Have you been feeling uneasy at work lately? Is your sixth sense telling you that there is some impending doom related to your job? Are colleagues avoiding you or whispering when you walk by? Follow your instincts and watch for these eight signs to find out if your days at work are numbered.
1. You're not being kept informed.
Have you seen your whole team walking out of the conference room after a meeting you were not informed of? Have you become the last to know anything and everything that is going on in your office? In the workplace, knowledge is power. Your company's act of keeping information from you and keeping you in the dark might be one way of preparing for life without you.
2. You are losing responsibilities.
Has your workload become a lot lighter in recent weeks while your colleagues seem to be taking on more? Is your input suddenly not needed in planning sessions for next year's budget? If your projects and past responsibilities have been passed on to others, it is another good sign that the team is making sure your work gets done once you are out the door.
3. Your job title has been changed, and it's not an upward move.
If you have received a new job title or new job description, pay attention to the differences. Is the new job a lateral move? Have you been demoted? The way you want to be moving in an organisation is up -- not sideways or down.
4. Times are tough at your company.
Have you noticed several closed-door meetings full of executives with concerned faces? Are the HR managers and the Head of Payroll and working all night some nights? Is your company experiencing mounting losses or declining profits? Has recruitment been suspended? Many companies' first money-saving measure in difficult times is a personnel cut. If your job function is not essential, you might be one of the first for the chop.
5. You are suddenly being supervised very closely.
If you have always had a great deal of autonomy in the past and are now being scrutinised at every turn, there might be a serious reason behind this new form of management. Whether you feel you need your hand held or not, new scrutiny in the workplace can sometimes mean less confidence in your abilities.
6. You have received one or more negative reviews.
Good companies try to help employees recognise and understand ways in which they need to improve. Most have some kind of review system in place to help employees track their progress. If you have received a performance review that is negative, you need to take it to heart and make some changes. If you have multiple bad reviews under your belt and still haven't learned from them, your days probably are numbered. Just as bad, if you've had stellar reviews in the past and suddenly you are no longer regarded as a star performer, watch out!
7. The company is "reorganising."
Mergers, acquisitions and restructuring can all be good for business, but bad for employees. Are there rumours about another company buying your business? Is your company merging with another that has employees who do the same job as you? Pay attention to what you hear in the grapevine regarding the future of the business -- it can also have a dramatic effect on your future.
8. You just haven't been performing.
When it comes down to brass tacks, you know your performance better than anyone. You know that you've been surfing the Internet when you should be finishing your reports; that you have spent hours making personal calls; and that your once hour-long lunches have grown increasingly longer. If your heart just has not been in your job lately, your superiors probably have taken notice. Think about it -- if you were the boss, would you fire you? If so, you might want to start making plans for your exit strategy.