How Job Insecurity Is Impacting Your Happiness (E44)

Happiness for Cynics Podcast

This week, Marie and Pete discuss why workers around the world no longer have job security, how that can impact happiness levels and what you can do about it.

Transcript

M: You’re listening to the podcast Happiness for Cynics. I’m Marie Skelton, a writer and speaker on change and resilience.

P: And I’m Peter Furness, a road tripper, trashy pop listening, bed loving zealot. Each week we will bring to you the latest news and research in the world of positive psychology, otherwise known as happiness.

M: So if you’re feeling low.

P: Or only satisfied with life, but not truly happy.

M: Or maybe you just want more.

P: Then this is the place to be.

M: And to take us one step further on our happiness journey. Today’s episode is all about how job insecurity is impacting your happiness.

[Happy Intro Music]

M: I think this is a big one.

P: Yes, this is a big one, I think you might be taking this one Marie. This is right up your alley.

M: Yeah, definitely. So I spent a lot of time in a previous life working with an innovation and emerging technology team and looking at macro changes in our society and lives. And job insecurity is really the result of a lot of large changes that are happening around the world right now that are impacting individuals. So it’s easy to talk about these big changes, but the, the result and the impact is that we’re a lot less secure in our jobs nowadays than previous generations.

P: That’s a fact that. That’s what I was getting when I was doing a lot of research about this. Is it that job security, is it a thing of the past? Have we lost job security or is it just low at the moment and it will resurface?

M: No.

P: It will rise like the phoenix.

M: [Laugh] No, it’s a thing of the past. Look, there are a few people out there who might be deluding themselves into thinking that they have job security and it is, it is just the smoke and mirrors of companies who are holding on to [a] past that no longer exists.

P: So this is a change in format for corporate, especially in that job security no longer is offered on the table. You could be gone in a moments, notice with redundancies or change in circumstances. We can’t expect job security anymore.

M: Absolutely, and it’s not that the corporate’s have all of a sudden gotten mean.

P: [Laugh] What do you mean gotten mean?

M: [Laugh]

P: I thought they already were.

M: I mean if you want to take a positive capitalist view of what’s going on from a corporate perspective, the original life expectancy of a corporate has dropped significantly. I think it’s about 15 years, and it’s just a reflection of how quickly the times are changing now. So the Fortune 500 companies used to quite often last for 100 years, or more. That just doesn’t happen today. And there’s a few companies that still have that long history, and they’re the ones that have been able to innovate and stave off all of the new competitors in their markets.

P: Right.

M: But it’s getting increasingly hard to be one of those big behemoth companies that lasts a hundred years and those companies now need to not only innovate but change at a really rapid pace, and in order to do that, they’re constantly needing to do new things and to move on from the old.

P: Right.

M: Which means no, no one person’s role is ever the same two, three, four years later.

P: So the days of staying with the company for 30 years are gone?

M: Unless you can re-imagine your role. And the problem we have right now in corporates is that they’ve stopped investing in their employees as much in general is a rule because they know that employees are, rightly so, they’re less loyal back.

P: Yep.

M: Because corporates are being less loyal to them.

P: [Laugh]

M: And what we haven’t yet solved in this space is who is going to train employees so that they can roll with the changes rather than just be kicked out every time there’s a change.

P: Right.

M: And how are we going to re-imagine our HR functions so that we can prepare our employees to take the next job, and the next job, and the next job, rather than firing them or making them redundant every time there is a shift, which happens more and more often nowadays.

P: Hhmm.

M: So from a corporate employees perspective, right now is a constant revolving door of people in and out of an organisation. And there is just this never-ending uncertainty and fear in the corporate person’s life just like a storm cloud over them. You never know when the next restructure’s going to happen, and they’re all really disruptive as well. It just takes time to get through them.

So there’s that constant change, and it can feel really unsettling as a baseline in your life. You go to your work, you work your 40, 50, 60 hours a week, whatever it is, and there’s that constant knowledge that you might not have a job next week or that there is just more change and you don’t have any control over that.

P: Right OK, so the big thing that I’m getting from that hole, that change and that emotion is there’s a fear. Would that be fair to say that there is now a fear of the job security? And so do we look at how to deal with fear? Is that going to negate the effects of job security on our lives?

M: I think there is fear, but it’s uncertainty. What we can do is a lot of the things that we talk about on the podcast, and we’ll get to some team tips later.

P: OK.

M: But before we do that, I also want to talk about low wage workers or blue collar workers. Or um.

P: That was my next question.

M: [Laugh]

P: We’ve talked about Corporate. How do we talk about the, the family greengrocer who’s had the shop on the road for the last 60 years?

M: Have they? Do they still exist Pete?

P: Well, I go to one. Yes, [Laugh].

M: They’re few and far between though to be honest.

P: They are, that’s a fair point. Sometimes I feel like there is a little bit of a, a push back to those days of supporting local.

M: Mm hmm.

P: And especially now, supporting local businesses and the small fry in the, in the big palette of workplace options. You know, dealing with your local people. You’re local barman and your local restaurant, your local butcher, for example. Let’s take that example. So, if we’re talking about blue collar work, how do we negotiate this environment for them?

M: Yeah, Look I think there has been a snap back to supporting fresh food and produce in Australia in particular.

P: Yep.

M: Having said that, there is still very much a, almost a duopoly you know, the Coles and Woolworths, big supermarket chains, definitely still have a huge share of the market, so.

P: Oh, completely.

M: Yeah, yes. So that still exists. But having said that, for a lot of low wage workers, the problem is not only the insecurity of jobs because entire industries are arriving, bubbling, collapsing. So if you look at the dot com bubble, designers, Web writers, all the rest of it, all of that came and went really quickly. And that’s moved on to something else and a million other things. So that is happening for small businesses. Not so much your green grocers and your butchers, but.

P: Not so much the service industries either, I imagine, as well.

M: Depending on the service.

P: There’s still a need for their service.  

M: Depending on the service. So you look at a mechanic. Nowadays, a car will tell the mechanic what’s wrong before they person pulls in right, because it’s done It’s diagnostics cheque.

P: True.

M: And the mechanic knows that he/she’s got to have a certain amount of electronic, engineering kind of skills to deal with the car. So even that industry is changing very rapidly, so there’s a lot of change going on. But more than that, what I want to get to with low wage workers is that most of them are not earning a liveable income.

P: This is appalling.

M: So, we’re talking about students, young people and part time parents who are not earning a lot of money.

P: Yep.

M: But more than that, we’re talking about primary wage earners, not earning a liveable income for them and their families.

P: Yep.

M: So they’re at work, full time and what they earn puts them below the poverty line.

P: Yes.

M: So in Australia, research by the Centre for Social Impact, conducted for NAB National Australia Bank, found that two million Australians experience severe or high financial stress. So that’s about 8% of the population.

P: Wow.

M: And more to that, so about 40% are living with some level of financial worry. So these are people who don’t know what to say that their kids at Christmas.

P: Yeah.

M: They’re worried that the car might break down and they’ll have to put a payment on a credit card that they won’t know how to pay back. They’re worried that the next dental visit is not going to be payable right?

P: Yep.

M: And they’re working full time jobs and a great example of this, and this is happening all around the world. A great example is a story that I found about a family called, Ross Timmins and his family. And they were on the popular TV show ‘Rich House, Poor House’ and it lets rich families and poor families swap lives for a week. Have you seen it?

P: Oh wow, No. [Laugh] I don’t know what that is.

[Laughter]

M: So it grabs a rich family and a poor family.

P: [Talking over Marie] ?

M: Yeah, absolutely. And they switch. They switch lives for a week. And despite,

P: Wow.

M: despite Ross working six days a week and up to 90 hours a week on a shipyard.

P: Woah.

M: And his wife working part time while looking after the kids, the Timmins family is in the poorest 10% of the country.

P: Mmm…

M: And during the week they lived in the rich family life, Sarah, the wife, said it was just so nice not to worry about the cost of everything. When we got to the middle of the week, I realised I hadn’t worried about money at all over the previous few days. It was a real mental break. We call the holiday for the Children, but in one way it was for us as well.

P: Yeah, yeah. That constant worry, it does have an impact on your on your whole mental state and that has a direct physical impact on your stress levels, your cortisol levels, how much inflammation is in your body, acidity in the stomach, all that sort of stuff. There’s a real, there’s so much documentary evidence out there that supports how much stress-

M: Mm hmm.

P: -and constant stress in terms of concern and worry impacts on our physicality.

M: Yes, absolutely. And that’s why I wanted to say, for corporate workers, generally, they’re, they’re just dealing with that uncertainty. For low wage workers, for blue collar workers, for up to 40% of our population, they’re not only dealing with the insecurity, but they live week to week financially, and they’ve got that cloud of financial worry hanging over as well.

P: Yeah, it’s the wealth gap issue we’re seeing in other countries around the world, which hasn’t necessarily hit us here in Australia. I, I assume, you might have a different opinion on that Marie.

M: No, we’re just the same as America and the U. K. A lot of developed countries have got the same the same issue,

P: Yeah, right.

M: So the 1% exist in all these countries. And the distribution of wealth has not been particularly equal over the last few decades.

P: Yeah, right.

M: And so I guess this is why we’ve been arguing for a while now or looking into what’s happening in their happiness and positive psychology space when it comes to countries that are looking at well-being as a measure instead of GDP.

P: And putting social structures in place to support that as well. So at least you can enjoy the space from which you are living, a little bit more easily.

M: Mmm hmm.

P: Yeah.

M: Definitely. And then the last group before we move into what you could do about this, the last group to call out and the last macro trend to talk about is self-employed workers and the gig economy.

P: Ooh, that’s me!

M: Yes, valid point.

P: [Laugh]

M: And a lot more right now we’re seeing people you know, these are the mompreneurs.

P: Ooh.

M: Or you know, IT workers who jump from.

P: I haven’t heard that one before.

M: So it’s the mum, mum bloggers who are selling training courses on their blog, or the, the more traditional IT workers who jump from contract to contract or temp workers, small business owners, uber drivers and students who make jewellery and sell it on eBay.

P: Yeah.

M: Designers who sell editing services through new marketplaces online that have been enabled, like fibre and air tasker and all of those great places where you sell services.

P: Yep.

M: So this is a new and booming area and way back in 2001, Dan Pink, Daniel H. Pink wrote a book which is still so relevant, called Free Agent Nation, which started talking about this. And the reason that this is good is that people get their flexibility. They have ownership, they have agency, and they can really create a career that works for them. If they want to work at midnight because they look after the kids in the morning, they can do that.

P: Yep

M: And it looks very much like a lot of corporate people right now. They’re all working from home with track pants on and kids running around in the background.

P: Grabbing an hour after they’ve put the kids in for tea, having an hour on the computer to do some work. Yeah, definitely.

M: Yeah, looks like that. The problem, though that we’re finding is that there comes a whole lot of insecurity there because we don’t have the social structures, the government support and safety nets in place with these employees.

P: Yeah, mmm.

M: And corporate employees come from a long and proud unionised –

P: Yes.

M: – background in history that ensures that they get certain rights that have been built into law in a lot of countries.

P: Mm hmm.

M: Gig economy workers are so new that a lot of governments haven’t worked out how to give from the same safety nets and rights that corporate or full time employees tend to enjoy.

P: Definitely.

M: So again, you can be fired or just not paid. And how do you go chase someone in the World Wide Web?

P: Mmm.

M: To get paid for things, so there’s a lot of uncertainty that comes out of that way of working as well.

P: Yeah absolutely, there’s a lot more risk involved in terms of having to negotiate the fear in the field. And I know that companies that you do use online I mean, I use Stripe and I use PayPal. Paypal I feel is a very strong one in that they are there to protect the consumer so that if, if, if goods don’t arrive or that if funds aren’t received, you can actually prevent payments or there’s a recompense. And so I think that those kind of companies actually do provide an important service in this new gig economy, as it were.

M: Yep, but there is so much more. So a corporation can’t fire you without giving you notice. But if you’re a gig economy worker, people could just-

P: Not pay you.

M: -pull your contract, exactly. Yeah, pull your contract within 24 hours.

P: Yeah.

M: So there’s, there’s still a bit of work to be done with most governments around the world. I don’t know that anyone’s really nailed this to give the gig economy and self-employed workers similar or enough of a safety net.

P: Yep.

M: So that they can go do what they do.

P: Sure.

M: And to give them a bit more certainty and security.

P: Mmm, mm. So in the last few minutes, let’s look at what things that we might be able to do to try and way lay this uncertainty that surrounds us in the new economy. Marie, you’ve got some, you’ve got a little pre-empt that you wanted to say on this one.

[Laughter]

M: Sure, look, I think it’s worth acknowledging that some people are doing it tough and it is not about us minimising that at all and the advice is if you’re struggling, please talk to a professional. Same –

P: Reach out.

M: – if we’ve triggered anything in this discussion and you’re not, you’re not coping again please do reach out to a professional and.

P: I think that’s really important because that’s actually taking a little bit of control. And in place of fear and in place of the uncertainty. I feel like the most important thing is, is that you do trying to find something that you can control, find one element that you can control and target that on by reaching out to someone and going up to someone say I’m not coping and I need assistance that’s actually taking control It’s a really positive, proactive step towards being, a step towards getting away from that uncertainty.

M: Absolutely. And then I think the second thing before we get into your broader tips is just remember to not overextend yourself financially. There’s a great book called Rich Dad, Poor Dad that talks about what rich people do and they don’t buy mansions and they don’t buy flashy cars.

P: Mmm, yeah.

M: And they don’t buy a lot of the things that society pressures us –

P: Yeah.

M: – into feeling we need to be a happy and successful.

P: Yeah, definitely. The whole. what would you buy if you won the lottery thing. Actually not much, don’t change.

M: Exactly, and a lot of happy people would buy nothing, so I think it’s just a really good general lesson. It is not financial advice. I have not taken your particular circumstances into account, just so we’re clear here.

P: [Laughter]

M: But I think it’s a really good point because there is so much uncertainty nowadays that having a really overstretched-

P: -financial situation is difficult at times.

M: Exactly. Yeah. Aside from that, Pete, there are some things you wanted to talk about for how we can maybe balance some of the negative with some positive-

P: Yeah.

M: – things that can help to maybe give you an umbrella as you’re standing underneath that financial entropic security cloud.

P: Yeah, absolutely. Look, this is, this comes from the mind tools website skills for [careers] and they really do talk about what’s the, the best way to respond it’s rather general advice, really, But it talks about controlling how you respond so in your circumstances where you are finding yourself feeling very uncertain. Try to get a hold on that emotional responsibility. Taking proactive steps like [those] we’ve already mentioned.

Getting value [for] yourself and giving value to your company or to your employer so that, that in turn, would reciprocate good feelings and a little bit more investment in parts of your employer or your company as such in going ‘well, this person’s really trying here. So let’s try and find a, a situation that we can either transfer them into or develop them further so that they stay with us.’

Looking for lateral transfers within your organisation, department transfers or even a different branch sometimes a change is as good as a holiday, as they say, so that helps to also up skill your communications and keep you relevant across more, more elements of the industry or the organisation with which you work, but within that as well, it’s also about valuing yourself and not allowing yourself to be taken advantage of.

Setting strong personal boundaries is a really important point, and in the same vein of being flexible and being broadly minded, assert yourself. Make sure that you’re not taken advantage of or manipulated for a bad negative outcome for yourself. Your outcome is just as important as the company’s outcome.

And keeping your technical skills up, making sure that the technical skills are there but also your communication and interpersonal skills, which I believe are called soft skills Marie.

M: [Laugh] Yes, we all know about soft skills in the corporate world.

P: I didn’t know about any. I mean, I don’t speak to client’s I stick them on a bed and they shut up.

[Laughter]

P: My interpersonal skills are probably through my elbows, more than anything, so [laugh] I need to look at that a little more laterally.

M: So I think a lot of those tips are really valuable. Show your value in an organisation is just a no brainer. But the one that I do want to reiterate here is to be taking control of your career and constantly looking for what’s next and how you can expand your skills and your interests and keep looking for the next opportunity. So keeping an open mind when things come along.

P: Yes.

M: And, they say nowadays, every 18 months you should be moving to a new team and growing and learning through that. So don’t move just because we say you should move. It’s about seeing things that interest you and taking a leap of faith and following the work. Yep, and that way it’s in your hands and your control.

P: Yeah.

M: You’re constantly updating your skills with new activities, and it makes you far more employable if not if, but when you’re made redundant.

P: Mmm.

M: Because it will happen.

P: Sure, yeah. I guess that’s the one thing we can rely on, that certainty is out there, it’s going to happen at one point.

M: Yep.

P: On that note. Let’s wind that up for this week. Thanks for joining us today. If you’d like to hear more please remember to subscribe and like our podcast. You can find us at www.marieskelton.com, a site about change, balance, happiness and resilience. You can also send in questions or propose a topic.

M: And if you like our little show, we would love for you to leave comment or a rating to help us out.

P: It would make us super happy.

M: Until next time…

P: Choose happiness 😊

[Happy Exit Music]

Related content: Read Happiness for Cynics article 5 Easy Resilience Activities for the Workplace , listen to our Podcast Wellbeing and Your Environment with Lee Chambers (E21)