What to Do When You are Being Downsized

We all have been to the company meeting (probably within the last 6-8 months) where some important-looking guy in a tie who we’ve never seen before looks around the room and lets everyone know that the company has decided to take measures to stop company waste, increase efficiency, and do more with what few dollars are left floating about. 

Your company may bring in a consultant to break the news to you, or maybe the President or CEO decides to join the meeting and lay it all out on the table.  Either way, the results are the same.  We (the employees) all begin stumbling around the office chattering about how we hope it isn’t us that gets the axe.  Whining and nervous facial tics ensue and before long the entire work landscape is filled with blank faces; everyone too worried about the status of their current role to actually perform their current role.

Rather than getting caught up in this non-productive stream of self-doubt, worry and nastiness perhaps we should take a close look at what it is we’re all so worried about.  Here are some questions you should ask yourself before you begin to panic.  The answers may help you to ease the pain, pick a direction and come out ahead of the pack.

1. Is your job or career really worth fighting for?
Often times when a department is downsizing and suddenly there are only going to be 3 of us instead of 5, we begin combating our co-workers for the available slots.  It becomes a cruel game of Musical Chairs and the ones left without a seat are shown the door and given a final check.  But is all the stress and struggle really worth it? 

If you wake up each morning and feel enlivened at the idea of going to your job, you feel real and true passion about what you’re doing and you can’t imagine doing anything else then by all means put up a FIGHT.  But if you don’t… maybe it’s time that you give your desk to someone who might enjoy the work and use this opportunity to take a step towards a career that will spark your passion in addition to bringing you a paycheck.

2. Do you work well with those around you?
Chances are if you are going through downsizing you are going to be doing the work of two people while getting a single paycheck.  This means that you are going to need to ask for more support from the other people in your department in order to meet deadlines, and likewise will be asked to partner with them when they have a big project.  This means you will need to communicate more, complain less and really work well as a group.

Take a good look at the people in the office around you.  Are they people that you enjoy being around?  Is your group going to be made up of the team-players who share the glory of a job well done, or do you see it becoming over-run with people who take credit when none is due?  If you find yourself surrounded by the latter, perhaps it’s time to make a move to a position where you will be valued and rewarded for your hard work.

 3. Does your skill-set translate well to other work?
Many of us get caught in the panic of downsizing because we feel like there is nothing else we can do.  We have been managing the same set of people or accounts for so long that we forget that we have skills that we don’t use, or we don’t realize that we could use those same skills in another arena.

Before your anxiety gets the best of you, pull out an old resume and really review your experience.  Maybe you worked at a Tech Support call center two years, worked as a bank teller for three years, and you’ve been working in outside sales ever since.  All three of your positions had you talking with customers regularly, solving their problems and working with them to find new solutions.  You can easily expand your potential job search to any position that will allow you to do these same things.  It doesn’t mean that you have to go back to what you were doing before – it means you can move ahead with the skills you have learned and apply them in a new way.

 4. Is your department downsizing while another department is growing?
Before you get into the wild-goose-chase of job hunting, take a look around your current company for another open position. Often times while sales departments dwindle, customer retention and service departments grow.  Departments focused on production may go on hiatus until development groups are formed to find a new niche (and more demand) in the market.

A great resource in looking internally for another position is your immediate supervisor.  Ask him or her to sit down with you and outline your skills and knowledge that will translate well into another position, and then ask them to recommend you for an internal transfer.  This saves the company time and money by removing the need to recruit new bodies, and pads your resume by showing that you are an employee worth keeping.

5. Take a look at the big picture and make sure that the company is still headed in the same direction that you are.
Sometimes we get so focused on the task at hand that we lose sight of the “big picture”.  Maybe when we first started out at our current company we wanted to move up the ladder and become a big executive working out of a corner office, or we wanted to position ourselves solidly as the go-to person for a Fortune 500 company.  Unfortunately, after spending so much time in one job function we sometimes lose our focus and forget our original goals.  We might also have become so enamored with our immediate co-workers that we have neglected to notice that the culture of the rest of the company has begun to change. 

One thing to make sure of during any downsizing or restructuring is that the overall goals the company is trying to reach are also going to help you reach your personal goals.  Is this change in your work environment giving you the opportunity to expand your skills and take one more step towards that corner office?  More importantly, do you still want the corner office, or have you found that what you really love is developing new skills and training others?  Are you working for a capital of industry but have found over the years that environmental studies are really your passion? 

When sitting down with your supervisor to discuss your current and potential roles in the company, take the opportunity to also discuss how the company is helping you (or not helping you) to reach your goals as well.  You might be surprised to find that the company is not a good fit for you, even if your supervisor feels that you are a good fit for the company.

In the end, keep an even keel and you will find yourself making it through these troubled times stronger and wiser.  As they say, when one door closes another opens.  Keep your eyes open for new opportunities and take this time to sort out whether it is your life’s calling or simply a paycheck that has been keeping you where you are.  You may just find that this is the push that gets you out of your rut and into a more rewarding working experience.

Check out these other articles by Denise Kawaii:
Seven New Years Resolutions You Should Keep
Ten Things That Will Keep You From Losing Ten Pounds