Layoffs a way of life
Layoffs at big businesses have become a way of life. Companies are constantly undergoing a reshuffling of the players and the companies under their umbrella. The information age produces data instantly, the analysis of which can be accomplished quickly. Once digested, companies make moves much earlier than in the past. Products evolve so much faster today, and the improvement in technology can mean the need for less human involvement.
But technology has a bright side. Computers, fax machines, modems and telephone answering machines have evolved to reasonably priced equipment which can make you an instant player in whatever field you choose to work when set up in your own home. The future of America may well be in people working at home and communicating with each other through increasingly sophisticated equipment.
Lets say you work for ABC Company, a large firm that is undergoing its ninth rightsizing move of the year. This time around you get the pink slip. Your services are no longer needed at the end of the month. Heres two months severance pay. See you later. Its been a great ten years.
This is not uncommon today. There have been thousands of layoffs at the Fortune 500 level in the last decade. But unemployment has not changed that dramatically! Why? Where are these people going? Why arent more of them filing unemployment claims, especially as Congress made several efforts to extend benefits to the unemployed?
Some of these people were able to find full-time work relatively quickly. Still others took the severance package and simply retired, being eligible (or nearly eligible) for Social Security and perhaps a pension benefit. Many of these individuals became a part of what has come to be called the contingent workforce.
The contingent workforce consists of temporary, part-time, contract and leased employees along with people who simply decided the time was never better to start their own business. This is the group that doesnt have a true employer-employee relationship, yet are working and often making more money than their full-time labors yielded in the past.
Not everyone likes it. But the chance to be your own boss has appealed to many Americans, those with that true early pioneer spirit that former President Reagan spoke so warmly about during his tenure as the nations Chief Executive. Armed with todays technology, many have set up their own businesses and have gone to work for themselves!
Theyve established their own businesses after deciding what fields they wanted to go into. It may be the field they just abruptly left or it may be something theyve longed to do for some time. Perhaps its a hobby they believe can make it big. Ask Mrs. Fields, whose cookies that pleased friends and family are now being eaten in nearly every major airport food court in the country.
Working as a contract, temporary or leased employee gives you the benefit of a paycheck without much of the stress. You go home at the end of a day without the same worry you carried as an employee unless stress is just part of your character! But this isnt the same as working for yourself, as more and more people are finding out.
The downsizing by big business in the last few years has created the opportunity for many to finally make the big push and start their own company. They are the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and all of the other jobs to start. But there is always light at the end of the tunnel. If you never take the chance, you could be another of those sad stories where, in the sunset of life, you sit and wonder what might have been
