Toronto Employment and Labour Blog: Sure Signs You Are About To Be Fired - Sign #5

SIGN #5 - NO NEWS IS BAD NEWS

Suddenly you are not copied on memos you normally receive or invited to meetings you usually attend. You are out of the communications loop. Operations are initiated without your participation. You find out about steps taken after events have transpired. Naturally you feel insecure, unwanted and excluded. No one provides you with a reason for your exclusion. It just happens.

For example, in order to maintain a competitive bottom line the company downsized two departments. The vice president of sales for the Central Region retired early. Many of the familiar faces were either moved to other areas of the company or given early retirement options with enhanced pensions. A number of employees seemed concerned about their future and without notice to them, a new vice president was jettisoned in to cut expenses and increase sales. Ruth, a committed, loyal employee, found that after the new vice president of sales took over, she was not copied on emails she would normally receive, her participation in meetings was limited and at those she did attend, her input was not respected. Ruth could not cope with the deterioration of a job she loved. She had sacrificed much of her life outside of work because of her intense involvement in her job. For that reason alone, she was devastated by her exclusion and spent her time attempting to rationalize the situation, even ignoring the obvious signs and their implications. If not for the intervention of the former vice president of sales, she may have collapsed under the pressure and submitted her resignation, a cost-efficient way for her employer to reduce staff. Ruth knew she was being eased out, but either could not or would not address the situation. She did not have the skills to cope with what was for her the loss of her life as she knew it.

The communications gap is often the first telltale sign of trouble on the horizon. If you sense something is not right, you are usually correct. You feel wounded, but you are ill-advised to allow the wound to fester. If you wish to keep your job, you must become proactive.

Keep careful notes. Take a foolscap page of paper and draw a line from top to bottom. On the left side, accurately describe the emails you would normally receive before the change in patterns. Set out the number of emails received per day, per week and per month, as well as the name and position of the individual who sent the emails, their subject matter, the date and the time sent. On the right hand side of the page, set out the date and time when the emails were no longer regularly sent. Set out the date and time and subject matter of all the communications received once the change was first noticed. Do the same thing with the meetings formerly attended, time, date and subject matter on the left side. On the right side, those meetings attended, once the change took place.

This page should tell a dramatic story and make explicit to you and others that you are suffering exclusion. With this important documentation you are in a position to address your concerns to the appropriate party. This is no longer “a figment of your imagination, “ which is a common management response. Deterioration in communication is a serious issue that must be addressed seriously, Your supervisor may not have fully recognized the consequences of her actions. Or, on the other hand, realizing the extent and nature of your documentation, she may realize that this tactic will not succeed, and if there is a problem, it must be addressed directly and resolved.

If your concerns, supported by the evidence, elicit little more than a denial, it is time to obtain legal advice from an experienced employment lawyer. For it is unlikely your job can be salvaged and it is best to work on an effective and financially rewarding exit strategy.

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