An insecure job; a crisis at the workplace

The feeling of insecurity in your job or role can be a huge crisis at the workplace. The mental wellness of the employee would be deeply affected by this crisis. How many of us go through this crisis in the corporate world?

Here are some of the reasons why one could become insecure in their job. 

1. Low Skills: The feeling that one is not skilled enough may reduce one’s confidence levels and may lead to an insecure feeling.
2. Redundant role: Automation and other advanced technology skills can make the role redundant or make it obsolete. 
3. Non-empathetic and Insecure Leaders: Most people leave their bosses, not their jobs. Many leave the non-conducive culture of the organization built by leaders.
4. Low Financial Health of the Organization or Business Unit: When an organization or a business unit does not perform in terms of top-line and bottom-line, it would affect the morale of employees which would lead to a crisis at the workplace.
5. Mid-life career crisis – Choosing a career which is not your genuine interest will lead to disengagement in work and may lead to a crisis at the workplace.

Low Skills and Redundant Roles are problems that are within our control. One can upskill or cross-skill themselves to resolve this problem. Continuous learning should become a habit for all employees to keep themselves abreast of the current trends. Quick learning has become a new normal. How quickly one can learn and apply new technologies is more favoured than somebody with super expertise in legacy technology skills.

Leaders have all the power to construct or destroy the morale of employees in an organization. There are leaders who build camaraderie in teams and would bring people together to achieve results and then there are leaders who suck the energy out of people, micromanage, and make hurtful decisions to achieve goals at the expense of the team’s morale.

How would you manage the problem of the latter, the non-empathetic and insecure leaders, being the reason for the insecure feelings of employees? Can you even think of reporting to a cruel boss, a problem which could be beyond your circle of influence? The employee will be helpless and may have to quickly look out for other options.  

Spot an Idiot

While I was browsing through the various posts on LinkedIn, I came across a video titled, ‘How do you spot an idiot?’

Mr. J B Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, is seen delivering this speech at a convocation ceremony at Northwestern University. The video was interesting as he clearly articulated his thoughts.

“If you want to spot an idiot, look for the person who is cruel.”  

“Cruelty is the means to gain power, but empathy and compassion are considered weak.”

He closes his speech by saying. “The kindest person in the room is the smartest.”

I looked up for the video on YouTube and found the same. Please find the link below.

So how about the leaders we work with in Organizations; Are they kind or cruel?

Kind and empathetic leaders would build a cohesive team, where the team members feel safe and secure in their jobs while cruel leaders make teams dysfunctional.

Can we say with certainty, that the feeling of insecurity – the crisis at the workplace, stems from leaders who are cruel and unkind? 

Crisis Scenario

What would you do if you had a difficult manager, a boss, a so-called leader who is non-empathetic? One who makes all decisions unilaterally. A manager who is vengeful and takes sides. A leader who might be strongly opinionated does not bother about the team and their well-being.

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When the crisis at the workplace is due to the financial performance of the organization, it becomes very stressful. The job insecurity would be for all the employees and the morale of the entire organization will be affected. An economic meltdown in a country can bring in this scenario despite the organization having a sound financial management process and an aggressive customer-acquiring team.  There are organizations that have come out of this with leaders being resilient with strategic objectives and key results.

Being a behavioural trainer from Learning and Development, I have met many people in my line of work, who have shared their interest in moving to a completely different line of career. They lose interest in the middle of their career and would want to change. It’s the midlife career crisis. It is essential to understand your interests while choosing your first job. It is confusing for many youngsters to understand and recognize their calling to choose a career of their choice. Introspection is the key.

I have personally moved careers from production-technical to training. I enjoy my work now as I changed my career much early in my life. 

So, the feeling of insecurity about jobs could arise due to various reasons beyond your control or within your control. However, it is crucial to upskill, cross-skill, build a personal brand, be visible and active on social media and most importantly keep your networks alive which would help in resolving this crisis.

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