Beat the Pink-slip

By Writer Murali

World-over, the employment landscape is changing, and its not any more a world where life time employment or even employment for say 5 to 10 years is an established norm. Thanks to factors like automation and AI, almost on an unprecedented scale than ever before, workplaces are changing, and the workers are staring unemployment, more than ever before. Job losses aka pink slips will be more a norm, than an exception in the coming days.

That moment we face a loss of job, known as the proverbial pink slip, it's like a huge thunderbolt hit us. More than what in reality has happened – owing to external circumstances, and extraneous factors, what takes a toll is the way once reacts, when faced with a pink slip situation. This e-book is meant to be a good and thought helping companion when you think you are down! You are down, but that's because of anything else BUT you. The book is intended, not only for those who are in the midst of such an event, but also to everyone who wishes to be mentally prepared, just in case they will something akin to a pink slip.

Job losses aka pink slips are here to stay on. They will not just be a western or IT sector specific phenomenon, but with the world shrinking the way businesses operate, every other industry could be a victim of pink slips. Our ability to face them off squarely and emerge stronger will count, more that how competent and skilled we were.

Not much has been written as to how the softer side of job losses are to be handled, by those who face such an unfortunate situation. From a time when this was a rarity, and pink slips resorted to only when there was a discipline or absolute non-performance, now organizations vanish in this air, due to some change which hits from some corner of the globe - throwing entire work-forces out of gear.

The pages of this book are meant to mentally prepare individuals, equip them to handle pinkslips with grace, and face life with more confidence and renewed vigor, and make them more able and agile in handling the harsh reality of a job loss, just in case it happens.

Read on. Be better equipped to beat the pink-slip.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Writer Murali
• Release date: Nov 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393858478

Book preview

Preface

The world of work is changing… and it is changing both for good, bad and worse…. depending on the roller coaster ride the global economy and the country’s economy takes – it’s a connected world, and even a sneeze in once corner of the world, impacts countries far and wide.

From an age when jobs were held for the entire span of the working life, the working world has now truly arrived in an era where jobs are parking spots – in a constant quest for that decisive career break. On the other side, the employers seek the best of the available candidates – best being such a relative phrase, depending on the skillsets in demand, the role, and the hiring context.

Both the employer and the employee are in a love – hate relationship, and this have long since come to a stage where either side is willing to part ways in a whiff. Just a whiff.

Organizations, however great places of work they may be, make harsh and emotionally immune choices when there is a need to pink slip employees – in times like that, the same set of people who till the other day were proclaimed as ‘great assets’, will go down as non-performers or sub-optimally performing human capital. Clearly, what was a great asset (the individual employee) the other day, is a dispensable person today, tomorrow or sometime in the near future.

What has changed is NOT the individual – he or she is as good as or indeed better than when they were hired for a said role.

What changed is the context – the specific job need, a specific client need, the external environment, the country’s/continents/global economic landscape. It’s all about everything, but, the competence and ability of the individual.

This is a point that is missed when any of us face the PINK slip. I have seen people who are some of the best, yet, they suffer a huge setback – not by the loss of the job per se, but by the impact it has on the persons’ mind and in turn the body.

That moment we face a loss of job, known as the proverbial pink slip, it’s like a huge thunderbolt hit us.

More than what in reality has happened – owing to external circumstances, and extraneous factors, what takes a toll is the way once reacts, when faced with a pink slip situation.

This short e-book is meant to be a good and thought helping companion when you think you are down! You are down, but that’s because of anything else BUT you.

The book is intended, not only for those who are in the midst of such an event, but also to everyone who wishes to be mentally prepared, just in case they will something akin to a pink slip.

Job losses aka pink slips are here to stay on. They will not just be a western or IT sector specific phenomenon, but with the world shrinking the way businesses operate, every other industry could be a victim of pink slips.

Our ability to face them off squarely and emerge stronger will count, more that how competent and skilled we were.

So, ready to beat the pink slip?

Changing work places

The dynamics of the workplace is changing more than ever, and permanence of a job is a thing of the distant past. As a matter of fact, traditional sectors that were seen as places of life-time employment (say manufacturing companies, and the likes) are no more safe havens. The external environment, complete globalization of almost every workplace, and similar other factors have made sure that jobs are at most a 3 year affair in any company, and ephemeral (may be 6 months or lesser too?!)

With this as the backdrop, job longevity is bound to shrink, and someone getting booted out of a present assignment will be a common place thing, in the months and years to come. 

A 'beat the pink slip' mind set will be the definitive key to survival in the game of life. Not just that, such a conditioned mind will be akin to a bullet proof vest that protects you against any unforeseen gun shot. The gun shot  analogy might sound a bit loud and harsh, but the fact is - more and more job loss incidences of the recent past in various parts of the globe, India included, have been illustrating that job sheds have been sudden,