“Is it real, can I be fired? I just said no to a task given to me.” asked my colleague. I assured him that declining a task cannot be grounds to fire. Was I right?
I grew up in an Indian culture, akin to other Asian culture. Finish your education and get your job. Stick on to it till you find a better one. Don’t ever decline any tasks lest the company fires you. Business and start ups are risks that is ill-advised due to lack of a stable income.
Owning a business that’s successful is the best way to not have the fear of losing your job. But we need people to work in those businesses with the fear of losing your position or even job. Should we have this fear always? The fear will not let us work with our heart or contribute effectively. We will always be congruent to our bosses even if it goes against our values or the values of the company. We won’t quit even if our values and company’s values are at loggerheads. We don’t quit as we have planned the future of our dependants on this job.
Can the company fire us? Yes, that’s always spelled in the contract. If you are not productive, not useful, not aligned to company’s plans, and also just like that. The only condition to suffice is the notice period. It might be different if there are tough pro-worker labour laws. But mostly, if you want to get rich, you need to work in a place where capitalist views are in vogue.
So, what saves us and our jobs. Our leaders. The persons who are assigned to help us work through their leadership and evaluate/appraise us. Though it is a different matter that our leaders are not evaluated based on our performance. That is a tall order as being an effective and good leader is difficult, experienced than learned in a school. So, its doomed that we, the less courageous live in fear of losing job till we really lose it. Or is there a way out? Would love your views……..