Slashdot Mirror
Surviving the Chopping Block?
2names asks: "Having been involved in cutbacks at several companies, I am finding it more difficult to remain focused on my job tasks even when I am not the subject of the cutback. For those of you who have survived the chopping block (sometimes repeatedly), how do you continue to produce quality work in the face of constant staff reductions?"
Just continue doing your work and focus on what matters. Sure it's hard, and you do need to give yourself time to grieve and be pissed off. But, if you let yourself wallow in it and get distracted, you just increase your chances for being chopped soon. Focus on the interesting stuff and stuff that needs some mental thought so that you don't have enough time to wallow.
It does help to avoid getting into a bitching session with coworkers. Black topics and moods tend to multiply when you and others pay attention to them.
All that said, it's still a good idea to keep your resume polished and your ear to the ground.
I work for a well known telecommunications company. We're not well known because we are a huge company that is in every household in the country...we're well known because we had a large bankruptcy shortly after the Enron debacle.
In the past 5 years, I have watched about 8 different "lay-off" periods (situations in which over a hundred people (sometimes a few thousand) were given their walking papers) and survived each of them.
The interesting part to me is that about 80% of the people who were let go were no surprise to most of the people who worked with them. Several of them spent most of their time worrying about how to protect their job rather than actually doing their job. In fact, if some of them put as much energy into doing their job rather than fearing their lay-off, they'd probably still be employed.
I'm not saying that everyone who got laid off deserved it (several good folks were lost due to whole department eliminations).
During two years there was (significant) uncertainty that we would survive as a company, relegating all of us to the unemployment line. The way to survive a lay-off is to ensure that you are focusing on the company's goals. If you're not, don't wait to be chopped. Start hunting now and get out.
I will say that if you look at who remained and still remains at my place of employment, you will find that 99% of those folks did their job to the best of their abilities, never complained, took on more work than they were asked to take on, and most of them never feared being let go.
I have to chock it up to attitude. I watched several folks with better degrees, more experience, more technical knowledge, and more skill than I get let go. But I remained because I work well on a team and am willing to take any task with a smile on my face.
I apologize if this sounds like a "buck up, camper" kind of speech, or if I come off not sympathizing with those who have been let go (I really do. I've been there!). But if you go to work worried about getting fired...you're probably going to get fired.
"God is dead!" - Nietzsche
"Nietzsche is dead!" - God
I refuse to suck up. I just treat everyone like an equal
You really said it right there. From CEO on down, all of us are human beings. If you talk to your superiors as though you are afraid to speak your mind, they stop trusting your decisions. I don't tell people what they want to hear, I tell people what I believe is right and true. I won't say it hasn't caused me grief in the past, but it goes a long way to earning the respect of those who depend on your expertise.
Good managers depend on their technical staff to provide insight they either don't have time to research or don't have the background to understand. If you support something simply because you know management will like that thing better than the truth, it may gain you some momentum for a little bit, but in the long run when the project fails...they'll be looking back to you for the reason why.
"God is dead!" - Nietzsche
"Nietzsche is dead!" - God
I've been in both situations: the one passed over for getting the axe, and one of several who did get the axe. All I can say is that no matter how secure you think you job is, always have a few tricks up your sleeve. Keep up with your professional contacts, maintain the skills that your current job doesn't use.
Waiting until farmer comes out to the henhouse is way, way too late. Companies today are less adverse to firing people no matter how long they've been working there. Often it's not even a manager's decision, it's bean-counter's decision somewhere that ten people will need to be laid off here and there to make year-end budgets.
Also, just because a company is large and appears stable, there's no guarantee that anyone will be working there a month from now. It's like playing Russian Roulette; somewhere out there, someone is falsifying financial statements. Are they in your company? Is it going to turn up tomorrow in headline news, sending the stocks through the floor? You just can't guarantee anything.
If you have no options elsewhere, the only chance you have is to just be a good employee, don't ruffle anyone's feathers. Never accept an upcoming slack period in the schedule; always seek out interleaving projects if your managers aren't finding you any. If you're always in the middle of two or three projects, you're more likely to be put on the "needs to stay for now" pile. But there is no surefire way to stay.
Just keep up your contacts and be on the lookout for any positions elsewhere. Investigate what it takes to become a consultant in your area. Companies no longer feel the need to offer loyal employees any long-term job security, so we should no longer have to feel guilty for jumping ship to suit our own needs.
...
There are three rules for keeping your job when times are tough:
1) Be a profit center. Make sure management can associate you and your actions with revenue or with big time "profit recovery" (saving money). Do not spend money unless that money will make money for the company and it is crystal clear that is the case. Ask "how does this help the bottom line" before you ask for a resource. If errors loose money in your job, then don't screw up (easy to say).
2) Be a rock of stability. Don't get caught up in change. Focus on being profitable, saving money and not making money loosing mistakes. Make sure customers are taken care of. And always be nice.
3) Stay away from cancer. People who are negative or are creating disention are cancer and will be removed by management. If you are to close to the cancer, they'll remove you with the tumor.
Finally, one thing that will make the biggest difference of all: don't be aloof from management. Talk to you seniors regularly about things that matter to them. Ask how you can help the bottom line. Be an idea source - just don't be a spending source.
-- $G
Your spending your time creating quality work at a company that is downsizing.
Don't know about the company you work for, but when I worked for a company like that quality work wouldn't save anybody. Politics does.
sad but true.
it's not the end of the world. I spent a long period looking for tech world while trying to keep things together with independent consulting work.
Last week I found myself being paid to fly (actually pilot the plane) across the state to deliver a machine and make a service call for my new employer. I've always wanted to fly and thanks to being laid off I'm being taught how and being paid in the process.
Take heart. The economy may be sucking, tech work being imported from India, but there's always options.
Unemployment insurance in volitile businesses like IT are a smart move, with so many tallented and smart people unemployed due to layoffs, find a new job can be tough.
Having some unemployment insurance really can save your butt.
Invest in ramen noodles while you're at it. Never know when the doorknob is looking for love in all the wrong places.
So start looking now. You have no future at your current job. Even if you stay on, you career will stall. Time to move up and out.
One cannot produce quality work in the face of constant staff reduction. Having seen one too many RIF situations in the past 3 years, one thing that I learned is that reduction in force and downsizing is in itself an enormous amount of effort which consumes all of organizational resources. It requires a whole lot of strategic planning on the management side, a lot of extra work on the employees (shifting projects, transferring knwoledge, locking down accounts, figuring stuff others did, etc), all producing nothing in the end. It also creates an enormous amount of tension and sets off the panicky types which results in a very counter-creative athmosphere.
I think a good analogy would be severe weather - when there is a hurricane or a snow storm outside, people don't go to work, watch their house, stock up on candles, board up windows, etc, etc, until the storm is over. Or ilness - when you're sick, your body is all consumed with fighting the infection and you simply cannot do anything else but sleep.
I've tried my hardest to maintain the level of productivity that I once had before the .bomb, but lately I've resigned to the idea that I should just take it easy until things stabilize again (which, I have no doubt, they will, but probably not until 2005).
To counteract it, instead of concentrating on the gargantuan tasks ahead, I try to force myself to simply work for 15 minutes at a time. If the task is interesting and I get in a good stride, I wind up building momentum and have a productive day. If I fail to get fired up, I take five minutes for a quick break and change my focus to another task or equal priority or go at the same task from a different angle (e.g. tackle this other routine instead of all those variables).
Obviously, it doesn't always work. Still, I find I'm not dreading status meetings as I used to because I can say I've actually done something.
"Prepare for the worst - hope for the best."