
having more work on your plate is bad, having absolutely no work is
worse for the psyche of the employee,” adds Cabral.
Another tell-tale sign is being excluded
from all important meetings and projects. “While other people in the
team are called, the doomed employee would be deliberately kept out of
the discussion. Also, he would be totally clueless regarding any
important decisions in the company,” explains Gagan Adlakha, partner at
Delhi-based Vyaktitva, a human resources and performance support
consultancy firm.
Instances like a junior being promoted
to do an employee’s job or the latter being asked to train a junior for
his own role are red flags. “If an employee is asked to keep his
junior-in-training in the loop for all job-related matters, it is a
clear indication that his job is at risk,” adds Adlakha.
Lastly, a lot of churning at the top
level, with several seniors quitting and moving on to other companies in
quick succession, is an indication that your own job may not be secure.
What to do in such a situation?
Human resource experts are of the
opinion that a person should try and take control of the situation
rather than lose his cool when threatened with a possible job loss in
the near future. “The employee should try and sort out the issues with
his seniors. There is always a possibility that he could be reading the
signals wrong and the management may not have any plans of letting him
go,” says Adlakha.
Another common mistake made by employees
is to quit the job in anger. If the management has not yet told you to
put in your papers, you should not do it. It is possible that only your
immediate senior has problems with you, which may not matter much in
terms of your overall growth prospects in the company. By quitting
hastily, you would only make things easier for the disgruntled senior,
not yourself.
How to cope with a pink slip
In the worst-case scenario, if a pink
slip appears imminent, the best option for the employee is to search for
a better job before quitting the present one. “You can go on leave for a
few days and start searching aggressively for a better job, rather than
starting the hunt after quitting. An employee’s bargaining power
increases if he has a job in hand,” says Cabral.
Experts also say that the company
management is typically more liberal in handing over holidays to an
employee while he is hunting for another placement.
Source: Economictimes of India.
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