ASK HR: A wise employee plans for life beyond employment

Q. I was recently laid off from a manufacturing multinational where I held a managerial position.

In hindsight, I think corporate life is passing and unreal – I had the impression that all was well until I was suddenly thrown into a world for which I was least prepared. It has been difficult.

What advice would you give those who are still in the rat race?

Every so often, companies declare redundancies driven by a variety of factors, including the need to hem in spiralling manpower costs, to pave way for kindling desired cultural change, to streamline its form and enable it better face the headwinds of looming changes, among other factors.

In general, redundancies are usually related to the survival and, or success of an organisation.
While they have an obligation to take care of their employees, businesses are built at the behest of shareholders whose interests primarily entail a return on their investment.

It is no wonder that in the pursuit of success, businesses may readily instigate changes such as laying off staff, even when doing so spells adverse personal repercussions for affected employees.

RETIREMENT

Few if any organisations guarantee jobs until their employees reach retirement age.

Similarly, employees rarely pledge irrevocable loyalty to organisations.

The corporate landscape is therefore home to shorter employment tenures, which places organisations under pressure to retain and take advantage of talent while it remains within their realm and goads employees to, in the same vein, make hay while the sun shines.

While it has its fair share of travails, the life of a typical senior corporate citizen can often be laced with a degree of comfort, convenience and consistency that might be unavailable to the average worker elsewhere.

Once inside such a corporate bubble, an individual may be inclined to forget the thickness of its wall.

Unless one deliberately plans for likely disruption and life beyond employment, it is disconcerting to be abruptly ejected out of the corporate orbit into an uncharted firmament.

The bell could ring at any time. Keep learning and upgrading your skills. Perform. Relate well with others. Save and invest. Consider creating extra income streams.

Forge an identity and brand beyond your employer, be Simon, not just Simon of Rodents Ltd, a pilgrim, not a settler in the corporate world. Businesses contemplate and plan for a future without you, should you not plan for a life beyond the rat race?

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