It’s Hard to get Fired Today

Learnings that could apply to Indian and other job  markets as well.

It’s Hard to get Fired Today!
(some perspectives from Wall Street Journal – May 19, 2022)

The Pandemic has somewhat changed the paradigm for employees.

Getting Fired takes Harder Work, today.

Employers more likely to keep people on their teams, who wouldn’t make it in a looser market.

The difficulty in finding a better replacement leads organisations to put up with poorer performance.

To add a little humour and exaggeration,  employees need only a ‘Pulse’ (stay awake) to stay above water.

You may have to be incredibly bad to get fired.

This is more so in sectors like Finance, Education, Healthcare,  IT and public services.

Even though companies have diverse tools to track employee productivity, they are more likely tolerate mediocrity today.

Employees are less afraid to call in sick since they WFH.

For the same reason, it’s easier to care for sick children and aging parents.

Companies worried about recruitment think  ‘Bird in Hand’ management.

Onboarding was always expensive. Hybrid working has made it even more so.

Organisations are more likely to upskill capabilities of existing employees.

Or move them to positions, where they could perform better.

The flip side is that, this is no  reason for employees to slack off.

Indian as well as US unemployment rate is still hovering around the 13-14% mark.

Remember: How bad can you afford to be, before being laid off?

Economists are still warning of
increase in unemployment, layoffs and retrenchment in future.

Senior executives posting disappointing results, may be more in jeopardy, because their failures are costlier.

Companies willing to put up with sub par performance may soon realise that, this will prompt good people to look elsewhere.

At a time when low performers may avoid hard consequences, better performers could lose out on incentives.

Organisations will see the truth that showing top performers the bottom if what you’ll tolerate doesn’t work well.

Why should I do my best anyway? – will soon be the question.

✅Do share your perspectives in the comments.