5 Ways to Show Your Value at Work

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After two years of scrambling to attract talent, companies are suddenly focused on cutting staff. More than half of U.S. business leaders (60%) said their | SUCCESS

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A woman in professional attire flexes her muscles.

After two years of scrambling to attract talent, companies are suddenly focused on cutting staff.

More than half of U.S. business leaders (60%) said their company is likely to have layoffs in the second half of this year, according to a survey from ResumeTemplates.com. Several companies, including Cisco, Intel, IBM and Goldman Sachs, have announced plans to cut staff. Meanwhile, a recent survey shows that 7 in 10 workers are worried about being laid off.

“Right now, our careers are existing in a context that is very pro-employer, and a few years ago, during the Great Resignation, it was very pro-employee,” says leadership and career coach Phoebe Gavin. So far this year, the industries with the greatest number of layoffs have been media, technology and entertainment, she says.

Layoffs happen when companies either need to rebalance their finances or when they decide certain tasks are no longer essential to the core business, Gavin says. Once companies decide to make these changes, it can be difficult to convince corporate decision-makers to spare your position. However, career experts agree that it’s always a good idea for employees to show their value at work—even when there are no layoff rumors.

Here are five ways you can do this:

Make sure the work you’re doing ties back to the company’s mission and goals, and that the bulk of your work directly contributes to the business’s bottom line.

“It really is not about what we love to do,” says financial coach Annie Cole, Ed.D. “It’s about what the business needs in that moment.”

Strategic goals can feel lofty, so make sure you understand what they are and how to contribute to them, Cole says. If you’re unclear how your role fits into the mission, work with your supervisor to make your position more valuable to the company, she says.

For instance, Cole once worked at an organization that had a goal of making sure a certain percentage of staff completed training. Her role focused on research so every time she looked at the survey responses of staff who took the training, she tried to pinpoint the exact reason why someone did or didn’t complete the training. Then she’d inform the program team what they could do to increase the training completion rate, allowing her to tie her work back to the company’s overall success.

When you connect your work to the company’s larger goals, it’s important to also communicate that to your boss. “If you don’t communicate it, it might go unnoticed,” she says.

Keep in mind that how you perceive your job performance might not match how your boss perceives your job performance.

To better understand how leadership sees your performance, have proactive conversations with your supervisor, Gavin advises. Don’t wait for your annual performance review to ask for feedback on your work. For instance, you can say to your boss, “It’s been a long time since we had a big picture conversation about how I’m doing on the job. Could you give me some feedback?”

Delve a little deeper by encouraging your boss to talk about behaviors. For instance, ask, “Can you give me some more detail about what is happening that you don’t like and what my performance would look like if it was improved?”

Ask your boss what key performance measures he will use to evaluate your work at the end of the year, Cole says. If it’s increased sales, ask if there’s a certain percentage increase you should aim for. If it’s increased customer satisfaction, find out what that looks like.

For instance, maybe 80% of customers currently say they love the product versus like it, so perhaps your goal could be to increase that to 82% for the next quarter.

“The more you can get a really concrete goal, it’s going to help you know if you’re actually hitting that mark and that’s how you can define excellence,” Cole notes.

If you identify a problem, bring the problem with a solution to your boss. Or better yet, offer to help implement that solution.

“I have historically seen the ones that will identify the problems and come with a solution, [but] the ones that go that extra step saying, ‘Hey, there’s a problem here, what can I do to help you,’ they’re the ones that stay,” says Tiffani Martinez, HR director at Otter PR.

If you have an idea, even if you think it’s a little far-fetched or not fully formed, bring it to your boss, Martinez says. The company might not use it, but they might glean something from it and come up with a more viable idea.

“You’re giving an idea, you’re sharing your information, you’re showing that you have a knowledge base that maybe the company hasn’t been able to tap into,” Martinez says.

You can’t prevent a layoff, but you can prevent layoff damage, Gavin says. That means making sure you’re in a good financial position so that if you do get laid off, you have savings to lean on.

You should also focus on skills. Understand what skills are needed to do your job at other companies by studying other job descriptions, she advises. If you find there’s a skills gap, invest in upskilling while you’re still employed to make it easier to find the next position.

Keep track of your contributions, achievements and capabilities, Gavin says. If you have reports or other work you’ve created, keep copies in your personal files, not just on your work computer.

Maintain relationships with current and past colleagues, and attend industry and professional meetings to meet new people. “It is absolutely crucial that you are active about building your relationships and reputation,” Gavin says.

If you’re feeling stressed about work, talk with your boss.

“Don’t let yourself lay in bed at night, stressing about it without talking to someone because there are potential conversations that could change your career and… help your boss know that you’re thinking about it and help you to craft your job to be as valuable as possible,” Cole says.

Photo by Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock.com

Lisa Rabasca Roepe is a Washington, D.C.-based freelance journalist who writes about gender equity, diversity and inclusion, and the culture of work.

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