To be or, not to be. The Job Change Confusion!

Posted in Favorites, Thoughts

One of my team members came to me a couple of days back with a query. He wanted a suggestion from me. His sister was working in a company who was reeling under the economic crisis and was going through a cost-cutting spree. There were cost reduction initiatives everywhere. Incentives that were offered earlier were no more being given. Salary appraisals were also being put on hold. Recognitions were not coming, just because recognition involved costs. No employee was happy with just a pat on his back. It had to be accompanied with some kind of reward which meant monetary considerations. Giving the kind of situation that the organization was going through, employees were bound to be unhappy. Add to this the lack of communication from the organization’s leaders to its employee, and the matters were worse.
Now this employee was looking for a change very desperately. She had spent close to 3 years in the organization and was in for a promotion when all this happened. So growth was what she was looking for. She got an opportunity with another company which was into the financial domain and there were news in the leading dailies that they were cutting jobs and that the financial situation was bad. The organization was offering a good enough package to this employee and a position jump as well.
She was caught in a dilemma now. Should she opt for the change or, not?
There are quite a few employees caught in this dilemma. They are scared of the financial situation and at the same time are so dissatisfied that they desperately want to change. So what is the correct decision at this point in time.
The decision would depend upon a comparative evaluation. One should keep in mind that there is always a risk at changing a job during tough financial conditions. Any organization that goes on an employee reduction initiative would first look to lay-off the ones who have just been hired. They would certainly not want to let go off their seasoned employees unless they are absolute non-contributors and non-performers. So the risk remains. But at the same time, if your organization is a sinking ship and if you have a better opportunity it is always better to grab it and jump out of the sinking ship. So consider the following and then take a call.

• Which organization is financially strong – your current organization or, the prospective one? – If both are non-comparisons, then evaluate the following.
• Has your organization in the past offered growth and appreciable pay-hikes?
• Has your organization taken care of its employees in the past?
• Is there a definite communication from your senior leader’s to the employees.
• Are you okay to be without a job in the worst case scenario for about a couple of months?
• Even if your organization is taking extreme steps of cost-reduction right now, how strong is it financially? Is it cash-rich? Does it have enough liquidity reserves?

The last point would be a difficult to gather information, but with internet and Google, you should be able to do so. Answer all of the above questions and you would be able to find an answer.

Photograph courtesy Rose Ann

One Response to “To be or, not to be. The Job Change Confusion!”

1. Can I change my Job? A Roundup of the status of the Recession | BPODiary - BPO Interview Tips on February 27th, 2010 9:54 am

   [...] still remember a post that I had written about an year back on the job change confusion. The US economy was hit by one of the worst recessions and the Indian economy felt the ripples. [...]

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