Not all companies are meant to last unfortunately. Whether it be due to poor management, changing times, a rise in competition or even economic recession, many businesses end up closing their doors as the years go on. While some of these closures are sudden, other companies take several years before they’re completely shut down. As you probably know already, the daily experience employees have at a failing company is not always great – the atmosphere can range from unmotivated to extremely stressful and everything in between. This experience can also apply to your department or specific branch closing too, even if the company as a whole is not going out of business. If this is your experience, I can relate. The last two years at my previous company were spent seeing the ‘tidal wave’ coming in slow motion; most of us knew our division – once one of the largest in the company – would be shut down eventually given our overall performance, but no one knew exactly when. Here are six things I learned while working for a failing company that’ll hopefully be helpful!
Customer & Coworker Relationships Are Often Tense
When working for a failing company, it’s not a surprise that service provided to customers and clients is lacking. While a company is failing, budgets become tighter, hiring is slim-to-none and the motivation of employees can be non-existent.
In turn, many client interactions will involve hearing about problems, pressure, stress and general negativity. It can be hard not to take some of this personally, but all you can do is perform as well as possible with the resources you have at your disposal.
Relationships with coworkers can also be tense during these times. Between job uncertainty, work stress and even blaming each other, it’s understandable that some coworkers won’t be happy campers. In my experience, it’s honestly best to look out for yourself in these times – maintain healthy relationship where possible and minimize interactions with the negative coworkers in your midst.
Relationships with coworkers can also be tense during these times. Between job uncertainty, work stress and even blaming each other, it’s understandable that some coworkers won’t be happy campers. In my experience, it’s honestly best to look out for yourself in these times – maintain healthy relationship where possible and minimize interactions with the negative coworkers in your midst.
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Responsibilities Become Blurred
When working for a failing company, you’ll see many coworkers leave. Some will be longtime employees of the company who are moving on, while others will come and go quickly. In my personal experience, companies that slowly destruct over several years will attempt to put several “band-aids” on their issues to stop short-term pain and keep things moving. Unfortunately, this usually doesn’t fix any of the company’s underlying issues and the new employees catch on. In short, there’s often a revolving door of employees coming at failing companies.
What about those who stay? They’re expected to pick up the slack much of the time. In this process, job responsibilities become blurred and you’ll often take on a lot of tasks you normally wouldn’t. At one point, our division had several people leave in a six-month period, including people overseeing the daily work on our job sites. While I normally spent my days on project finance and management, I found myself loading bags of concrete into my car at Home Depot – if I didn’t do it, who would?
If I can give any advice on this topic, it’s to focus as much on your most important, core responsibilities as possible – these are the tasks that management expects you to uphold. If you truly cannot spend the appropriate on the important tasks you’re in charge of, I highly recommend documenting this in writing with your superiors. If management will blame you for work not getting done, you must equally ‘blame’ them for the inability to do it.
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Friends & Allies Are More Appreciated
For a bit of positivity, let’s talk about the good relationships we have at work. In times of turmoil, our coworkers can be a breath of fresh air in an otherwise murky environment, metaphorically.
According to Scientific American, hard times bring people together. While the walls are crumbling and you’re feeling stressed al the time, a quick coffee break and a few jokes with coworkers can provide stress relief and motivation to press on.
In addition to bonding between coworkers on an emotional level, it’s practical too. You’ll want the best for these coworkers, even if that means moving on. On the flip side, you may be the one who ends up leaving. In either case, you’ll be more motivated to help each other out with references, recommendation letters and even new opportunity.
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Self-Care Is More Important Than Ever
One big mistake I made while working for a failing company is blaming myself for the failure, at least on the projects I was involved in. We also had a pretty bad boss who tried to blame everyone but himself for the situations our division’s projects were in – I was definitely not an exception. As a result, I found myself burnt out, anxious and constantly working, which was ultimately futile anyways.
In these times, it’s extremely important to care for yourself. Yes, we should work hard and do what’s right for our company despite the hard times. That said, it’s not our responsibility to work around the clock and sacrifice ourselves for a company that’s likely failing for reasons you’re not responsible for. Make sure you’ve got time to maintain basic balance in other aspects of your life.
I personally recommend starting a little early each day so you have time to get yourself organized. If you come in early and put in a solid days’ work, there’s no reason you shouldn’t leave on time (or close). If management still expects you to do more, I recommend not doing it. You could spend that time getting your resume together and planning your exit instead. On a related note, check out these free resume templates if you’re interested.
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You’ll Learn Many Lessons
Although I wouldn’t spend five more minutes working for a failing company again, I wouldn’t change my experience. We got some thorough, in-depth training on how not to run a business. I learned so many things through experience that I never would’ve learned working at a successful business. If I worked at a great company during those years instead, this website may not exist either!
One thing you can try is to make a note every time you witness or experience something negative while working at one of these companies. What happened? What mistakes were made? This is at least one way to make lemonade out of the lemons that’ve been plopped in your lap.
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Working For A Failing Company Doesn’t Make You A Failure
This last one contains pieces of the points we covered already, but it’s important. Working for a failing company does not make you a failure!
This is obvious to an outsider. After enough stress, negativity from clients, chaos and pressure from upper management, it’s not unheard of to question your own performance. While being introspective about your work is valuable, a failing company is ultimately the responsibility of those who have authority to make changes. Sure, bad luck or a freak occurrence can bring companies down and it’s terrible what that happens. Many companies end up failing simply because they just can’t deliver.
Here’s a practical tip based on my experience. When a mistake is made or something goes wrong, think of at least one thing you’ll do differently in the future because of what you learned. This could be something you wish you did differently or just an observation from the outside. After that, think of at least of thing your company should have done differently. This helps you look inward and avoid blaming others, while also seeing your company’s situation for what it really is.
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In Closing
If you’re presently working for a failing company, my heart goes out to you. I know it’s stressful and frustrating, but you may end up looking back on this experience as one of the most important times in your life. We can always leave for a new opportunity, or hang in there, take care of ourselves, appreciate our good coworkers and learn a lot – all things considered, life could be much worse.
