Is your Company Preparing for Layoffs?

Most companies are tight-lipped up until the last minute when it comes to announcing layoffs. Unfortunately, the shock of being laid off only makes losing your job that much worse. Dealing with the stress of layoffs is much easier if you have some advance warning. There’s no need to be continually worrying about the possibility that layoffs might be on the horizon, but having some awareness of the possible warning signs will leave you better prepared if they should occur.

• Management or executive-level restructuring, such as sudden resignation of senior employees
• Decrease in production levels or inventory
• Decreasing value of company stock
• Cancelled projects
• Termination of temporary staff or contractors
• A hiring freeze, or failure to replace employees who leave
• Departmental budget cutbacks or warnings to reduce spending
• Impending merger with another company
• Layoffs among competitors, customers or suppliers
• Rumors of work being outsourced to other companies

None of these signs are necessarily indicative of layoffs if they occur in isolation. For example, restructuring of management-level employees may indicate a change in direction for the company, but layoffs may not necessarily follow. Similarly, budget cutbacks might just mean that management has decided to reduce the waste of company resources. Any single event doesn’t always mean layoffs are coming—company production or sales often change with the seasons, and most companies are constantly looking for ways to reduce overheads.

However, if several of these warning signs occur within the same few months, it’s worth taking notice. For example, if several senior-level employees resign at the same time as management announces hiring freezes, budget cutbacks and a reduction in production levels that might very well be a cause for worry.

If you do find yourself in this situation, it might be prudent to start preparing for the possibility of losing your job. Until you know for sure that layoffs are coming there’s no real need to panic, but there are some easy and quick ways you can prepare yourself should the worst happen. Update your resume, brush up on your job-hunting skills—take the time to find out about new methods of job hunting such as Internet job sites—and start reestablishing network contacts that might be helpful if you need to find a new job.

Also, please review our Tools to Find a Job section.  If you need more help, please consider using a Career Counselor.