How to not get Laid off
To make it easier on themselves and to avoid looking as if there is any favoritism going on, companies generally lay off groups of related people when the time comes to downsize. Sometimes it’s whole departments, other times it’s everyone at a certain level while at other times it’s purely about sonority. And when it happens, most people in these positions see themselves as powerless, completely at the mercy of the company, or fate even perhaps; but this is not always true. Sometimes there are things people can do to avoid being part of a group that gets laid off.
One of the best ways to avoid getting laid off is to work your career in such a way as to make it difficult for a company to pigeon-hole you. You do this by being versatile and by volunteering to work with other groups or teams whenever the possibility arises. Make it so that people see you more as someone who belongs to a lot of different groups, rather than as just a member of one. Doing this will not only keep you from being lumped together with others when it comes time for layoffs, but it will make you more valuable overall to the company as a whole, which is another thing companies look at when deciding who to cut.
And that leads to the next thing you can do to keep yourself from being cut with a bunch of other people that the company sees as a all the same. Don’t fade into the woodwork. Don’t be one of those office drones that simply comes in, puts in their hours and goes home. Yes, that really is all they are paying you to do, but doing so causes you to be someone that won’t be all that missed when it comes to laying off staff. To avoid this, make yourself known; be the guy that everyone knows, and the one that can be counted on to get things done when a time crunch comes. Be the worker that the bosses all know by always doing a good job, and by always being there, on time and ready to go. Volunteer for difficult assignments, or cover for others when they’re not able to be there. Do the things that bosses love and by doing so, make it difficult for them to see coming to work every day to a place where you’re no longer there.
That’s how you keep from being lumped in and cut loose when it’s time for the axe to fall; by being more valuable to the company than all those other people.
