Poorly Paid, Overworked, No Job Security.
Thousands of Job Losses.
Robots Will Take our Jobs.
The Gig Economy is Growing Whether You Like it or Not.
These are just some headlines that we are constantly exposed to. They cause anxiety, stress and worry amongst many workers and parents. The tipping point for me was when I found out that my friends and colleagues over 50, who lost their jobs due to an organizational restructure, couldn’t find work after that.
So, what’s really going on?
Job Security is Not Dead
First off, let me just say that there are strategies for you to increase your job security and reduce your stress and worry. Job security is not dead, contrary to popular belief. It will take some work and commitment on your part if you want to secure your job, and be job-ready and future-ready. You have to anticipate the future, acquire the relevant knowledge and skills to reduce your risk, and take action to future-proof yourself and secure your job and income.
Future-proofing is the process of understanding and anticipating the future while minimizing the stress potential issues with a job, career or employment. It means using appropriate strategies and having plans that are tailored to individual circumstances and personalities.
Here’s the thing: People do not plan to fail. They just fail to plan. Fear about the future is okay, but complacency kills jobs and income and increases stress and worry.
One of my personal goals is to be job-ready and future-ready. This should increase my job security. What are your goals related to the future?
Understand and Overcoming the Challenges Ahead
As the sole breadwinner in my late 40s, working in a full-time job and having to support a family with five beautiful children, I know we are living in challenging times. I also know that the future of work is going to be very different.
With the desire to know more about these challenges for myself (and to share them with you), I have documented evidence of no less than 62 challenges in an e-Book, Shocking Secrets Every Worker Needs to Know: How to future-proof your job, increase your income and protect your wealth in today’s digital economy.
Apart from benefiting myself, the knowledge gained in researching and writing this e-book has given me the confidence to guide my own teenage children in their study and career choices. If you are a parent, let me ask you this: Do you know what to tell your teenage children if they ask you for career advice? Yesteryear’s “study hard, work hard, go to university, get a job” advice, isn’t reality anymore.
A couple of years ago, my children were approaching their teens. It became evident to me that I really didn’t know much about the future of work, the gig economy, and how many external factors could impact me, my children and my family. Rather than being ignorant and adopting a hope and pray strategy, I went on a knowledge acquisition journey to future-proof and secure my job, my income, and my family.
Based on techniques that I used as a risk expert, I developed and applied a simple process to my personal situation.
I had to anticipate how the future should look for me, personally, given my current situation, location, and circumstances. Any gaps to bridge my current and future states were identified. This could include gaps in my knowledge, skills, and employability. To close these gaps, I acquired knowledge, skills and competencies. Finally, I acted on the knowledge gained. I applied myself so that I could move closer toward my desired end state.
Here are some illustrations of how the process could be applied to your own life. I anticipate that real estate is going to be the tangible but finite asset that everyone will need in the future. When I wanted financial freedom for myself and family by investing in real estate, I read and attended seminars on property investing. This led me to purchase some rental properties.
I anticipated that professional qualifications would increase my job security and future employability. After completing two post-graduate professional studies related to my profession and my job, I increased my knowledge and value to my employer. In doing so, I have also increased my job security. I am anticipating that starting a side business while in full-time employment will future-proof me. This is an ongoing journey and I invite you to join me on this journey.
After researching and watching 2,340+ videos published on the Internet and by gurus on how to make money – and about the different money making strategies and business models – I realized that the Internet has given so many people the opportunity to make money without much investment. I have also documented all these strategies and business models on my blog. My personal goal was to compile the most comprehensive list of money-making ideas on planet earth! (Hence, the name of the blog.)
Practical Steps to Increase Your Job Security
The future of work will be so different from today’s working environment and workplaces due to influences from automation, artificial intelligence, robotics, demographic changes, and income inequality.
These changes will be inevitable. It’s not a question of if but when.
Therefore, we should be taking the initiative to anticipate the future and put in place mitigation plans now, in order to overcome these challenges before it is too late. Rather than waiting, anticipating these inevitable changes and challenges will require answers to these key questions:
- How can I future-proof my job and increase my job security?
- How can I increase my income?
- How can I preserve my wealth and income streams?
We know that the demand for workers who perform routine and manual tasks will significantly reduce over time through the use of automation, artificial intelligence, and robotics. Instead, there will be significant increases in the demand for workers who will spend vast amounts of time focusing on people, solving problems, and thinking creatively.
The key to understanding the future of job security is the need to solve complex problems, adding value, creatively finding new products and services through innovations, and better social interaction at a human level as more machines come into contact with our lives.
Machines need humans!
The bottom line is that our future income streams and employability will solely depend on how well we have continuously upgraded our knowledge and skills, how we have effectively adapted to the constant changes that are occurring around us, and how we have positively nurtured our attitudes and mindsets to embrace these potential changes and the future of work.
Here are some general steps that you can take to secure your job (and income) and to remain employable and job-ready well into the future either as an employee, freelancer, or contractor.
1. Conduct an environmental scan to determine what external factors or challenges may negatively impact your occupation and job in your current location, the industry that you are currently working in, and your employer’s ability to overcome these challenges.
2. Conduct a personal skills-gap analysis of what you currently have and what skills you require in the future as your job, occupation, and industry evolve over time; this allows you to cope with rising automation (artificial intelligence and robotics), changing demographics, and increasing income inequality.
3. Implement your strategies and action plans ruthlessly to close any skill gaps identified by taking into account potential negative factors identified during your environmental scan.
You Have to Mind Your Own Business
One key response to the challenge at hand is for workers to mind their own business. They have to actively future-proof their jobs, increase their incomes, and preserve their wealth. This includes securing their future income streams from potential shocks of organizational restructure, poor health, automation, economic uncertainty, and poor management. When salaries and wages do not increase, workers are forced to find alternative income sources. Hence, the rise of the gig economy.
One piece of research that resonated with me showed that starting a side-business or participating side-gigs, while still having a full-time job, is the best pathway to success and job security in the future. In 2014, research entitled Multiple Job Holding, Skill Diversification, and Mobility, researchers found that individuals can use multiple jobs as a conduit for obtaining new skills and expertise and as stepping-stones to new or better careers, or even self-employment.
The acquired skills, knowledge, and expertise can give us diversity and security of income, increased job security, and a strong foundation upon which you can have future employment in the career of your choice. The researchers found that multiple jobs do give us economic security and upward mobility.
Monetize Your Skills and Secure Your Future Job and Income
It’s important to note that each person has gifts, skills, and knowledge that can enrich the lives and businesses of others. In doing so, they could also earn some additional income. Apart from earning salaries and wages, the monetization of individual skills and experience will greatly benefit everyone, especially in their later years.
Unfortunately, entrepreneurship or starting a business is not for everyone because of individual risk profiles, personal strengths and preferences, and level of financial literacy and capability.
The appropriate response for workers is to acquire or develop assets well before retirement. Assets put money into our pockets. They include business systems like blogs and investments like real estate.
Apart from asking employers for a pay raise or switching to a higher paying job to earn an active income, there are other options available to employees to generate passive income for themselves:
- Starting an online blog, Facebook group, etc., that monetizes revenues from advertisements, affiliate marketing, and selling services and products.
- Starting an e-Commerce site that sells services and products or uses existing platforms like Amazon, eBay or Shopify.
- Investing in real estate.
- Investing in equities, commodities, and gold.
- Investing in websites or virtual real estate that is making money.
- Participating in a network marketing system.
- Starting a home-based business, selling products and services, including participating in Airbnb, Fiverr, Uber, or Upwork.
It’s Getting Riskier by the Day; Take Action Now
The situation will not get any better, unfortunately. It’s getting riskier by the day for workers. There is less control and security over jobs and employment than ever before. Without a doubt, the journey to job security and reduction in stress and worry will take significant mindset change, hard work, commitment, and sacrifice. Complacency will get employees nowhere.
Taking action will reduce your stress and worry. It will restore or enhance your relationships. Start with your own knowledge acquisition journey. The best investment you can make is in yourself!
