How prepared are you in case of a job lay off?

Recently, a friend and I were having a conversation about how the New Year is going. I asked her how things were at work, and her response was; not good.

She said some of her colleagues had been laid off due to dwindling funding, and to make matters worse, they had been informed on a short notice. Luckily, she still has her job.

Our chat brought to mind an acquaintance who a few years ago lost his job because the company wasn’t doing well financially due to the effects of Covid-19.

He, and other colleagues were let go of only after being given a short notice of one month to prepare for their exit from a company, he in particular had worked for 20 years.

One time, he and I had a chat, and I asked him how he was holding onto life without a job, he said it wasn’t easy. He was constantly anxious, worried, and wondering how he would manage going forward because he had not prepared himself for such unexpected news.

He had never thought he would lose his job in the brink of an eye. He thought he would only leave the company after hitting the retirement age. Like many people, he thought the job was a guarantee, and it would always be there to help him pay his children’s school fees, or support his other family’s needs.

But things went south, and the job was no more. 

According to a study by the Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) at Makerere University, and Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Uganda lost nearly 500,000 jobs during Covid-19 outbreak.

But even after Covid-19 period, some companies/organizations have continued to downsize the number of their workers because they are still struggling financially and at the brink of closing business.

Such incidents bring to mind questions like-As an employee, have you ever asked yourself what would happen if tomorrow, your employer says your job will be no more. What would you do next? How prepared are you after that job layoff?  Or better still, are you prepared in case such a thing happened to you? The answer is deep in your heart!

Life is full of unexpected events- some are good, and unfortunately, others are bad. The bad ones may include loss of a job, yet life must go on.

If you are a parent or guardian, you must continue paying school fees for the children, home bills, and cater for your personal needs, so, looking for money is not an option.

Remember, no job is guaranteed, as long as you work in someone else’s business, company, or organization, any time, you can be let go, no matter what position you hold whether you are a manager, executive director, or cleaner. Everyone is replaceable!

So, here are polite reminders. One, when you still have that job, try and save as much as you can for a rainy day, you never know when such savings can bail you out.

Two, try, establish, and have multiple sources of income depending on your skills and interests. You can try out consultancy, freelancing jobs, part-time gigs or side businesses, investments, or any other income-generating activities that can help you supplement your income. 

Relying only on your 8:00am-5:00pm job is no longer safe. The cost of living has gone up everywhere, Uganda inclusive. If you have to avoid constant worries and pressures of money, you have to find ways of making extra dough.

But be reminded, don’t live your life worrying about losing your job, as worrying never solves any problem.

Just prepare, plan, and put mechanisms in place in preparation for when you have to leave your job, after all, you will not stay forever.  

Eventually, you will have to leave, either when you reach retirement age, or when you have been laid off, or when you chose to resign and start over again somewhere else. Just prepare yourself.

Vivian Agaba, Journalist, consultant writer