Job Security……

There are many things in life that are fleeting; life, love, property, freedom and security, just to name a few. We aren’t guaranteed to have anything last forever on this earth. We certainly do enjoy being secure in something because it gives us a feeling of…..uhhh…. uhhh….well…security! Oftentimes we go through periods of enjoying various securities, yet they seldom last long.

Financial security is important to us because we look ahead in life and see a lifestyle that we want or need. But, we can’t have financial security unless we have job security to go along with it (unless we are independently wealthy, of course!). So, in a sense, everything works together and when something breaks down, it seems to shoot us down in other areas, too.

I have been in battle with my feelings the past three days about job security. At my age, I value job security because it’s harder to find new jobs if I lost mine. In the back of my mind I feel secure because I know my skills. Yet, I’ve heard many stories about old people trying to peddle their knowledge and skills to a new potential employer, only to come up against a stone wall and a, “We’ll keep you in mind when we need someone with your skills”.

Three days ago the boss came into my office and wanted to meet with me “this afternoon” to discuss my role with the company, making comments that we need to get rid of some overhead and “we aren’t making much profit”, etc. He wanted me to get my paperwork together to justify my position and meet with me later. So I skipped lunch to do that and pulled it all together and waited. Each time I went to him to talk, he was too busy. Soon the end of day came and he left the office. I guess today would not work out to talk. That aggravated me because I had put off some important work to make time for him.

The next day I had a job to look at and yesterday’s work to do, so I did not get to the office until the afternoon. He was here but was “busy”. The next thing I knew he was leaving. I guess today would not work out, either!

So now it’s “today” and he isn’t in.

My attitude of having to justify my position within our company annoys me in the first place! Three years ago I told the management that my department was set up for failure if they expected a profit, because, I was told at that time, to get rid of all of my clients that were not associated with the main part of our company. Well this meant thousands of dollars worth of business. But I’m not the owner, so I reluctantly agreed and did as I was told. My new duty assignment would be to do commissioning of new equipment for the construction side of our company. Also, to maintain that equipment (warranty work) for a period of one year from start-up, and to do technical installations when our installers couldn’t. So here we are, three years later and not making a profit. I don’t know of any “warranty department” in the world that makes a profit! So why do I feel the need to justify a position that I was told to create?

I don’t know. I’m still working on that.

But it sure messes with my “job security”!