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#JobSearch : Déjà Vu All Over Again – Good News, Bad News for Employers and Job Seekers.

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I remember…  with trepidation … the market events in the fall of 2008 caused the real estate crash in 2009 and the resulting rise in unemployment with hundreds of thousands of workers losing their jobs. (I was one of them. As a HR director, I had to write my own layoff letter!)  The recent pandemic is not quite the same, but the impact is eerily similar and much worse for workers who are now unemployed. With luck, this time, the economy will swing back quickly once folks get back to their office or location work sites as cures, vaccines, and plasma infusions are deemed safe and made available to inoculate the general population.

When economic crisis upheavals create market impacts and job losses, it’s best to be prepared for the ‘what ifs?’

In 2009, the bad news was employers laid off, terminated, or furloughed workers with no known return-to-work date.  This was a crisis for the company and its workers. The events affected stability, growth, and/or revenue for the business, but also provided a unique opportunity to enrich the workforce and gain more valuable employees in the long run.  Companies initially targeted ‘slackers,’ ‘redundant,’ or unskilled (untrained) employees in the mass layoffs. Workers able to do the work of others had to cross-train, or who were more productive were more likely to be retained.

Use the lessons learned from the 2009 economic crash to preparing for the current pandemic-related crisis, and/or future events with equitable impact on worker’s careers.

Those laid off or terminated were often the workers with the lowest return on investment (ROI) for the business model.  Unfortunately, it was also a great opportunity to drop what the company determined were ‘troublemakers,’ ‘high maintenance employees,’ and those who had reached a salary ceiling for their job level.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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When the economy picked up again, the company had a choice of rehiring the furloughed workers. In some cases, companies found more productive replacements for the past terminated workers.  Some businesses chose to continue to pay unemployment taxes on furloughed workers and hired fresh employees to train to higher standards and productivity.  This may happen again in 2020. If fresh, new workers can provide a higher rate of productivity after training, the companies could turn a higher profit, faster, and decide not rehiring the furloughed workers is worth the business risk.

The good news is some workers ‘sent home’ during this pandemic event may not have been fired.  Companies recognized some work (telework) could continue if workers had the right equipment and access to work-related applications from home.  The scramble to set the employees up to work from home may result in long-term and increased ROI based on lower overhead costs. This event may help business leaders see the opportunity to keep workers, monitor productivity, and simultaneously reduce overhead costs by continuing to keep employees working at home.

It is bad news for the workers who are permanently laid off or furloughed. The economic crisis does provide opportunities for those who lost their jobs to go back to school, take more technical or trade training, and refresh their resume(s) for more practical or higher-level educational opportunities.

The good news is, even though the furloughed worker may have been highly productive, this is the perfect opportunity to use one’s advanced experience and skills to search for a new career position. Shop for that new job with companies who terminated the ‘redundant’ workers and are looking for that higher productivity employee.  When an employee is laid off it’s the perfect timing to refresh their resume to identify their strongest skills and their greatest weaknesses.

It is vital to showcase on the resume the job seeker’s achievements and accomplishments to document the metrics and capabilities of the worker in past and potentially future work environments.  Review the education section to decide when, where, and what to add to skill sets by taking online classes, going back to schools (colleges, universities – online courses where available), or targeting technical schools for updated trades training.

When economic crisis upheavals create market impacts and job losses, it’s best to be prepared for the ‘what ifs?’ in one’s career path.  Use the lessons learned from the 2009 economic crash to preparing for the current pandemic-related crisis, and/or future events with equitable impact on worker’s careers.  Keep updating one’s work skills, ensure your productivity at work is at its high level and makes a profit (or reduce overhead expenses) for your company. Continue to learn or take training in a variety of skills to make yourself non-expendable to your employer.  If you are not constantly improving yourself, you will not survive or do well in the worst-case economic scenarios of the future.

FSC Career Blog Author: Ms. Dawn Boyer, Ph.D., owner of D. Boyer Consulting in Hampton Roads and Richmond, VA – provides resume writing, and editing / publishing / print-on-demand consulting. Reach her at: Dawn.Boyer@me.com or visit her website at www.dboyerconsulting.com.

 

FSC Career Blog| April 14, 2020

Your #Career : #CareerAdvice – How Do I Go from Outstanding to #Terminated ? …One of the Most Consistent Findings from my Research concerns #PerformanceReviews . Prior to Being Let Go, nearly All of the People I Interviewed had Received Glowing #PerformanceEvaluations .

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The vast majority of managers provide an annual performance review for their direct reports. We’re all familiar with the drill. Has the employee met their goals? Do they have strong productivity and attendance? Do they demonstrate customer service? Are they a team player? And generally there is a rating system that accompanies these questions. Managers fill them out, discuss the results with their employee, and send the form to Human Resources.

Performance Reviews Should… 

This “event” provides an opportunity for us to appreciate our team member, thank them for their contributions, get to know more about their own goals, and provide them feedback for professional development. Sound familiar?

It stands to reason that if an employee had something they needed to work on, a manager would address it with them — if not before the performance review, at least during the review. Unfortunately, this is often not the case.

I interviewed 65 people for my book, “Fired: How to Manage Your Career in the Age of Job Uncertainty.” They were from all regions of the United States and worked at all levels of the organization. I was intentional about getting a diverse representation of demographics, professional levels and types of employers. Every one of the people interviewed was let go from his or her job.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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Glowing Performance Reviews

One of the most consistent findings from my research concerns performance reviews. Prior to being let go, nearly all of the people I interviewed had received glowing performance evaluations. They thought they were doing a great job and their performance reviews confirmed it.

And yet they were let go.

There were a few exceptions to this; those were mostly people who had a new supervisor. In these cases, the interviewees reported having strong performance reviews until they got a new boss, and then they received a less than positive performance review.

Job Security and Performance Reviews

Although it isn’t what we managers espouse, the rule of thumb is that great performance evaluations do not necessarily mean job security. We say we will have honest dialogue. We promote coaching and training. We talk about transparency and integrity. But, as one of my interviewees commented, “I see it all the time where I work now. People get good reviews and two months later they get terminated. If someone can make a better way (to do performance reviews), they should.” I can see all the Human Resources professionals out there nodding.

Another of my interviewees asked, “How does this happen? How do I go from outstanding to terminated?” I think we can all agree that unless there are extenuating circumstances like the employee commits an egregious offense, this shouldn’t happen.

The Big Why

So why does it? A few things are at work here. First, giving an employee honest feedback is difficult. Many managers would prefer not to engage in a difficult conversation. They fear their employee’s reaction or they don’t want to address a conflict. They may not have the interpersonal skills necessary to address the issue. So people get satisfactory reviews even when they don’t deserve them. And sometimes they lose their jobs because no one intervened.

Second, sometimes the manager him or herself may not have given adequate orientation or direction about the job requirements and the organization’s culture, emphasis on the culture. Studies show that being a “fit” is more important to job security than job competence. So the employee loses his or her job because they weren’t adequately prepared.

Third, and most importantly, there are a lot of factors at play besides job performance which impacts a person’s job security, such as leadership transitions, economic considerations, and office politics and relationships. These have nothing to do with job performance.

We Can Do Better

While we can’t control every variable, as leaders we can help other managers understand the importance of clearly and explicitly stating expectations and providing the training employees need to do their jobs. It’s also incumbent on all leaders to help employees understand the culture, including the unwritten rules of the organization. And while hardly anyone looks forward to a difficult conversation, we can foster an environment where managers are encouraged, expected and taught how to provide clear instruction and feedback to employees about how they are doing their jobs. We owe it to our employees and the people they serve.

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Nancy is contributing author to the FSC Career Blog (www.firstsun.com/fsc-career-blog) & is particating member of the FSC LinkedIn Network (over 17K+ members).

 

FSC Career Blog | June 5, 2018