#JobExperience #WorkplaceTips #CareerAdvice
Hey there! 🤔 I totally get where you’re coming from. It’s interesting how some folks seem to coast through jobs without being the best employees yet never get fired. Let’s dive into why that might be! Here are a few possibilities:
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Being a nice person 💖: You mentioned not acting like a jerk toward others, and that’s a big factor! People appreciate kindness and collaboration in a workspace. If you’re easy to work with, managers may be less inclined to let you go.
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Reliability ⏰: Even if your actual work isn’t stellar, showing up consistently and being dependable can go a long way. Employers often value someone who can be counted on to be present, even if their performance could use improvement.
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Good relationships 🤝: Building rapport with coworkers and supervisors can be a lifesaver. If you have a positive connection with your team, they might vouch for you, even during tough times.
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Skillset fit ⚙️: Sometimes, the role just fits you well enough that you can perform basic tasks without causing major disruptions. You may not be a star player, but you’re doing enough to fulfill your role.
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Adaptability 🌱: If you’re willing to learn and adapt, that’s a huge plus! Employers often appreciate when you’re open to feedback and try to improve, even if you’re not perfect right away.
- Company culture 🏢: Some workplaces are more forgiving than others, especially if they have a laid-back culture. If you fit well within the dynamics of the company, you might enjoy a longer tenure.
So, what’s your take on it? Have you noticed any other reasons people keep their jobs even if they aren’t excelling? I’d love to hear your experiences or any tips you’ve picked up along the way! Let’s chat! 😊
maybe your job isn’t that big of deal so no one pays attention
I’d suggest the possibility that you have imposter syndrome. Lots of people do. You actually are pretty great at what you do and you actually do produce at an elite level, but for a variety of reasons (it’s effortless for you and seems like it should be harder, low self esteem, etc.), you feel like you suck and somehow no one seems to notice.
Generally speaking, everybody doesn’t tell the same lie. If you seem to be positively reviewed at your jobs and well liked, I would suggest exploring the possibility that you are actually damn good at what you do and that this is a you problem inside your head.
Coming from a manager- it is difficult to recruit, hire, train, and fill roles while also having my own duties and job to do. I have some staff that are just fine, they aren’t all stars and they have zero career aspirations to move up in their field. That’s fine- I need a team of people doing an okay job more than a half filled team and constantly having to recruit, hire and train. Okay employees who don’t rock the boat are awesome!
If you’re easy to manage, managers will like keeping you around
There are a lot of people in your role and high turnover, so one “not so great” worker doesn’t really hurt anything. Think customer service roles where there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people in your role. If you are just doing your job, that is good enough to keep you.
I did “not great worker” for a good 20 years and never lost a job to being not a great worker. And I mean I was a full blown fuck off. Had a sales job where I spent at least 95% of the work day screwing off of the World of Warcraft forums and taking smoke breaks. But I was able to coast on being able to close deals easily and not being obnoxious to anyone.
I suspect this is a mindset intentionally cultivated by employers in an effort to drive productivity. As an informal and anecdotal poll, everyone in my office right now agrees that they generally think they are underperforming.
I’ve managed for years. If you show up and do 80% of your job and don’t cause drama you are in the top 5% of workers. Office, retail, always true.
Union
I have always been a good worker, I’m personable and nice — but I have boundaries. Until now, all my jobs have been fairly low stakes. Low pay, no room for advancement — and so knowing that I dont necessarily overextend myself.
My last job got me through college and after about a year they started to go back on some conditions we agreed to at the start of my employment. Because of this, I decided not to go out of my way to do anything for them because I didn’t see them giving me any special promotions or incentives. I even had a situation with my manager and the operations manager about pay that didn’t go so well — but in the end, I got my benefits adjusted and got to keep my job.
Basically, I show up, I do my work and I fly under the radar. I suppose that’s what you me doing. My new job is a career that’s relevant to my college degree and I care way more about my performance. I also feel like an idiot because I’m an intern with no experience — I get tons of support and positive feedback even tho I dont feel adequate. But all of this is in my head — I worry that those praises aren’t genuine but I have to snap back to reality and be thankful that I have such a supportive team around me while I’m getting acclimated into a career. Our anxieties can really fuck with our emotions!
I’m guessing you’re better than you think you are — or as my therapist says: you can’t read minds! Your employer prob thinks you’re consistent and reliable and that’s enough. Or maybe the bar is low. If you dont have aspirations of growing professionally this is probably not a bad thing — sometimes it’s nice to hit cruise control and focus on other things. If you feel stuck maybe there are other opportunities for you to excel — but I also know that’s not everyone’s MO.
Basically, dont get in your head about your position. You’re clearly doing something right or your management doesn’t care. I’d rather have management off my back personally than micromanage me and make my job miserable. Maybe it’s a good time to reassess what you want and if this is right for you. I used my chill last job to go to college and now I’m making more money and I’m happier and more motivated.
Seniority
Because I am the Swiss Army knife. Most of my team only knows how to work in 1 state. I handle the other 18 states we do business in. They can get fucked if they push me out as I handle the 2 largest clients we have which account for 38% of our revenue. People on my team don’t know how to do what I do.
Your probably still not the worst coworker they’ve ever seen if your able to keep stable employment.
I had this same question to a leader at my company, not for myself but about something else that happened at the company. Basically all they said back to me was “have you ever heard of someone getting fired for NOT doing something?”
Thought that was kinda eye opening
While I think I’m pretty competent, I’m not exactly a genius or a top performer.
People do like me though – I’m friendly, approachable and I find that I can get along with pretty much anyone. Likability goes much further than you’d think.
Another point I have in my favour is that I’m in a pretty niche, specialized field that doesn’t really have a lot of people with the proper skills and experience. So while I’m not in the top tier in my area, I know enough to make me fairly important to the department.
And more importantly – I never rock the boat. Leadership gives me their vision and my deliverables and I just execute. I’ve seen multiple senior level people in my company – including my very talented ex-boss – get let go because they tried to push back and change things too much. Big corporations prefer it when you shut up and stay in your lane.
Most of our jobs aren’t that important. You can keep a job forever by just not causing problems.
Average is employable.
Managers typically hate the hiring process. It’s long, tedious, you are always second guessing yourself, there is always the possibility you bring on someone worse. Also, often between firing and hiring, there is often a long period of nobody there.
So if you are not a super egregious employee, having a 50% employee is better than 0%
The principle of diminishing returns. Sometimes having a more productive employee doesn’t equal more profit, and it’s possible the employee might have other assets, like a personality that puts people at ease and stabilizes the workplace when it comes to conflicts amongst other employees. A lot of corporations hire analysts to determine the point where profits are maximized without over-investing. It’s a technical economics concept.
If you show up on time every day, managers & supervisors sometimes overlook your shortcomings.
As long as you are not the worst, your manager has other fish to fry.
When I was a teenager I use to do property maintenance for my township. I would sleep in the work truck sometimes and even got caught a few times. I never got fired because I showed up on time and did a great job when I was working. I was polite and proffesional outside of taking naps haha.
Just based on my experience the most common things that get people fired are: attendance, negligence/safety/liability risks, questionable ethics/integrity (lying, stealing, etc), and not being able to get along with people.
Avoiding being one of those employees goes a very long way to staying employed.
If you are pleasant or easy to work with and your job is getting done most places are happy to have you!
My old boss was getting ready to fire one of my coworkers and she said that it’s really hard to fire someone who comes to work on time.
Do you show up on time? Do your work? Don’t screw up anything major? If yes, you are doing exactly what you should be doing. Work is work, it’s there to get money for your living and for the employer’s living. Not sure what you consider not being that great of a worker.
Not being that great is fine. You aren’t hired with the expectations you’ll be Superman, just that you’ll do the job.
As long as you show willingness to learn and don’t have attendance issues, you are legitimately better than about half the hiring pool.
Also as others said, it is legitimately possible depending on your job that management just doesn’t pay attention.
I have ADHD. I’m fairly good at what I do but I’m not always the most resilient when life gets overwhelming and I have a tendency to procrastinate immensely and then hammer out crazy amounts of work in a short period of time. People put up with this because 1) my work is pretty decent and 2) I’m nice to people. Being nice to people is really the most important part. I’ve never been fired before. In fact my last boss told me I’m one of the most brilliant people he’s ever worked with and I honestly thought I might have been doing a terrible job.
Union.
If you are not costing them money or causing drama, they will sort of just ignore you and sometimes that is all you need. Also finding a replacement is more time and money consuming then just keeping the average worker.
Your number hasn’t come up… yet.
For all the times I was supposed to be fired
Couldn’t fire me because it was my first jobs
Couldn’t fire me because I was too good of worker and they were losing people by the hour!
And then now to experience to be fired
One of the main aspects that a company sees is how well you adapt to the company culture. EOD