It’s actually very hard to get fired in the UK.
To make it happen, an employer has to be able to show that they have a valid reason they can justify and that they acted responsibly in the circumstances.
They must also have been consistent – so they can’t dismiss you for doing something they let other workers do. And they must have investigated fully any claims against you.
But that doesn’t mean your job is always safe. Companies –and employees – often start thinking about moving on or shaking things up at this time, when the new year appears on the horizon. Questions start to surface about whether employees will get their bonus, whether they will get a promotion, or whether they will leave or get fired.
So it’s a good time to be aware of what your employer is thinking to make sure your job is safe. Here’s what to watch out for:
1. Being left out of meetings
“One of my clients said they noticed something was wrong when they were being left out of meetings,” says Joan Kingsley, organisational psychologist and author of ‘The Fear-Free Organisation’. “You need to address that with your team leader. Sit them down and gently ask what’s going on.”
2. Feeling like you’re being left out the loop
It’s not just meetings – an early warning sign that things aren’t right is that you aren’t being included in future plans and projects. “If you catch things early enough, you can turn things round,” Kingsley says. “You have to be able to take feedback, negative and positive.”
3. Missing emails
People whose jobs are at risk may discover they have been left off emails with other colleagues, particularly about something they are usually involved in. In the worst cases seen by Kingsley, the employee was later included on an email only to discover she was being talked about earlier in the thread.
4. Being left out of lunch breaks
Kingsley said that when employees start a new job, they often find it hard to integrate in social situations and can find themselves being left out of lunch break activities. This goes away once the employee has settled in. But it tends to come back when someone’s job is on the line. So if you think you’re being pushed out, take steps to find out what’s going wrong.
5. People whispering when you approach
The real-life equivalent of being cc’ed on emails where everyone is talking about you: people gossiping behind your back. “I’ve been working with someone who was wrong-footing all over the place, but he had a very good manager and a very good performance appraisal so he could work on it,” Kingsley says.
6. Your boss taking notes
Under the law, your employer must have a good reason to fire you and they must have proof. So it’s possible that if that is what they are planning, your boss will start to take notes about your conduct. The reasons they can fire you include long-term illness – once they have supported you as much as they can – and if you can’t do your job properly, like if you can’t cope with technological changes or you cause trouble with your colleagues.
7. Changes in the workplace
Your job is most at risk from changes in the workplace, such as if your company is about to be acquired by another company where someone does the same job that you do. “In this case, your position may be considered redundant, and if you are unable to find another need to fill, you could be the next employee out the exit door,” says Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter, a career and workplace expert and author.
Some of these warning signs might sound like they are simply stoking paranoia. Sadly career experts say that more and more often, they are worth being aware of as temporary contracts and technological advances threaten long-term employment.
“More and more often these feelings are grounded – if you feel these things are relevant to you, you should make steps to change them,” says Kingsley.
