You don’t expect to get fired, but the warning signs may be out there. You just need to know where to look. Here are some hints that your job isn’t as secure as you thought:
- You’re no longer in the loop. Does everyone else know what’s going on at your organization before you do? If your manager and co-workers all stop communicating with you, the reason may be because they know you won’t be around much longer.
- Other people are getting promoted ahead of you. The guy who was hired six months after you is now your manager’s boss. You may have hit a wall and need to learn something new or sharpen your people skills.
- Your responsibilities have been cut in half. These days most employees have too much to do. If your key tasks have been assigned to someone new, the rest of your job may soon follow.
- People ignore your mistakes. Sometimes what’s worse than getting yelled at for an error is NOT getting yelled at for an error. That could mean that your boss isn’t planning on taking any more chances with you.
- Your manager wants you to sign off on everything. Most terminations call for a certain amount of documentation—your boss needs to show that he or she did everything right before letting you go. If you’re being asked to sign every memo or acknowledge each e-mail you receive, your manager could be creating a paper trail to justify a decision he or she has already made.