When you begin a new job in the workplace, it can be difficult to feel secure. This isn’t necessarily the job’s fault, it is more to do with the anxiety of starting something new and all the potential problems that go with it.
No matter how easy, hard, stressful, or carefree the job is, people will always have trepidation about it the first time they do it. This is exactly the same for new jobs and working with new colleagues.
As soon as you step through those doors, your mind might become a whirl of emotions spinning endlessly inside your head. Will my colleagues be nice? Will this job be tough? Will this job last?
Over time all these anxieties go away, except the last one, wondering about a job lasting or job security is a constant concern for most people. Only the most skilled or specialized have little to fear when it comes to remaining in their job, but what exactly is job security?
Is it just a term to describe the amount of time you can stay in your job? Or is there more to it? In this article, we will look at job security more closely and see what we can find out about it.
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What Is Job Security And The Factors That Affect It?
In essence, job security is the likelihood an employee will keep their job with the company that they currently work with. The higher the job security, the more likely that the employee will keep their job.
There are several factors that impact job security, with most of them having to do with the field that an employee works in.
Depending on what industry someone works in can depend on what level of job security that person has. Some industries are prone to high turnovers in employees or have a small amount of job security.
For example, a brand-new company that relies on new technology would probably have little job security, as these ventures often fail. These companies do not have much infrastructure yet, and the technology they rely on may become obsolete in a few years.
On the other hand, government jobs have a very high job security as they are seen to set examples for other companies and offer better benefits and rights to keep their employees loyal and content.
Jobs in governmental positions are less likely to fold or disappear as well as they are employed directly by a government, and chaos would ensue if there was a governmental collapse.
Another thing that can affect job security is the skill set of the potential employee. Some skills are broad and easy to learn, other skills are niche and highly difficult to learn. If you have skills that are specialized, then you are more indispensable than most employees.
Jobs that require such skills are normally higher paying and, if they aren’t, their job security is still pretty high.
The kinds of jobs that use these skills are doctors, engineers, meteorologists, and so on. Even jobs like electricians fall into this category, because of the time and patience it takes to learn this trade.
Attitude in the workplace will help with job security as well. If you are pleasant and hard-working, you are more likely to stay in a role, but if the reverse is true, you’re in trouble when lay off time comes.
You don’t have to be the employee who always volunteers for jobs and overtime, you just need to be diligent and engaging, and you will probably find yourself in a safe position.
Why Is It Important For Employees?
Job security is critical to employees for a couple of reasons. The first is stress and anxiety. If you are constantly worried about losing your job, then this will have an impact on not only your mental health, but your physical one as well.
You may find yourself not eating, not sleeping, constantly angry, and many other things.
The second is life plans and an employee’s future. It is very difficult to think about your future, when you might lose your only source of income in the present. As an employee, you might not take off holidays or go to events in your own life that you were looking forward to.
Your life might play second fiddle to work and that is never good as that would mean that you have no future outside of work itself and still with little job security.
The last reason is about learning and growing in the role, if there is no job security, why should an employee bother to do this?
There are many things you can learn from working – skills, knowledge, processes, and abilities – however, if you have no security in your role, why should you learn any of these? You may feel like your progress is being halted, and you are not progressing in work at all.
Coming to a complete stop is not something that humans do, and this would make an employee apathetic towards their work.
Why Is It Important For Employers?
Having better job security in your company is actually a huge long-term boon, even if employers can’t see past the short-term gains. For starters, it’ll make employees feel better and more comfortable in their place of work.
Having better employee morale and happiness has been proven to increase productivity and employee reliability.
This is because they actually like being at work, they enjoy coming into the office and working hard for a company that respects them.
As such, employees are also less distracted and focus more on the tasks at hand, being more inherently invested in the company’s problems and future than they would if they felt like they could be let go at any point.
This satisfaction also leads employees to do more for the company outside of work hours as well. It is shown that employees satisfied in their role will volunteer more for overtime, weekend work, and company events compared with those who dislike their role.
By making job security a factor in your place of work, you could easily get happier employees that put their neck out for the company.
Finally, company networking is also affected, as employees no longer distance themselves from the company itself. More employees are willing to talk with bosses and managers outside of work and not just for work related material.
They are more ready to introduce the company to friends, family, and acquaintances who may buy from the company or have connections themselves to other companies that your company could easily do business with.
Final Thoughts
Job security is immensely important to the satisfaction of workers and to the output of the company. Without happy employees, companies take a hit in productivity and output that influences the business majorly.
With happy employees, a company can increase its output and business by a staggering margin.
It is easy to make job security a key factor of your company without breaking the bank, and you will find not only your employees thanking you, but shareholders and bosses as well once they see the difference that it makes to business.
If you are an employer struggling with employee satisfaction, maybe try to work towards it. It may help you more than you know.
