concerned about your job?
 

With all the layoffs and the economy still headed downwards, are you concerned about possibly losing your job? Do you have a backup plan in place?

Re: concerned about your job?
 

Geez this is like talking about DUI's when you are at the bar. Bad karma.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

Our health system is preparing to make somewhat major job cuts. They're planning on cutting 6% of expenses, which would mostly have to come from job cuts.

I'm friggin awesome at my job (what, Schneed be modest??) and have been told by my superiors that I'm in good shape. But some of my colleagues are sweatin it.

The hardest part about it for people is wondering when the axe is going to fall. Having it hanging over our heads is the hardest part. If they need to cut 6% of people, they should do it quickly because 94% of us don't need to be worrying, and ending that fear for those 94% is in everybody's best interests.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

General notes though. This economic climate highlights the importance of saving for a rainy day and managing your finances efficiently and frugally.

While I feel safe in my job, there's always the chance (though slim) that senior management could wipe out our entire department. But by living like a cheapskate I've built up a good savings cushion to help me deal with the unknown. And even though I feel safe, having that cushion there makes me feel even safer. Having savings to fall back on is the best backup plan.

I also do the math on my monthly budget fairly regularly. I know that my savings could last 8 months to support my family's basic monthly expenses. It's important for everyone to know that number, their "days cash on hand".

Building savings is easier said than done sometimes, that is not lost on me. But it's incredibly important, if for no other reason than letting you sleep easier at night.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

I consider myself extremely lucky to be in the situation I'm in. I've worked for a Consulting/Management Services Firm for 4 1/2 years, that has multiple contracts with the Federal Government. And while I do not charge to said contracts (I think I will be again shortly, I came off a contract in Sep 07 and pulled into the corporate office), I feel somewhat safe given that I am one of 2 IT people supporting a company of 250 employees (40+ of which work in corporate sites that we are directly responsible for doing desktop support, hardware/software installation, while supporting server maintenance, email/domain services for our company plus multiple clients).

They have also encouraged me to take as much training as I can fit in this year, so I am going to start working towards my Microsoft Certification and fit a web class or 2 in.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

Nope!

I'd love to elaborate, but I can't.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

They move me where they need to. Seeing how they can use me in three departments I'm not worried. My company didn't need any of the bailout money so we're good.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

No because I got an agent, OK he's a header-hunter, by the name Justin in my corner. I had lunch with him 6 weeks ago to assess the market and he assured me that if I want to play ball he'll find me a court to play on. He has come through 3 times already, no sense in doubting him now. It does help I'm his star player too :p

I am worried about the general market though.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=Angry;529390]Nope!

I'd love to elaborate, but I can't.[/quote]


CIA? FBI? NSA? or the DMV?

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=saden1;529427]CIA? FBI? NSA? or the DMV?[/quote]

HAHA Funny!

Re: concerned about your job?
 

Escort services?

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=hooskins;529433]Escort services?[/quote]

Cold.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

My company has had two rounds of layoffs in five months. I guess the only thing left to do is close the doors all together.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=12thMan;529458]My company has had two rounds of layoffs in five months. I guess the only thing left to do is close the doors all together.[/quote]

My brother worked for Circuit City in Richmond. Got out two weeks before they announced they were liquidating.

He ended up landing a job that actually paid him more. Good timing I guess. Go figure.

Never hurts to keep your eyes peeled, good luck!

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=Schneed10;529464]My brother worked for Circuit City in Richmond. Got out two weeks before they announced they were liquidating.

He ended up landing a job that actually paid him more. Good timing I guess. Go figure.

Never hurts to keep your eyes peeled, good luck![/quote]

That was a big blow to the Richmond area. We also shut down a chip manufacturer called Quimunda and Capital One has been laying off people for awhile. Phillip Morris was going to open a plant in Yorktown but Cain the all knowing passed anti smoking laws.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

I take solace in the fact that dropping me as a contractor is not nearly worth the time it would take to send me an email letting me know I'm being cut.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

i work for alcoa, so yeah, im worried. most cold blooded place i have ever worked :(

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=dmek25;529527]i work for alcoa, so yeah, im worried. most cold blooded place i have ever worked :([/quote]

Ever work for Progressive?

Re: concerned about your job?
 

Anybody wanting to work at a small university in Lexington, VA is in luck... We are not only hiring, but this year everyone's bitching because we get only 3.5% raise this year rather than 5%.

Come on down!

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=TheMalcolmConnection;529538]Anybody wanting to work at a small university in Lexington, VA is in luck... We are not only hiring, but this year everyone's bitching because we get only 3.5% raise this year rather than 5%.

Come on down![/quote]

How much are we talking about and what for?

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=Mattyk72;529532]Ever work for Progressive?[/quote]


I heard Progressive is one of the worst companies to work for. I made the mistake of switching from Geico to them a few years back had a small accident and OMG what a nightmare trying to get my car back and fixed right.

BTW- All they had to do was replace the front bumber. Their wonderful conceiger (sp) service was the worst ever. [I]"Just leave the car we will take care of everything else. " [/I]Yeah right...

Re: concerned about your job?
 

i work for the government... they send me places... all expenses paid to, so i don't even notice there's a recession.

except it killed my roth ira or is preventing me from re-financing to a lower mortgage rate even though i've never missed a payment, been fired, have a guaranteed job, 800+ credit and all that fun stuff, which is stupid.

overall, i'm not really worried at all. not until the sky starts falling i guess.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=mredskins;529550][B]I heard Progressive is one of the worst companies to work for.[/B] I made the mistake of switching from Geico to them a few years back had a small accident and OMG what a nightmare trying to get my car back and fixed right.

BTW- All they had to do was replace the front bumber. Their wonderful conceiger (sp) service was the worst ever. [I]"Just leave the car we will take care of everything else. " [/I]Yeah right...[/quote]

Trust me they are.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=Trample the Elderly;529542]How much are we talking about and what for?[/quote]

IT and Development and it's based on experience.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

I'm worried, but at the same time I hate my job and I'd like to find a new one. I work for a marketing company that does work for retail companies and banks so we've lost a lot of business over the last year or so. The company has had to lay people off every couple of months since last April but my office has been relatively safe since we generate revenue. In fact, I've been more busy for the past 3 weeks than at any other point since I've been with the company, so I'd be a little surprised if they let me go any time soon.

I have a pretty healthy bank account (and you people laughed at me for living in my parents' basement for 4 years after college), I'm still young, and I could easily budget to limit my expenses so if I did lose my job I'd be okay for a little while. If it went too long before I rebounded I guess I could try man-whoring. Or I could just move back into my parents' basement.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

Well for me to loose my business the shit really has to hit the fan. I own my own business which is not a franchise but along the same lines. I had two others within a mile of me either way which both have closed as the guys retired. That has really helped my business and last year was one of my better years and I made more money then anytime before. The good news for me is that the company is not looking to grow in our area so they will not be replacing either one of those offices any time soon.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=firstdown;529658]Well for me to loose my business the shit really has to hit the fan. I own my own business which is not a franchise but along the same lines. I had two others within a mile of me either way which both have closed as the guys retired. That has really helped my business and last year was one of my better years and I made more money then anytime before. The good news for me is that the company is not looking to grow in our area so they will not be replacing either one of those offices any time soon.[/quote]

what business? company name? just curious.

and for the record, since being back in the NoVA area, it really doesn't look or seem like the recession has hit here at all. traffic is still terrible, restaurants are still overpacked. I drove past a bunch of places (on my 1000 roadtrip from florida) that really aren't doing so well.

I honestly think some companies are just using this as cover to fire people/cut jobs they've been thinking about cutting anyways.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

the company i worked for trained me to do five different jobs in three departments. I was the most versatile person they had, and I was even trained to do all of the chemistry in the quality control lab. I was the only person who had been trained in the lab since the company began. I leveraged that early last year in order to max out my pay scale in a very short amount of time. Looks like that backfired.

For the record I saw this coming as they had closed a couple of plants altogether. I knew I was expendable because I didn't really have a position, I just floated around and made sure things got done, and made more money than the people doing the work. There were several supervisors let go (I wasnt one, but acted in that capacity to some extent) as they had a problem with far too many chiefs in the tribe.

I put a lot of money back last summer working as much overtime as I could and working for my own company on foreclosed homes for Realtors that I know. I'm set for a few months if I need to be, but I would like to find something soon. Im going a little stir crazy. I would be happy, however if I could fully support myself and my family with my business alone, and I am gladly taking this opportunity to invest time and money into it.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=ArtMonkDrillz;529650]If it went too long before I rebounded I guess I could try man-whoring. Or I could just move back into my parents' basement.[/quote]

Couldn't you do both? Doing that in your parents' basement really limits overhead.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=That Guy;529746]what business? company name? just curious.

and for the record, since being back in the NoVA area, it really doesn't look or seem like the recession has hit here at all. traffic is still terrible, restaurants are still overpacked. I drove past a bunch of places (on my 1000 roadtrip from florida) that really aren't doing so well.

I honestly think some companies are just using this as cover to fire people/cut jobs they've been thinking about cutting anyways.[/quote]

I have an insurance agency for one of the large national companies which I perfer not to mention. Our area Tidewater Va. (thats the Norfolk / Va Beach area) has actually not lost any jobs with this down turn in the economy. Thats not saying that people have not been laid off but we have been creating jobs just as fast as people are loosing their jobs.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

Like That Guy, I work for the gov't. I used to work for Booz Allen Hamilton, but the government came to me and offered a job to which I accepted. My job was very safe with BAH, but is now ultra safe with the gov't. I received a large pay increase, with a guaranteed grade promotion after one year, so the decision was a no brainer in the end.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

We just had another round of layoffs today that hit my office pretty hard. Two guys who do the same job as I do were let go, and I am essentially taking over one of their jobs while my old accounts are being spread around to different people. Basically, my job just got eliminated so they had me replace someone else. That's sort of bittersweet I guess.

Well, I better get back to work. Today is not the day to have people see me slacking.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

While my job is totally safe it's not much consolation. As someone else mentioned I think companies have taken advantage of the situation to cut salaries, benefits and bonuses and even some positions [I]and squeeze the rest of the bunch to just work harder for less[/I]. Actually, i tend to think lots and lots of companies are doing this.

So I'd like to find a new job w/ a new company but will almost certainly have to wait till '10. On the bigger picture I feel just horrible for all those who've lost good jobs in manufacturing of all kinds and now don't really have the skill set to pick up where they left off. My sincerest hope is the new government makes short-term unemployment more livable in conjunction w/ re-tooling, back to school programs. IMO this country is short on technical labor in a whole variety of fields... every kid coming out of college gets an f'ing business degree of some kind. Anyway I'm just saying the folks who were previously in manufacturing or other blue-collar jobs are probably well suited to re-tool in the technical job sector but we need the programs in place to foster that transition.

... lastly I think we may be on the verge of a pretty significant group-think shift. How many have heard that UBS has been helping something like 47,000 Americans cheat on their taxes? Keep in mind these are probably the very wealthiest among us and their tax burden in all likelihood tops out at 15% because we're talking about cap gains, dividends, etc. I've had a few clients, friends and acquaintances mention this and from what I can tell people are finally getting sick of the super rich getting away w/ every kind of tax evasion while most of the rest of us pay our taxes. Personally, i think the feds should demand UBS cooperate or face massive, say 75% tax on company profits, penalties if they refuse. Pundits always remark if we do this the wealthy will leave the country and go where they can get away w/ anything... so, let them go.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=The Goat;535272]While my job is totally safe it's not much consolation. As someone else mentioned I think companies have taken advantage of the situation to cut salaries, benefits and bonuses and even some positions [I]and squeeze the rest of the bunch to just work harder for less[/I]. Actually, i tend to think lots and lots of companies are doing this.

[/quote]


Of course this is what they do. They are in business to make money. They do not exist to ensure your well being. They are not your mummy. Second place is a set of steak knives. Third place is you're fired.

On the plus side, that non-contributing zero that you could never figure out how he keeps his job finally has to hit the bricks.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=ArtMonkDrillz;533282]We just had another round of layoffs today that hit my office pretty hard. Two guys who do the same job as I do were let go, and I am essentially taking over one of their jobs while my old accounts are being spread around to different people. Basically, my job just got eliminated so they had me replace someone else. That's sort of bittersweet I guess.

Well, I better get back to work. Today is not the day to have people see me slacking.[/quote]

AMD will never be fired from an office job, because everyone that works in an office loves the funny guy. It's one of the few things that people who work in an office can look forward too - a good laugh provided by the office clown. I've always felt that this was the best job security.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=70Chip;535283][B]Of course this is what they do. They are in business to make money. They do not exist to ensure your well being. They are not your mummy. Second place is a set of steak knives. Third place is you're fired. [/B]

On the plus side, that non-contributing zero that you could never figure out how he keeps his job finally has to hit the bricks.[/quote]

Don't be pithy... the larger point is that as companies squeeze their people it directly accentuates the macroeconomic contraction, as we have less to spend on the things that keep other people employed, but overall the "savings" has limited benefit toward the long term prosperity of the company because the people who got the shaft are the same ones it will rely on after the storm. At this point over half of those I work w/ directly each day have already set in motion plans to exit the company... and their talent/knowledge/specific skill set is not easily replaced. So in the long run there is no benefit to the company and maybe even some residual damage, but the executive(s) get some benefit in the short run. Bottom line is this is the age old principal-agent dichotomy of managers doing what is best for them in the very short run and rather ignoring what is best in the long run for the whole operation. It's a matter of business strategy not sour grapes.

Re: concerned about your job?
 

in my opinion, this is why unions will eventually make a comeback

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=dmek25;535295]in my opinion, this is why unions will eventually make a comeback[/quote]

What leverage would they have, it's not like firms have the money. Ever try to get blood from a stone?

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=Schneed10;535309]What leverage would they have, it's not like firms have the money. Ever try to get blood from a stone?[/quote]

that's why they invented bloodstone ;).

Re: concerned about your job?
 

[quote=The Goat;535286]Don't be pithy... [/quote]

I think "glib" would have been a better word. I was being glib. A psychologist gave me a Rorschach test once and wound up calling me a "glib bastard" before storming out of the room. True story.

Or, you're Cindy Brady and you were tring to say, "Don't be pissy..."