Handling Job Insecurity 

For some reason it always seems that the feeling of job insecurity has grown more rampant and more serious during out time. If you feel that competition, feeble world economic conditions etc are what are causing you to have a sense of job insecurity, then read this article. The truth is that an employee can do a lot to reduce the fear and feeling of job insecurity. It does get rather tough and unconvincing when a person feels insecure all through or through a major part of his work career. Such a person will more often than not have complaints about other collegues, they seem to get more pay than him, they seem to have the easier work to do etc. While there is no denying the fact that there are fair and unfair managers and organizations, it is best to look within and take what remedial measures are possible. After all you have to live your own life no matter where you work or stay. This general article will provide some useful suggestions, you can make a start and you should do it right now.

 

In this article we will discuss ways in which you can feel more secure on the job. Some of the suggestions might be quite easy to practise and you could wonder why you never thought of them. Other suggestions might take some planning and need some time to bring results but, in the end you will end up with a more confident and secure outlook.

Health: Bad health is something that can sap your energy, you become less tolerant and get easily depressed. If your ill health requires you to be regularly absent from work, it is a justified situation for your mind to have a feeling of job insecurity. When you have negative feelings and exhibit bouts of bad temper and intolerance, rest assured that you will get similar responses from your bosses, collegues and juniors.

We have come across executives in their early thirties, who cannot climb three flights of stairs without panting and puffing. Such a person could not work at high efficiency levels for more than an hour or two. Many young managers feel that their desk job does not require a fit and healthy body. The point is that, being physically unfit will reduce your energy levels and desk jobs do require energy.

A healthy mind will love to reside in a healthy body. In this condition you are better geared to handle pressures and tensions of work and home. With this your tolerance level goes up and you do not easily throw tantrums. You cannot feel secure on the job if you are always getting into arugments and fights with your collegues.

Take good care of your healthy, excercise, sleep and good are necessary to make you healthy. You might have tremendous knowledge in your field but, bad health can stunt your potential. At the end of the day you only remember that you are not getting that important promotion, you get disgruntled and dissatisfied.

Education and training: The world is changing, technology is changing you need to keep pace with it. Read boos, meet people, attend evening classes, observe others work, visit trade fairs etc. If you are moved from one department to another, keep cordial relationships with your new collegues, You might not like them but, you will need to learn the work process and tasks in the new department from them. If you are assigned to work in department 'A' but have some ideas that can improve productivity and efficiency in department 'B', make a polite suggestion to the department 'B' manager. Exchanging such ideas can improve your knowledge, and this allows you to learn more functions and tasks within the organization. Many organizations enroll staff for external training, check out such opportunities in your organization.

Work appraisal: This probably should be in an article related to management but, you might have to get involved in it as an employee too. It is a good management practice to evaluate the performance of employees at least once or twice a year. And yet this does not happen in many organizations. Talk to your boss about such a practice, fix appraisal schedules. With this in place you at least know when danger is coming your way. It could help you prepare for the future and improve and take away some degree of that job insecurity feeling. 

Dont' fuss:  You are now in the mareting unit of the organization. There is a low season factor in your industry and the boss asks you to help the shipping section. The real situation does show that there is insufficient work in your department, so take the new task cheerfully and start work. The more tasks you learn the better it is for your future, this will true whether you continue to work in your organization or move to another one.

Multi task: Write this clear and loud on your mind. Knowing many tasks makes you more useful for the organization. Job security should not be an issue in such a case. You work for an ecommerce set up, and are in the unit that lists merchandise on the net. 'A' takes the photographs for the merchandise, you do the listing. 'A' has gone on a 2 week vacation, you get no pictures so you list no merchandise. If this is really the situation you would have done better joining 'A' on the vacation! You should be feeling insecure at the job if this is true.

Multi tasking is not hard to achieve, the organization gets tremendous benefit from employees who can multi task. Would it not be great if 'A' could teach you how to take photographs? You in turn could teach 'A' how to list. It might be a slow learning process but the final result will be good for you and the organization. If either you or 'A' does not turn up for work, the person who does come can deliver at least 40% to 50% of the listings.

When an organization does need to reduce staff, the staff who can multi task will always receive a favorable consideration. When you learn new tasks, your brains stays active it becomes more receptive to new things. With many functions within your capability, you will be a winner within the organization and also hold strong when looking for a new job placement.

Market yourself: It is quite strange that a significant percentage of employees who feel insecure on the job are infact great performers. The sad part is that their boss or upper management never got a chance to see their work results. If you are one of those people who keeps banging on the job for every second on your seat, wake up. It is a better idea to work at 75% time frames each day, use the remaining time to market your work. Let the departments that directly use your inputs know what you are working on.

You are in the I.T section and have just argued and bullied management into buying you a big and fast server. The 200 employees in your organization will now run this blazing horse, reports will churn out faster. The server downtime will be drastically reduced, this is no small achievement. But instead of celebrating the event, actual users are grumbling about the 30 minute system shutdown you just announced. This is the smallest time slot in which you can move data and switch servers.

Approach the issue differently, disuss the server upgrade with various departments. Let them know of the hike in speed that will benefit them all. Basically win them to your side, let the upgrade be completed. Management is bound to see many happy manager faces in the meeting next morning. You now have a team of managers who are blowing your trumpet for you. It is ofcourse better than you bragging about your own achievements.

No easy way out: The last thing you should be doing when faced with a feeling of job insecurity is to find an easy way out. Many people like to flatter their bosses, hoping that they will sail through that 'job cutting' fever. Others gossip about their collegues to their boss. Such measures might earn you some extra time on the job if, your boss is as inept as you are! But in the longterm, such measures rarely yield any sustained results.

The above information can be useful even if job insecurity is not your problem. Start implementing them and you will see a positive attitude in you towards the organization, and you will receive a similar response from the organization too. Email us comments at easyrambler@rocketmail.com we will be glad to hear from you.