How ''sackable" are you?
Kehinde Akintobi
Senior Talent Acquisition & Identification Manager I Recruiter I Headhunter I LinkedIn Top Voice I Author of Choosing a Career Book IReal Estate Salesman I Realtor I LinkedIn Visibility & 5 Star CV/Resume Advocate
Every company does not exist in isolation. Companies operate within the realities of the changing demands of their existing and potential customers, their operating industries, government policies and the impact of macro-economic indicators on their businesses. Regardless of company size, industry or location, every company can be badly hit if any of these factors do not work in their favour.
Within the past year, the digital space for instance has been badly hit and the direct consequence has been massive employee layoffs. Reports state that a recent change in ownership saw Twitter letting go of 3,700 employees. Facebook is reported to have let go of 11,000 employees. Google shared plans of letting go of 10,000 employees. Amazon has also joined the queue with 18,000 employees claimed to soon be sent into the labour market. It is clear that this may be peculiar to the digital space with its changing dynamics and the emerging realities that have surfaced within the past few years. However, other industries are faced with their own challenges and every year, there is one news or the other of a company that is not doing well and staff are usually affected. For the digital space, it may have been that there was a trend of over hiring within the Covid period and headcount costs were no longer sustainable. It could have been that there was a major shortfall in demand and sales, or competition was fierce and threatened business growth and sustainability. Whatever be the case, the reality that stares those thousands of employees is that they are now or soon to be, without jobs.
How sackable are you? If there is a need to reduce the workforce, will you be the first on the list? Elon Musk and the new Chief Executive Officer, Matt Wallace of Twitter claimed that after the major exit of thousands of former employees, productivity has surged and the company has reached record utilization. Whether that will be taken with a pinch of salt or not, one reality is that employees that were spared from being fired usually had a higher profile of success or were known to have made more strategic contribution to the business. In other words, companies believe they can cope without the staff that they lay off. When a ship is sinking, the first items that are jettisoned into shore are those that are considered of less value.
It is uncommon for companies to let go of their best hands unless when the circumstances are out of their direct control and when much larger risks or exposure points are in view e.g. unprofitability, liquidation and bankruptcy. A question to ask is "are you part of the crowd that is likely to be jettisoned?" or "are you part of the crop that can be considered the winning team?"
If you lose your job today, how long can you cope?
领英推荐
It is said that failure to plan is planning to fail. It is advised that as a working professionals, you should be on top and in charge of your professional journeysso that regardless of the tides that may come, you will come out stronger. This will require that you are self aware, conscious of trends and emerging industry and economic realities, have ownership of your self development and be a consistent contributor of value. The motto of the Boy Scouts says that that you should "be prepared". Have a wonderful 2023.
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Sub-Saharan Africa Business Controller at HMD Global
1 年The realities that most employees fail to see are well out together. Thanks for sharing Kehinde. Career development is an individual responsibility and not the employer this age and time.
Managing Consultant
1 年My friend, the question you asked -How sackable are you? is a strategic question.Yes, if an employee is not a valuable staff he/she will risk being sacked ,once his/her organization decides to either downsize or righsize its staff.I believe that you effectively pointed out some reasons why companies in digital space are experiencing a lot of lay-offs.Amazon,obviously generated huge profit during the outbreak of Covid-19pandemic.It was during the period that Jeff Bezoz was rated as the world richest man.I believe that Amazon and some organizations within digital space must have been affected by disruptions caused by war between Russia and Ukraine which resulted in high energy cost, increase in inflation rate, increase in policy rates and food insecurity. In general most countries in Europe and even America are experiencing slow growth.Even, IMF MD/CEO reported that the slow growth may worsen this year. Countries around the world may experience hard times.