Career advice
Job security
You'd like to know how worried to be, and what's worth doing either way.
What to understand about job security
Most of what decides whether a job is safe happens a long way from your desk. A company picks which products to back, which costs to trim and which teams to merge, and jobs follow those choices. That's how good people on the wrong project end up let go while ordinary performers elsewhere stay put. Your own work still counts, mostly at the edges. When a list is being drawn up, it helps if someone in the room can say what you do and why it matters. But the list usually starts with a budget, not with names.
The room to move tends to sit in two places. One is closeness: knowing what the business needs most this year, and making sure a fair share of your week points at it. The other is readiness. Records you keep yourself, a resume that isn't years stale, a few people who would take your call. None of that makes this job safer. It makes losing it smaller. And people who know they could land somewhere else often worry less and speak more plainly in the job they have.
The hard part is that you can do all of it and still get the call. There is rarely a warning you can trust, and the quiet before a decision sounds like ordinary quiet. So some worry is reasonable. It's also possible your job is fine and the dread is coming from headlines, not from anything at your company, in which case the right amount to do is very little. If it does happen, it tends to say more about a plan that changed than about you, though it may not feel that way for a while.
What people often get wrong about job security
- You might think“If I keep doing good work, I'll be fine.”More oftenGood work earns a lot: better reviews, stronger references, a manager who will argue for you. What it can't do is keep the company interested in the thing you work on. When cuts come, whole lines of work tend to go, and the capable people on them go too. So it's worth knowing how much the business is leaning on your corner of it, as well as how you're doing there.One thing to try: Tie your work to what the company needs most →
- You might think“If something were wrong, my manager would tell me.”More oftenManagers often learn late, and once they know they are usually asked to say nothing. What most of them can talk about freely is priorities: what matters now, what's being questioned, where the team fits. That conversation tends to tell you more than asking outright whether jobs are safe.One thing to try: Ask your manager how the team is doing →
- You might think“I'm the only one who knows how this works, so they can't let me go.”More oftenCompanies do part with the only person who knows, and then live with the mess. Meanwhile, being impossible to replace can keep you parked in one spot, because nobody can spare you for anything new. Sharing what you know often makes you look more useful to the place, not less.One thing to try: Teach something you know →
Things to do when the worry is vague and won't leave you alone
“Nothing has actually happened. So why can't I stop thinking about it?”
A worry with no shape is hard to act on and hard to put down. Each of these gets it onto paper, where you can see which parts are facts, which are guesses, and which are yours to do anything about.
- Sort what you know from what you're guessingWorry runs on guesses; find out which of yours are facts15 minutes
- Sort a worry into control, influence, or acceptGive the worry somewhere to go, and keep only the part that's yours10 minutes
- Run a premortem on your jobGive the worry a story, then sort it into moves and signalsAbout 20 minutes
- Get the worries out of your headWrite down what's circling, and give each one a next move or a rest10 minutes
Things to do when you want to know how the company is really doing
“Everyone says things are fine. I'd like to check that for myself.”
Leaders say a good deal in public about where the money and attention are going, and few people listen closely. Start with how the business earns its keep, then what its leaders are saying, then what your manager sees, and last where your own work sits in that picture.
- Step 1: Understand how your company makes moneySee your job the way the people running the company see itAbout 45 minutes
- Step 2: Read the signals your company is sendingHear where the company is heading from the people steering it20 minutes
- Step 3: Ask what will matter in six monthsOne question that shows you where your team is headed next15 minutes
- Step 4: Tie your work to what the company needs mostShow how your work helps the business, in the words leaders use30 minutes
Dealing with something else at work?
Things to do while things are calm
“I'm not going anywhere. I'd just hate to be caught flat.”
Small upkeep that is nearly free now and expensive to do in a hurry. Several of these also pay off if you stay for years, since the same record and the same people help at review time.
- Keep your receipts somewhere you ownThe proof of your work shouldn't live only on your employer's systems10 minutes a month
- Keep your resume warmBe ready to send it tomorrow, without a panicked weekend15 minutes a quarter
- Stay close to people you respectOne short note every month or two keeps good people in your life5 to 10 minutes a month
- Reconnect with five people before you need themA month of short notes, and a network that's warm when it counts8 steps
- Learn what the market is asking forSee the skills your field now expects, before a job search demands them30 minutes
- Map your transferable skillsWhat you can do, pulled out of your job title and into plain words30 minutes
Things to do when a reorg or layoffs have been announced
“The org chart just changed and I'm refreshing chat for rumors.”
In the first days there is a lot of noise and little you can check. These help you find the reason behind the change, meet whoever you now report to, and see how a decision like this gets made on the other side of the table.
- Reorgs HappenWhen the org chart shifts under you, find the reason first · Essay by Camille Fournier8 minutes
- Stay steady through a reorgTrade rumor-watching for one good conversation with your new leader20 minutes
- Get to know your new managerLearn what they care about while they're still learning about you30 minutes
- The right way to lay people offWhy a layoff reflects a missed plan, not you, and how a fair one is run · Essay by Ben Horowitz6 minutes
- Why Copycat Layoffs Won't Help Tech Companies, or Their EmployeesWhen cuts sweep an industry, the reason may have little to do with you · Essay by Melissa De Witte8 minutes
- WARN Act Compliance AssistanceFind out whether the law owed you a warning, and what to keep if it did · Essay by U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration12 minutes
Things to do when you're not sure where you stand
“My last one-on-one felt off, and I can't tell if I'm reading into it.”
This one is about you, not the company, and it's the kind you can usually just ask about. An uncomfortable answer now leaves time to do something with it. The last piece is for when a formal plan has already landed.
- Ask how your review would go todayFind out where you stand before it's written down10 minutes
- Check you're aimed at what mattersFind out now, not at review time, if the target moved20 to 30 minutes
- Send a three-line weekly updateThree lines on a Friday, and your manager never has to wonder10 minutes a week
- Say where you're behind, and ask for helpBeing behind is fixable; being behind in secret is much harder20 minutes
- Understand your performance improvement planTurn a frightening document into specific work and a clear record7 steps
What job security depends on
Where the company's money comes from
A business living on its own profits tends to cut when sales dip. One living on investors' money can look healthy until the funding gets hard to raise, and then change fast. Public bodies and nonprofits follow budgets and grants, on a slower clock.
Your industry
Some fields hire and shed in waves that everyone inside them expects, such as construction, media and parts of tech. In others a layoff is rare enough to be a shock. It's worth knowing which kind you're in, because it changes how much a single round means.
Where you live
The rules on notice, severance and when an employer needs a reason differ a great deal between countries, and within some. So does the number of other employers within reach, which matters as much as the law.
Your manager's standing
A manager who is trusted upstairs can often shield a team or place its people elsewhere. When your manager is new, sidelined or on the way out, the team tends to have fewer people speaking for it.
What rides on the paycheck
A single income, people who depend on you, health cover through work, or a visa tied to the job all raise the stakes of the same risk. It's fair for your caution to be higher than a colleague's.
How job security changes through your career
Starting out
You tend to be cheaper to keep and also newer, so cuts can go either way. A loss this early usually leaves less of a mark than it feels like it will, and the habit worth starting now is keeping your own record of what you did.
A few years in
You have something to show and people who have seen you work, which is most of what readiness is. This is often when a first reorg or layoff round arrives, and when it sinks in that doing the job well and being safe in it aren't the same thing.
Senior
You cost more and fewer openings fit you, so a search can take longer. You also tend to hear more and to know people in other places. Being close to what the business needs most matters more here than it did earlier.
Later on
The worry often shifts from finding another job to finding one at the same level, and to how age is read by people hiring. Long-standing relationships do a lot of the work at this point, and so does being clear about what you'd accept.
Layoff and job security terms worth knowing
- At-will employment
- The arrangement, common in the United States, where either side can end the job at any time without giving a reason, apart from reasons the law forbids.
- Reorg
- Short for reorganization. Teams, reporting lines or priorities get redrawn. Sometimes jobs go with it and sometimes nobody leaves.
- RIF
- Reduction in force. A layoff in which the role itself is removed, as opposed to a person being dismissed over their work.
- Severance
- Pay and sometimes benefits offered when a job ends, usually in exchange for signing an agreement. What's offered varies widely and isn't required everywhere.
- Headcount
- The number of jobs a team has budget for. A hiring freeze means that number has stopped growing. A cut means it's shrinking.
- Runway
- How long a company can keep paying its bills with the money it has. You'll hear it mostly at startups.
- PIP
- Performance improvement plan. A written set of things to fix by a set date. Some are a real second chance and some are paperwork ahead of an exit, and it can be hard to tell which from the document alone.
When you have more time
- Flawed System/Flawed SelfWhen a long job search starts to feel like a verdict on you · Book by Ofer SharoneAbout 4 hours
- The Disposable AmericanFor when being let go feels like a judgment on you · Book by Louis UchitelleAround five and a half hours
- Moral MazesWhy your boss's fortunes can end up deciding yours · Book by Robert JackallAbout five hours
- The OrgThat rule that drives you mad probably exists for a reason · Book by Ray Fisman and Tim SullivanA chapter at a time
- The EnchiridionNearly two thousand years old, and still useful after a rough review · Book by EpictetusA section at a time
- Conan O'Brien's Dartmouth commencement addressAfter the role you were counting on goes away · Talk by Conan O'Brien24 minutes
Questions people ask about job security and layoffs
I've just been laid off. What should I do first?
Slow down before you sign anything. Ask for the terms in writing, find out how long you have to decide, and check what happens to health cover and any unused leave. Once that's settled, a search usually goes better with set hours than as an all-day emergency.
Can my employer really let me go without giving a reason?
In much of the United States, often yes, with exceptions for things like discrimination, retaliation and whatever a contract promises. Many other countries ask for notice or a stated cause. If something about your own case seems off, an employment lawyer or a local labor office can tell you where you stand.
Should I start looking now, or wait and see what happens?
It doesn't have to be one or the other. A quiet look, done carefully, tells you what's out there without committing you to anything, and it often leaves you either reassured about staying or glad you started early. The main risk is being careless about who finds out.
I kept my job and friends didn't. Why do I feel so bad?
That's common. Relief, guilt and a new wariness about the company often arrive together, and the work your colleagues left behind tends to land on whoever remains. It's reasonable to ask what the team is going to stop doing now that it's smaller.
I manage a team and I have to tell them bad news. How do I do it well?
People tend to remember how they were told for a long time. Say the hard part first and plainly, be honest about what you don't know yet, and stay in the room for the questions. Trying to soften it by circling usually reads as evasion.
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