YOU NEED JOB SECURITY? MAKE YOURSELF INDISPENSABLE!

By: Abdimalik Odowa | JOB SECURITY

______________________

This week my discourse is on a matter that is very dear and sensitive to every human being who is in somebody's payroll - JOB SECURITY.

Why is job security important?

Human beings hate uncertainty, unpredictable situations that lead to risks. We like order in our lives, so that we can plan the future. That is why many Kenyans prefer to work for the government offering low salaries which are compensated by the guarantee for permanence and pension-ability (the universal principle in investment applies, i.e. the higher the risk, the higher the returns and the converse is true. Private sector does not offer job security-high risk, but it offers higher pay).

Can any employer offer or guarantee job security?

Every employee wants to keep her/his current job. Every employee desires better jobs, pay rises, promotions, benefits and other perks. Other things being equal, some jobs will disappear in future because of automation and technology (ref. tea picking machines in Kericho), declining industries (ref. old Telcom, railways), inefficient companies will not survive competition, etc. In this context, job security is an illusion-if you cannot predict the direction of technological innovations, companies’ ability to adapt to changes in their environment and hence their survival, then one would be living in a fools’ world to talk of job security in future. Just reflect on some companies that were popular and big when you were young and they are no more-e.g. the Kenya Bus Services, Nyayo Bus, the Elliots Bakery, Softa, Kenya Railways, etc.

Most of the jobs in future will be in DEALING WITH PEOPLE, e.g in professions and other people services. So the first step to job security is to be in an industry which has a growth potential.

But being in the right industry is not a sufficient condition to guarantee you job security. You must make yourself more valuable than all the other persons seeking to replace you.

What do you have to do?

Establish a reputation with management that:-

1) You are MORE VALUABLE THAN anyone who might seek to replace you because you CONSTANTLY PROVE that through SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE.

2) You are INDISPENSABLE to the company because you are a CONSTANT SOURCE OF IDEAS for IMPROVING SOMETHING- and everything can be improved.

These two qualities will make you indispensable because a company succeeds or fails based on its competitive rate of improvement.

Any employee at any level who constantly suggests ideas which increase his/her employer's competitive rate of improvement is ABSOLUTELY INDISPENSABLE & IS GUARANTEED OF JOB SECURITY. No company in today's competitive environment can afford to lose a constant source of ideas for improvement.