ALT-1 Signs your Employer may be going out of Business
No one ever wants to be laid off, and no one ever wants to find themselves out of a job. This is the reason why people work so hard and do whatever is necessary to keep their job. However, the market dictates if a business is able to stay around or not. When the business is no longer profitable, it will usually close its doors. What are some of the signs that a business may be going under?
The first sign of a business that is going under may be decreased revenues. A short slump may be nothing that a large enough company can't overcome, but steadily declining revenues can be a signal that customers don't believe in the company anymore. Not having money is usually a problem for a business and can cause the doors to be closed forever.
If an industry is evolving, and your employer cannot keep up, it may signal a beginning of the end. Say a company was a producer of video games, but it refused to develop games that were available on modern gaming consoles. This would be neglecting a huge part of the market and would tend to lead to declining revenues. Niche retailers are not always doomed to fail, but there is less of a market.
Mass layoffs, or perhaps cutting hours, could be a sign that a business is in trouble. Usually a business will try to cut expenses before going under completely. If this happens at your employer, it could be a sign that the company is in trouble and could result in it going under sooner rather than later.
Is merchandising space being eliminated? Lower inventories and slashing prices could be a sign that your employer is preparing to go out of business. Most companies that are going out of business want to get as much money as they can from the remainder of the inventory. This money can go toward paying off creditors so that the business may be able to reform, or at least the owners can be in less debt.
Will your employer go under? There is no way to tell unless you come to work and are told that the company is no longer up and running. However, if you look at the signs above, you can get some idea as to the future viability of your employer. Hopefully it will never happen to you, but you can at least be prepared if you don't ignore the signs.
