The death of job security

 

Coach Dan asks employers and employees to always be on their toes, ready to adapt to change and be street smart in an ever-changing business environment.

What is the greatest fear among American workers? The fear of keeping steady jobs the rest of their lives. And, this fear is eroding personal lives, impacting our economy and creating a society that is increasingly getting pessimistic despite living in an age of great opportunity.

Let us rewind three decades. Most folks worked eight to five, had a predictable income and practiced saving. There was something called “stability” in their lives. However, in the post-industrial revolution era, things started changing dramatically. There have been rapid changes in the global economy and over the last two decades we’ve seen America and the rest of the world live in an increasingly interdependent job market. The creation of knowledge workers, the rise of China and other developing economies and the eroding strength of labor unions has led to an era of stiff competition and rapid scalability of new ideas.

Irrespective of whether you are an employer or an employee, your success today depends on how fast you learn, how you adapt and how you implement our ideas rapidly in a fast changing business landscape. A Gallup Poll conducted in early 2013 stated that almost 44% of low-income American workers were afraid of losing their jobs compared to 19% in 2008.

Despite this doom and gloom, I believe that there is tremendous opportunity and the definition of job security has shifted from predictable, steady streams of income to being agile and quick to act in making your business successful. In the case of employees, it is fully reliant on the way you learn new things at work and make changes fast.

We are seeing new businesses enter and exit fast. We are seeing traditional jobs getting outdated, some disappearing altogether while there are new and exciting ones starting to crop up. There is immense opportunity. Guaranteed. But how do we sort the grain from the chaff?

It is very simple. Have clarity in what you do, be optimistic and try and follow these simple principles whether you are a business owner or an employee:

• Be very clear on what you want to accomplish
• Write down your goals and objectives
• Develop a solid work ethic
• Train, retrain and constantly keep an eye on where your industry is moving

And, please note that I am open for business and I help people keep their jobs in any market. I want to steer you in the right direction irrespective of any economy.
Be great!
Coach Dan.