Whether your manager called a meeting with your whole team to discuss the plan to cut staff, a company wide email went out, or layoffs have started at your company, but not on your team, it’s nerve wracking to even think about losing your job, especially if you love it. So is there anything you can do if your company is restructuring, and you want to keep your job? Yes. Here are four things you can put to work to show your boss that you’re the right woman/ man to keep on the team.
Do you know who your biggest fans are?
It’s likely that you’ve never sat down and analyzed why you feel well liked at work, or put much stock in the fact that someone from leadership went out of their way to pay you a compliment. But now is the time to remember all the times that your colleagues and executive team members have appreciated your contributions. Go out of your way in the next week or two to connect with people that you suspect are willing to talk positively about you and your work, and offer to lend your support of them in whatever way you can. You’re going to need allegiances throughout the organization, and now is the time to figure out who you can count on if they’re part of a conversation about your value to the organization.
Channel your inner “Positive Patty”
We all like to be around people who are fun, upbeat, and generally happy. But bringing that kind of attitude to an office where people are wondering if they’ll have a job tomorrow is tough. However, instead of skulking in corners and gossipping about what “could” happen, do your best to avoid adopting an “every man for himself” attitude and engaging in underhanded behaviors to increase the odds of being the one who survives without a pink slip. Instead, offer to help the co-worker that’s taking the news the hardest, and be a true team player. Your boss will notice as long as he or she isn’t thinking they’re about to be out of a job too.
What can you do to make your boss’s life easier?
Many life coaches and career coaches call this concept “anticipating the needs of your boss” or “managing up.” In a layoff situation, being able to make your boss’s life easier because you know what he or she needs without even asking, can make you seem irreplaceable. And when you find yourself fighting for your job, it’s pragmatic advice that can help you save your job. So how do you do this without being seen as a brown-noser or “suck up?” It doesn’t mean bringing your boss coffee within five minutes of arrival in their office, but it does mean that you understand what makes your boss tick, and can provide tangible value to problems that are keeping your boss up at night. Is there a project that will stall out because you’ll have fewer people working on it after the layoff? Is it going to be a problem to simply get the day to day work done with fewer people on your team? What can you offer to do to help ease the pain?
Are you working on a new skill, does your boss know?
You are definitely going to want to have a conversation with your boss about your new skill if it will help streamline some of the work that will be a challenge to get completed if layoffs affect your team. You may have casually dropped into conversation with your boss or manager that you love the new online class you’re taking through Coursera, but this is your chance to put it to work. If your proactive tendencies to acquire skills have never paid off before, this is the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. What problem does your boss have that you can solve by applying your new skill? Is there a process that is begging to be re-vamped, are you the one to do it? If you have a great, time saving idea, swallow your fear of being rejected, and talk to your boss about yet another way you’re willing to help.
We know that this can be an unsettling, scary time in your career if you’re worried that your name will be on the list that HR has to meet with to deliver bad news. However, even if you end up being part of the layoffs, the fact that you were willing to go above and beyond when your boss needed you, and pitched in as long as you were given the opportunity, you’re likely to leave with a glowing reference from your boss and leadership team. Another silver lining? If you were working in an Accounting or Finance role prior to the layoff, the job market is so hot right now in the Twin Cities, we’ll potentially be able to help you find a career changing role before any severance package you’ve secured runs its course.