"Survival of the Fittest": Keeping Your Job in a Recessionary Economy
I happened upon a Sunday morning talk show yesterday where one of the guests was discussing strategies that employees ought to adopt to keep their jobs in a recessionary economy. For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, the US economy lost 63,000 jobs last month; another bit of evidence that we are sliding into an unavoidable recession.
The talk show guest posited that only those employees who were able to quickly adapt to rapidly changing corporate/business environments would keep their jobs; the other less adaptable employees would find themselves jobless. Call me crazy, but his analysis sounded eerily similar to Darwin’s principle of natural selection or “survival of the fittest”–only those members of a population who were able to adapt (through mutations in Darwin’s case) to changing environmental conditions will survive; the other less adaptable members will perish. Imagine that, using a recessionary economy to illustrate one of the fundamental principles of Darwin’s theory of evolution–how cool is that?
Here are some insights into how to keep your job during a recession when many companies are unstable and in flux. First, employees who work at financially-troubled companies must embrace the changes frequently instituted by management whether or not they agree with them. Invariably, there will be a cadre of employees who openly and publicly criticize the “new corporate policies”–these will likely be the employees who are demoted or “right-sized” out of the company. In Darwinian terms, these employees are unable to adapt to change and they will either be eliminated or their standing in the population (company) will be diminished. On the other hand, the employees who are able to embrace change will not lose their jobs and will likely be able to maintain or improve their standing in the population (company). In other words, adaptable employees have a selective, competitive advantage over unadaptable ones which will allow them to survive and flourish in their new environment. Second, it is probably not wise during periods of corporate upheaval, for mid-level managers or employees to tout their past accomplishments or remind management about their worth to the company. In times of change, management embraces individuals with forward-looking ideas (to facilitate change) not those who are rooted in the past and are invested in antiquated corporate policies and practices. Again, only those employees who adapt will be able to survive and compete in their new corporate environment. Finally, as a science educator, it is always exhilarating and exciting to find new ways to teach Darwin’s Theory (sic) of Evolution so that it makes sense to lay audiences. Maybe watching Sunday morning talk shows isn’t a waste of time after all!!!!
Until next time…
Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (adapt)!!!!!!!!!
