Everybody Loves Your Money

So, yesterday was Bloody Monday.  Today we have seen an additional 10,000+ layoffs announced.  Last month we saw hundreds of thousands of layoffs announced.  Frankly, the risk of getting laid off has not been higher in a very long time.  For many people the threat has been realized and you are now forced to frantically look for another job.

For those of us that haven’t been laid off, there are a few things we can do to minimize the target on our backs.

Manage the relationship you have with your boss

This is the number one thing you can do to avoid a layoff.  As an employee, you should always be striving to maintain a solid relationship with your manager.  No, don’t sleep with him or her, but do make sure you understand what your boss feels your priorities are and exceed his expectations on each and every job task.  I like to check in with my boss a few times a week to make sure there isn’t something he needs help with and to make sure that I am reading his overall perception of how I’m doing.  This doesn’t mean you need to kiss his backside, but it does mean giving your boss the attention that’s needed to be part of the team.  Human nature says that when it’s time for layoffs, your boss will consider who he likes working with and who causes him all sorts of headaches.  Believe me, headaches go first.  Don’t misunderstand this advice and be high maintenance though.  Your goal should be solving problems for your boss, not bringing more problems to him.  Above all, never underestimate the power of a good relationship.

Become Irreplaceable

When I look around my workplace I can always spot the people that we’d all have trouble being without.  These people are integral to the successful operation of your team.  Maybe it’s the person who manages the budget for the team, or maybe it’s a technical person that knows all the right buttons to push, or maybe it’s someone with such a detailed understanding of your customers that you’d be lost without them.  Don’t underestimate the power of relationships here as well.  The better working relationship you have with your customers, the harder it will be to live without you.  Customers normally don’t like to lose a strong partner in the business and your manager will need to consider that as he plays Russian roulette with the employee list.

Work Additional Time

Every company and manager wants to maximize the productivity of their workers.  The more work you do for them, the more money they can potentially make.  If you are a Seinfeld nut like me you might recall the episode where George left his car in the parking lot at work when he left town.  When his boss arrived in the morning, there was George’s car in the parking lot and when he left in the evening, George looked like he was still at work.  Needless to say his boss was impressed.  I wouldn’t recommend just leaving your car there if you really want to save your job but I would recommend putting in the extra time.  If you have a job that uses a computer, try to get remote access capabilities so you can extend your day a bit at home in the evenings.  It takes relatively little time to respond to emails in the evening and shows that you are committed to helping the company succeed by being productive.

Get along with your co-workers

This one is very similar to the first item above.  I’m bringing up relationships again, but this time it’s with your coworkers.  Nobody likes to work with a problem employee that never seems to be able to get along with his coworkers.  You should strive to be that person that brings teams together by helping to mitigate conflicts with others and offering ideas for a better team environment.  Managers are quick to notice when they have an employee that is struggling to get along with the other team members.  An employee who has conflict often, no matter who’s “fault” it is, will increase his odds of being laid off.  Managers use layoffs to get rid of difficult people in many cases because that person can cause a lot of negativity and stress to the rest of the team.

Be Seen

It’s not enough anymore to just keep your head down and do your work.  You need to be your own cheering squad in subtle ways.  Make sure your boss knows of your significant accomplishments.  If someone thanks you for a job well done, ask them to drop a quick note to your manager.  If the opportunity presents itself, make sure your manager’s manager knows who you are.  When you volunteer for organizational assignments ON TOP of your regular workload, you might find you have more opportunities to be seen.  If you aren’t visible, your name is just another regular old name on the employee list.

Any other recommendations for avoiding layoffs?

It’s amazing how long it has taken to get our refinancing completed.  It all stems from the massive way of people that jumped at the chance to get 30 year fixed loans at historic rates.  I had been worried about how long it was taking because I was worried our rate lock would expire.  Once my credit union assured me that they would extend the lock, I’ve kind of just been sitting back waiting without much thought.

Well, the lady from the credit union finally called today and said she has our loan documents complete and we are ready to go to escrow.  Originally I had been hoping to get the loan completed before the end of January.  She told me that today was the cutoff for January loans so I decided to wait to sign until next Monday.  By doing that, we won’t have our first payment until April 1st.  That’s appealing right now because we are saving for a new roof and we can use all the help we can get to build our savings account up further.  The reality is that we can afford to pay for the roof  now, but that would use a lot of our emergency fund (the roof is going to be very expensive because we are removing shake and putting on composition roofing, which my homeowners association requires to be top quality 50 year roofing).

So, being able to skip a payment for one month will help us get there that much quicker.  I’m still pretty giddy that we were able to lock in 4.875% for a 30 year fixed rate loan.  There were a few days where the rate was even lower than that, but we had already locked in.  Frankly, I never thought we’d see a rate that low, which is why I continue to be thrilled.