Is Your Job at Risk? Tips that Can Save Your Job When a Work Force Reduction Looms

by familymwr

Article by Rebecca Metschke

Your company is about to go through a merger, or be acquired - or is facing some other form of restructuring. You're worried about your job. Is there anything you can do to save it?

In a word, yes. You can put yourself in a more favorable position.

Get proactive. Following are a few things you can do to stack the deck in your favor:

Be flexible

Be willing to take on additional responsibility, or to shift responsibilities. If your company has offices in more than one city, volunteer to relocate.

Be your own advocate

Don't expect anyone to take care of you but YOU! For example, it's not uncommon during a merger for new roles to lack clear definition - at least during the early phase of consolidating operations. You may not receive specific marching orders. Make it your responsibility to understand what the new company needs and how you can be a part of it. Communicate with your new boss; find out what he needs from you and create your new role accordingly. You must create value before you can expect reciprocity.

Take the case of the employee who, at his old company, was known to be an excellent worker. He had solid relationships with higher-ups and co-workers alike. Following his company's acquisition, this fellow was suddenly in the dark regarding his new responsibilities. It seemed as if the new parent company hadn't quite sorted through how to marry the two organizations. He figured he'd just hunker down and do what he always did...work hard. It worked before, so certainly it would work with new management, right? Wrong. His new boss had no knowledge of this fellow or what he might be capable of contributing; because his position in the merged company was redundant, he was laid off.

Volunteer to help with the transition

If your company is going through a merger or acquisition, one of the best places to be is on the transition team. This is completely counter-intuitive to what many people think; often, you'll see employees ! attempting to fly under the radar to protect their jobs. They think calling attention to themselves will make them more vulnerable, so they do their best to blend into the woodwork while management decides who's going to stay and who will go.

Instead, if you're part of the process, you have a much better chance of determining your destiny. You'll be closer to the decision makers. You'll be in a great position to get a clear understanding of the new company's requirements, its direction, and how you can help it achieve those goals. You can lobby on your own behalf.

How's your attitude?

This can be tough. A pending layoff is an extremely stressful situation. That said, it only makes a bad circumstance worse if you commiserate with co-workers on a daily basis about how lousy things are. It's human nature to be pessimistic knowing your job might be at stake, but it's not going to help you - regardless of the outcome.

Of course people are concerned about job security. They may be frustrated because they feel like they're "in the dark;" maybe they're suspicious about what management is "up to." The natural inclination is to gripe. Then productivity plummets as many employees feel they have no incentive to continue to work.

There are two reasons to avoid hanging around the water cooler for ritual grievance sessions: first, surrounding yourself with people who are constantly grumbling is going to make you feel worse, not better. Second, it'll eat up valuable time that you could be using to chart the course you'd like to take within the new company, or to figure out what your next steps will be once you move on.

Not only will maintaining a good attitude keep your stress level in check, it may save your job. If a position becomes redundant, which employee do you think management is going to retain - the one who carried on with her duties during the transition, or the one who stopped working?

Certainly your company's circumstances will dictate to some extent the cha! nces you ! may have to save your job. But it's important to bear in mind that you do have a measure of control. You may be able to survive...and even thrive.

About the Author

Rebecca Metschke helps professionals seeking a competitive advantage in today's global economy. Her book, The Interview Edge, is available online at http://www.TheInterviewEdge.com. You can find more info on career strategies and other helpful tips and advice at The Interview Edge http://blog.theinterviewedge.com"">blog.

Use and distribution of this article is subject to our Publisher Guidelines whereby the original author's information and copyright must be included.

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