Five Signs You’re About To Lose Your Job

Posted on June 20, 2022Comments Off on Five Signs You’re About To Lose Your Job

To say that losing one’s job is depressing is to make a comment bordering on the cliché. No matter how unsupportive the workplace is or how minimal the pay, when disengaged from the near default feelings range from self-pity, inadequacy, fear, loathing for self, former colleagues and management, etc. While a few just have a hunch that they are about to get fired, many have not one clue and the news of being fired comes as an impolite shock.

But getting fired is not an abrupt affair. Except you work in a whirlpool, there are usually clues before you are fired, if you look closely enough. Here are five signs the hammer of sacking is coming your way.

1. Your boss stops complaining

If you have a boss who complains frequently about your input at the workplace, you’re part of the larger percentage of the workforce on it. Sometimes, this is reverse psychology hinged on getting the best out of you and keeping your feet on the work pedal. You are not usually as bad as your boss paints you. If, however, your boss who has been generous with corrections and criticism suddenly stops complaining altogether, you should be worry.

Sometimes, your performance has earned you freedom from earfuls, but if you didn’t see any major improvement from your part and your boss is mostly quiet, even unconcerned, then something is up. You may have really been as bad as she paints you and she may be tired of the bickering and resolved to replace you.

Watch it. It might yet be that your boss is passing through an ordeal and is unmotivated herself, but if her complaints about others persist but none come your way, perhaps, it is time to update your CV.

2. You are no longer being invited to important meetings

“Uche, Bose, Oscar, please excuse us.” If your boss singles you out as not needed in a meeting you used to be invited for, then there are two things you should suspect. One, the meeting is not important enough to bother you with, or, two, the meeting has outgrown your importance. Since your boss is present in the meeting, your bet should be on the latter.

3. Your workload suddenly reduces

This is a relief. No one likes overworking. People make a big deal out of hard work and dedication to duty and persistence, but overworking is one bridge many will rather not cross nor drag about. The situation in many offices is overworking, or normal work and underpayment which, in many ways, is a close relation to overworking.

Five reasons your startup will remain a startup forever

If you normally have a sizeable workload and suddenly have an organized desk and thin files, it is either the company is experiencing a downturn or your work is being distributed and is about to experience a turndown.

4. You feel you are earning more than you work for

Feeling underpaid is a usual sentiment with workers. The pay may be considerably higher than those of your peers elsewhere, but the nature of economics dictates that you grow your income on a regular basis and later, or even sooner, you will have to look at your take-home and say “I can do better than this.”

If by some struck of fortune (or misfortune) you find yourself earning more than you feel you deserve, then except your uncle owns the company it is time to worry. Capitalism is wired in such a way that for a worker to be deemed useful, he has to bring twice what he is earning.

If you think you are taking out less than you’re bringing, this is a serious issue. If someone in the higher rungs suspects this is the case, something will have to change. Best case scenario, you will be assigned new tasks. Or, asked to go home.

5. You did something terrible and believe you haven’t been forgiven

There are workplace offenses and there are unforgivable workplace offenses. There are offences that a warning, a query or even a suspension cannot entirely erase from the atmosphere in your little corner in the office.

Every time you see your boss, or speak with them, even over the phone, there is that one look, that tone, that pause, that abrupt end to the conversation that might mean nothing but which bug you for many hours or even days and remind you of the huge business your misspelled email address cost the firm.

If you feel guilty it might be just you, if the feeling is overwhelming and there seems to be no closure, it is probably because your bosses haven’t forgiven nor forgotten. They might be waiting, bidding their time for the most opportune time to ask you to leave. Why didn’t they fire you immediately? Perhaps, the offense is thawing and the repercussion is proving too costly. Or, maybe, the MD is dragging their feet until his brother’s sister-in-law finishes school.

Image source: DNA India