How do you avoid being laid off?
It seems to me that in the present job market that’s an important question to be answered, even if you don’t work at Arthur Andersen.
Whether the economy goes up or down, whether unemployment percentages increase or decrease, layoffs continue to be a way of life for Corporate America because many employers see them as an easy way to save money.
But it’s up to you to be proactive in order to prevent your own demise on the job, according to one expert.
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“You are the one who has to take steps to avoid being laid off,” said Liz Ryan, a veteran human resources consultant in Boulder, Colo. “Bosses never think in terms of your longevity on the job because they have bigger fish to fry and business results they’re expected to deliver.”
Ryan, who has been in human resources since 1983, also is the founder and CEO of World Women in Technology,an online organization for working women (ww.worldwit.org). More than 15,000 women are in the group–15 percent in technology–and a frequent subject of online discussions is how to avoid getting the ax.
“You have to lift your indispensability quotient,” said Ryan, who has a bachelor of arts in marketing and a master’s in communications. “And the way to begin to do that is to talk to your boss very frankly outside of your day-to-day interactions. Grab your boss and say, `May I have 15 minutes of your time?’ And when you get it, you say, `I want to know what I need to do differently to make myself more valuable.'”
But isn’t it a little bit dangerous, under the circumstances, to bring yourself to the attention of your boss?
“It’s not any more dangerous than sitting there under your little rock waiting to see what happens,” Ryan said.
That’s why she urges asking about opportunities to get involved in projects the boss is working on, to “take some things off your supervisor’s plate.” She also suggests asking, “Is there a skill I need to learn? Is there an assignment with another department that I can help with?”
Is the sound of sucking up too loud here? Ryan says no. “Hopefully, your request to do more and to do better will generate a couple of brownie points for you,” the consultant said. “But remember you’re also asking for help to equip yourself to be more valuable to your boss.”
And how will the boss react to your requests? “The boss might have some immediate suggestions or may come back to you in the next few days with some ideas, now that you’ve raised an awareness of what you can contribute,” Ryan said.
Another way to avoid layoffs is to avoid industries and positions that now are vulnerable to them, she added. “The further away you are from a revenue generating position or from product development, the more vulnerable you will be,” she said. “If you’re in human resources, corporate information technology or finance–in other words, the cost centers–you should be concerned.”
In 1997, when Ryan was a vice president of human resources, her company was involved in a merger and planned to downsize. “I didn’t want to work for the new company,” she said, “so I actually volunteered for a layoff. I begged to be let go.
“There are fates worse than unemployment,” she said.
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Carol Kleiman’s column also appears in Tuesday’s Business and Wednesday’s Working sections. Watch her Career Coach segments on CLTV. Send e-mail to [email protected].