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HOW TO KEEP YOUR JOB: SURVIVING MERGERS, DOWNSIZING, AND RESTRUCTURES
October 8th, 2007
All industries are reinventing themselves these days. Both as businesses and as whole sectors, the workplace is changing, dramatically. Outsourcing has completely altered a lot of business practices. New technology has redesigned the office job, affecting administration work.
The bottom line is more can now be done with less people. That’s more of a two way street than it might appear. People can now increase their work value and productivity, too. The compensating factor for the work force is that employees can achieve a lot more, and get paid accordingly.
Even so, it’s a threatening environment for most people, and requires a different perspective to the “normal” job. Mergers, downsizing and restructuring are strategic moves by businesses, and need to be understood.
Mergers are a form of fusion. The natural result of putting two organizations together is that the management and administration merge, too. The production end will also change, depending on the needs of the new organization. So the risks for employees are spread across the spectrum. To survive this, the employee’s job obviously has to be viable in the new structure.
Downsizing is almost pure cost cutting, usually with an attempt to improve margins. It’s all about money, and the cuts are generally targeted at a cost center as much as a demographic view of the workforce. Wages are usually considered a major outlay, so wages are trimmed by shedding staff, and returns are improved by doing more with fewer staff.
Restructures are similar, redesigning the workplace, and these are also usually cost driven. Jobs are lost frequently because those positions become redundant. Restructures are more frequent than downsizing, and can happen on a smaller scale, at departmental or section level. Work can change dramatically, increasing the load without compensation to the remaining staff.
Adapt and survive
All three cases require some adaption to circumstances. The much-abused word “flexibility” is needed here. Some of these situations can get very complex, and being too inflexible can mean leaving yourself no room for maneuver. Survival also includes life choices beyond work related issues, and those can be tough, too.
The employee’s options for survival are:
- Remain in the same position, if it exists. This is the high risk choice, and in the present employment climate can only work if the organization retains existing functions.
- Upward and forward into a new position. Much better result, but requires reliable information and a position which the employee can reasonably expect to fill. It’s tricky, but it can be done.
- Downward and sideways. Safer in terms of retaining employment, but sometimes a better option so that the employee can adapt to the new structure.
Of those options, 1 is the position with the definite, built-in, risk. The existing job is if anything a liability, because it may not relate to the new organization at all. It’s quite common for jobs to be merged in downsizing, so of the two jobs, someone loses.
Option 2 is the ideal option, and for those with the skills, it’s a realistic possibility. Some people do profit from redesigned organizations, and benefit considerably. It’s probably the riskiest option, though.
Option 3 has some saving graces, and fewer risks than the others. Ongoing employment adds a few possibilities. Experienced workers, even if temporarily demoted or sidetracked, do speak the language of the industry, and don’t have to be hired/trained/retrained. From that perspective, they’re money savers, and their value, which is a known factor, works in their favor. Survival is easier.
That’s still a very limited series of options, and “keeping your job” often means getting another one. Downsizing and mergers are the most difficult situations to deal with, because of the level of uncertainty regarding any new operation, and the basic cost cutting nature of downsizing.
Tough choices
It’s essential to stay current about the workplace and the many elements which affect it. Downsizing is the result of those forces, and in some cases you can see it coming. A very useful survival skill is knowing the danger signs, and avoiding the train wreck.
There’s one other option, and it relates to a strategic career approach, going beyond the job and looking ahead, but it’s a very tough call:
Out.
Realistically, some industries are in serious decline, and downsizing is the symptom. Recent dramatic cuts were made by Chrysler, shedding 30 per cent
Photo Credit Anthony
3 Responses to “HOW TO KEEP YOUR JOB: SURVIVING MERGERS, DOWNSIZING, AND RESTRUCTURES”
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November 30th, 1999 at 12:00 am
This article touches on something we all need to consider: how valuable is the role that we play in our work environment? We all need to be indispensable and flexible, able to do lots of things and be highly productive. Or else we might just get canned. That might also be part of why I am a workaholic? I am driven by making a ridiculously long list and trying to get as much done as I can, maybe some other crazed fiend liked the concept and thought that is how we are all supposed to operate? But that is what is happening in the workplace.
November 30th, 1999 at 12:00 am
Think about it from another angle though…while the worker-myself included-is wondering how to survive a merger, hostile takeover etc. etc…think about the person or people that just bought the company. Maybe you as a worker was a great thing for the previous company but they are going to a new direction now that you cant simply follow. If you are a weak link to any company they should have the right to fire you.
November 13th, 2007 at 5:26 am
This is why I am scared about losing my job. This seems to be happening a lot and affecting all kinds of businesses, not just one particular sector. If there is a way to behave, I’ll try it. I just don’t want to be unemployed.