14 Signs You Are Losing Your Job + 10 Actions To Increase Job Security
Losing your job is very traumatic and very stressful, not to mention painful for your bank balance. I share 14 signs you are losing your job to look out for. More importantly I share the actions you should take to reduce the chances of being fired or losing your job at ANY POINT in your career.
Anyone can be fired or lose their job. No one is indispensable or irreplaceable. That said, there is a lot you can practically do to make losing your job a lot less likely.
14 Signs You Are Losing Your Job + 10 Actions You Should Take
- 10 signs you are losing your job due to your personal approach or performance
- 4 signs you are going to lose your job due to company issues
- 10 actions you should always take to minimise the risk of being fired or losing your job
Very early in my career, I was pushed out of a job by my worst boss ever. I was naive and had not learnt how to manage relationships well with bosses. Much later in my career, I was pushed out of a senior role, even though I was a top performer because I wouldn’t say yes to a proposal detrimental to me. I have been through the pain and stress of losing a job. It is not nice.
When you see the signs you may be fired, you can take action to reduce the impact of losing your job. For example, if you already have another job offer, the hit to your confidence and wallet is pretty minor. If you don’t see the signs you are being pushed out of your job, the impact can be pretty major on you when you are called into that meeting.
Towards the end, I share the best practical ways I know to minimise the chances of losing your job and increase your job security throughout your career.
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First, 10 signs you are losing your job due to your personal approach and performance
These signs you may be losing your job give you the opportunity to take action before actually losing your job. The best case is you prevent yourself being fired or removed. The worst case is you are prepared and ready when you do lose your job.
10 signs you specifically may be losing your job are:
- You are in the bottom 25% of performance or attitude relative to peers
- Your boss noticeably reduces their praise of you or increases their criticism of you
- Bosses reduce your opportunities for growth and development at work
- Your responsibilities, projects or tasks are significantly reduced, without being replaced.
- The size of your team is reduced significantly, or you are moved from a manager role back to a contributor
- Your boss asks you to document all the different aspects of your job without others being asked to the same
- An extra person is recruited to work alongside you or above you, without there being a clear need for them
- Your visibility within the business is purposely reduced – i.e. your meetings, projects or responsibilities are cut or changed
- You remain angry or resentful towards your boss for a long period of time – months rather than days or weeks
- Your emotions or approach is disrupting colleagues or team members from doing their jobs well
In short, when you are creating more problems than benefits for your boss and employer OR when the value you add is lower than your peers, you are much more likely to lose your job compared to your peers.
The best way to safeguard your job is to continue to increase the value you add to the team and business AND to continue to strengthen your relationships with bosses and peers. Do both better than your colleagues, and you are very unlikely to find yourself being pushed out of your job.
Secondly, here are 4 signs you are going to lose your job due to company issues or challenges
When you may lose your job alongside others, it is a lot harder to take proactive actions that will reduce or remove the chance your job will go. Remember, it is your position rather than you specifically being removed. While still not nice, keeping this in mind will reduce the impact to your confidence and ability to get another job.
Signs you are going to lose your job because of company issues include:
- The cash levels in the business dropping. Dropping cash is much more important than revenue or profits dropping in the short term, because salaries are paid from the cash. That said, dropping revenue and profits will lead to less cash in the future.
- Changes in business direction or strategy which reduces the importance of your team. For example, this happens when new products or services are introduced or removed, or when new markets are entered into or exited.
- The performance of your business unit or team continues to drop. The longer the performance of your team or business unit drops, the more chance the business will remove or replace the team or business unit.
- Technology replacing people. This is a much bigger danger in large companies without much change compared to smaller or changing businesses. The more willing and able you are to learn and adapt, the less likely you will be removed from your role.
Avoid The Cut
The best way to avoid losing your job through company actions rather than those targeted directly at you is to perform better than you peers, have stronger relationships, and be a enthusiastic team player with a positive attitude.
Most companies are very reluctant to get rid of good people regardless of what is happening at divisional or company level.
Third and finally, 10 actions you should always take to minimise the risk of being fired or losing your job
There really is a lot you can personally and practically do to make you the last person your bosses want to remove from your job.
Just working harder than others is not enough. You have to continue to create value. As much value as you practically can. Just as important is showing that you want to continue learning, improving and increasing the value you can create. Showing potential and willingness are huge retention factors in your favour when bosses are looking at cutting costs.
10 actions I recommend you do as often as possible during all stages of your career:
- Demonstrate a can do or positive attitude
- Put your team before yourself. Work at being a good and useful team player.
- Work to proactively support your boss achieve your boss’s goals
- Actively communicate to your boss and peers your achievements and great work
- Praise others and be a nice and easy person to work alongside or have in a team
- Keep learning from any and every situation and opportunity you can. This is huge in increasing the perception of your potential
- Have a good work ethic and work to stay in the top half of your peers in terms of performance and ability
- Prioritise the most valuable work you can do. Make the time to think about your most valuable work and spend as much time on that as you are able to
- Practice diplomacy and work to build good relationships with as many people as you practically can.
- Be interested in and aware of the company’s situation, the competitive environment, and company’s strategy and goals.
When you are consistently doing each of these 10 actions, day in day out, you are very unlikely to see any signs you may be losing your job or signs you may be fired.
Do the best job you can and work at being an easy person to work with, and you should easily put yourself in the top half of people a business wants to keep.
in summary
Losing your job without warning is a horrible experience. Use these 14 signs you are losing your job to give yourself time to mentally and emotionally prepare and start looking for another job. The 10 actions I suggest you take to increase your job security will help you avoid being pushed out of your job.
Always look to increase the value or profit you add to your business. There are ton of different ways to do this. Take opportunities to learn and increase your skills and experience wherever possible. Always communicate the value you are adding to your team, boss and business. If people don’t know what you are doing, they can’t appreciate it.
Don’t forget to take a look at the links in the description on what you can do to increase your job security throughout your career.
If you have questions on “14 Signs You Are Losing Your Job plus 10 Actions to increase job security”, please email me at support@enhance.training and I will get back to you.
Being forced out of your job or fired is a very unpleasant experience. It is very stressful and painful on your bank balance. There is a ton you can to make sure you are well done the list of people that your company and boss would consider removing.
The 10 action I have shared are very good actions to do at any point and especially when you think your job might be under threat.
Good luck and most importantly – take action!
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