1. Learn New Skills

Improving your skill set will make you more valuable to your employer and thus reduce the likelihood of you being made redundant. Consider taking evening classes or online course to top up your skill set or obtain new skills that would be of value to your employer. It may even help to ask your employer if there are any specific course that would benefit the organisation and which you could go on to study. This shows willingness and a commitment to your employer.

2. Work Hard & Work Smart

A second way to keep your job in a recession and avoid redundancy is to demonstrate that you are committed to your employer. Employees that are willing to do that little extra overtime may find that this helps them to remain employed. However the common mistake that employees make is to work extra hours without giving attention to the quality of the work that they are producing. It is just as important that you work smart. An employer needs to see that you are able to complete your work to a high standard, not just complete your work to any standard. To achieve this you may need to re examine the way in which you work and change your methods or processes to increase the quality of what you produce.

3. Be Flexible

This is a very important aspect of ensuring that you keep your job in a recession and avoid redundancy. A flexible worker is a value worker and this is especially true in time of recession when money is tight and employers are keen to have employees who can multi task and undertake a variety of roles dependant upon the needs of their organisation. Be willing to alter working patterns to suit your employer or be willing to travel or relocate as this can be especially important to an employer.

4. Stay Positive

During times of recession and the threat of redundancy it can be easy to become despondent and negative, which is perfectly normal. However don’t get caught up in the office gossip and try to refrain from becoming bitter towards your employer. The reality is that your employer is just as upset about having to make redundancies as you are about being made redundant. In reality very few employers relish making redundancies and it can be just as upsetting to lay of experienced staff many of whom they will have worked alongside. Do not take it personally. Show that you value your job by what you say and do.

5. Wage Flexibility

If your employer is facing serious financial constraints then another way to keep your job in a recession and avoid redundancy is to consider a pay freeze or accept a small pay cut if you can get guarantees that they will not have to resort to redundancies. This should only be entered into as a last resort, but a number of car manufacturers have used this as a method to secure jobs in the long term.

6. Make Use Of Sabbaticals

When times are good employers are often reluctant to allow employees to take long periods of unpaid leave. This is mainly because they need to maintain their competitive edge and have too much work to allow employees to leave. However in the midst of a recession organisations are more willing to consider the idea of an unpaid sabbatical as method of dealing with increasingly tight budgets. Exercising this option may also make them less likely to consider you for redundancy as you will not be an active cost to them during the time that you are on sabbatical. If you could afford to take between 3- 6 months off without pay or with reduced pay then you could end up getting a lot out of the process and spend time doing what you want as well as saving your employer money and possibly securing your own job in the process.

7. Fulfil Your Contractual Obligations

Another key tip to enable you to keep you job in a recession and avoid redundancy is to maintain good work performance. In many public, private and voluntary organisations there are often targets or key performance indicators that employees will be expected to achieve. Whilst your employer will to some extent tolerate slight underperformance during boom times in a time of recession they are more likely to make poor performing employees redundant. Ensure that you know what is expected of you and achieve your targets.

8. Be Careful What You Say and Do

This is a very critical point to remember if you want to keep you job in a recession and avoid redundancy or dismissal. Under employment law it is actually easier to dismiss employees on the grounds of misconduct than have to pay to make them redundant. Whilst struggling organisations may not admit to it, this is a practice that some may engage in in order to cut costs. It is important that you are very conscious about your words, language and behaviour both around customers, clients and also other work colleagues. Think before you speak and be conscious of who is around you. Remember that not everyone shares the same values, beliefs and opinions as you and your attempt at humour may be deeply insulting, hurtful or discriminatory to another person whether you intended it or not.

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