I work for a small Interactive Agency of twenty-four people. This is a company that managed to survive the dot-com bust and, like any company, has good times and bad times. Our president always makes every effort to keep great people, even if it means cutting her own salary. I consider myself lucky to have found a place there, not only because I love my work, but for the atmosphere and common sense of purpose.
Now, I consider myself even luckier. Yesterday, instead of twenty-four people, there were twenty-six. We simply don’t have enough work in process to keep going the way we were, so the management team had to find $60,000 a month to cut out of our operating costs. We had to let go of two project coordinators, ’cause we simply didn’t have enough to keep them busy.
Less drastic, but more personal, is the 10% salary cut that will affect everyone else for the foreseeable future. This will bring my before-tax salary of $80k to around $72k. I’m not going to complain about this. $72,000 a year is a lot of money, especially considering I don’t work under hazardous conditions, or with unruly children, and I don’t have to take steroids to stay competitive.
However, this will require my wife and I to tweak our budget somewhat. $72,000 is a huge salary for someone with no debts; unfortunately I am not that someone. It was that extra $8,000 that was enabling me to make so much progress toward finally erasing my credit card debt that began in 1997. As of today, the balance is down to $3,522. My first instinct for modifying the budget is to say, “Okay, let’s just ignore that credit card until things get better.” I know that’s not wise. The last finance charge on the card was about $37, and if I start making just the minimum payments each month, that number will just get bigger and bigger. It’s a complete waste of money.
But there are other considerations, too. My wife and I have things we want to do this year. In fact, we’ve already paid more than $1,000 to go to a conference in California, but we haven’t arranged any plane tickets or figured out where we’re going to stay for the vacation days when we’re not at the conference itself. And then there’s the pet sitter, the meals in nice restaurants, etc.
Or maybe this is the kick in the pants that I need in order to spend more time working on my freelance work. Given the different ways that a salary and freelance work are taxed, in order to make up the difference, I’d need to earn about $1,000 a month (putting half away for taxes the next April). I don’t imagine that’s going to happen anytime soon, but it does give me something to work toward. Flexo is always happy to have me write more for this site, and there’s a side business in Web Analytics that I’ve been flirting with. My two pro bono clients (I wanted to practice) have been thrilled with my work so far, so maybe it’s time I start courting paying clients.
As I said, I can’t really complain about my cut in salary. If it weren’t for the two car loans from 2006 and my history of dumb materialism, my wife and I would have quite a bit saved up. I have faith we’ll get to a point of having a three-month buffer, but it won’t be this year.
Despite the fact that my company is squarely within the financial sector, we have so far been immune to massive layoffs taking place around the country, particularly in this industry. While I have something to “fall back” on — and actually, in terms of pure numbers, I could probably do better by leaving my day job and focusing on my independence more — I’d prefer not to be laid off. I like the people with whom I work, and my management attempts to keep me happy and slightly challenged.
I’m not immune to being laid off if the company decides this is the path to take. I could make myself irreplaceable by hoarding knowledge, refusing to delegate responsibilities, and holding my skills hostage. This irreplaceability is often cited as the best way to avoid layoffs. If the business can’t function without you, they won’t let you go. But when it comes down to the way corporations work, everyone is replaceable, from the mail room letter sorter to the chief executive officer. So forget “making yourself irreplaceable.”
Money Magazine has some suggestions for keeping your job amidst layoffs in a manner that will benefit the employee and the organization in the long run.
- Make sure higher-ups know you by solving problems and taking on high-profile projects.
- Share client leads or ideas to generate revenue even if that’s not part of your responsibilities.
- Hang out with the people the boss respects most. The halo of their good reputation may extend to you.
- Keep on top of advances in your field and expand your expertise beyond your core area.
- Look for problem spots that you can help fix. And pitch in whenever extra hands are needed.
- Volunteering to take a pay cut during an industrywide downturn can make you look like a hero.
Notice that all of these tips involve prioritizing the team ahead of the individual. Rather than thinking about yourself and how to protect your job, these tips focus on increasing your value to the organization. You win not by hoarding knowledge, but by sharing, giving, and volunteering, and by being a “team player.”
It’s possible to take these to the extreme. When you give yourself completely to your company, it’s possible to lose a part of yourself. I’ve seen this happen in the non-profit where I once worked. Our small team was a group of individuals highly dedicated to the mission, but none were more dedicated than the executive director. He had very high expectations for everyone’s dedication. In order to success in this organization, employees were required to live and breathe their job, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. It’s impossible to avoid allowing your identity to become nothing but your job under these circumstances. And rather than holding onto the best employees, turnover at this organization was high.
Even when not taken to this extreme, concentrating on the Good of the Company makes it more difficult to concentrate on the Needs of the Individual. You can see this when you are sent to attend classes or seminars. If you find yourself at more management seminars run by Tom Peters, who professes management skills that focus on the organization as a whole, than the classes you attend to foster growth in areas that are important to you, you may be losing balance.
The pervailing thought right now is that those of us who have jobs are lucky, and shouldn’t look to employers for anything other than keeping our jobs. This is certainly do to the economic environment — it is an employers’ market right now. This attitude displayed by employers will backfire when the tables turn and companies begin seeking talented employees again. Workers must adapt to the current environment, and right now that may mean sucking it up and following some of these tips from Money Magazine so they are well-positioned when the job market returns.
Fireproof your job, Donna Rosato, Money Magazine, January 15, 2009.
August 8 update: This is now confirmed.
This is unconfirmed but in the last few hours, two employees at TIAA-CREF have written to Consumerism Commentary to share the knowledge that workers in the the Charlotte, North Carolina office are being laid off by management at this very moment. The layoffs began on Monday and will reportedly affect 10% of the workforce.
There have been no media reports yet and no official word from the company. TIAA-CREF has been plagued with customer service problems for the last several years and changes in executive management during that time period has not solved the problems.
Many people, including public school teachers, have no choice but to invest with TIAA-CREF inside 401(k) and 403(b) plans.
The Charlotte Business Journal reported TIAA-CREF laid off 158 out of the city’s total 2,850 employees.
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