The Myth of Job Security

The rampaging economic crisis and gale of job layoffs across all sectors are gradually laying to rest, the myth of job security. The term “mind your business” is beginning to take on a whole new meaning. It is no longer out of place to start your business in your free time. Rather than wait to be laid off from your job, you can fire your boss.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the rise of the information age, jobs have become borderless. Defined pension plans gave way to contributory pension plans. The term “downsizing” was invented: a euphemism for layoffs or retrenchment. A kinder way of saying goodbye to loyal workers when the bottom line begins to buckle.

To the entrepreneur, putting your financial future in the hands of your employer makes no sense. Your local economy depends on the almighty payday. Any planned improvement to your standard of living is dependent on a pay raise. If a promised or inferred promotion fails to come through, well-laid-up plans go up in smoke.

There is nothing called job security anymore. Companies like Microsoft that are still profitable are cutting jobs due to lower-than-expected profit forecasts. People are losing jobs based on profit forecasts, and event that is yet to happen. By the time the accounting year comes to an end, and the actual profits are higher than forecast, those hapless folks will not be called back from the unemployment queue.

Times have changed

The fact that job security no longer exists is not news. Job cuts are not an invention of the 21st century. The fact that it has not struck home with such force had lulled folks into a state of complacency. For a lot of folks, their day job is their sole source of income, If that source dries up, they are in a financial crisis, which may result in homelessness.

Having only one single stream of income is like driving a car without insurance. You may get away with it most of the time, but it is a risky way to live. Like countries that depend on one sole source of income, anytime that source is adversely affected by events outside their control, they are at the mercy of the IMF and lending institutions.

Common sense demands that you do not put all your eggs in one basket, even if that basket is fully under your control. That is why companies invest in different product lines.

Workers of multinational companies in sectors like upstream oil and gas, and telecoms feel they are aboard the Titanic, and no force on earth and in heaven can sink it. Their jobs are secure, they can never be downsized. Nothing is further from the truth. No sector is immune to the economic crisis. Oil producers have started downsizing projects, and personnel will be the logical next step if oil prices don’t recover fast. With Obama in the White House, renewable energy is gradually going to replace fossil fuels, and demand for oil will not rise as previously anticipated.

Your job can be cut

In the case of telecom companies, since they don’t operate on Mars, people will cut back on calls, and rely more on text and emails as the crisis bites harder. This will affect the bottom line, and some of them will see the need to share facilities rather than duplicate masts across the landscape. Some functions will be outsourced and personnel will ultimately become leaner and more mobile in order to retain stakeholder return on investment.

No job is secure, except for CEOs that hold 51% equity in the business and hence cannot be fired by the board except by the marketplace. The fear of embarking on a new venture is keeping folks frozen. They don’t want to fail at something, hence they succeed at nothing. For folks that earn fat salaries, small beginnings look unattractive compared to their fat cat lifestyle. If the returns are nothing compared to their current pay, there is no point wasting their precious time.

A family depending on earned income is a few months away from bankruptcy. All it takes is “I regret to inform you …” and the party is over. Failure to take control of your financial future can be very costly, in some cases, fatal. It is never too late to begin to mind your own business.