7 Signs You’re Getting Fired

You need to watch out for these signs you’re getting fired. In times of economic uncertainty, companies will take action and do anything they can to keep their profits high. This includes doing things such as firing employees in there companies.

Here are the 7 signs you’re getting fired.

March 2, 2024 by Kazu Fujimoto

1. Poor performance review

This will be your first warning sign that you’re getting fired.

Companies will use internal corporate processes such as a poor performance review and will even put you on a PIP.

A PIP stands for a performance improvement plan.

In theory, what it does is creates a plan for employees that need to work on developing their performance. But in most cases, this is not true.

What a PIP is is a company working to leave a paper trail so that they can eventually have justification for firing you.

2. Getting no work

You should be very scared if you’re getting no work at all.

If you’re not delivering value day in and day out, then why should the company even be hiring you in the first place?

Companies set budgets and rely on things such as metrics in their day to day operations. Companies thrive on boosting shareholder profit so that they can continue operation.

If you’re just a big line item on a spreadsheet making a $70K salary, but not delivering any value add to the company, then you’re going to get fired.

If you notice that you’re not getting any work at all, you should be working to rewrite your resume and sharpen up your interviewing skills.

Check our resume rewrite service and mock interview service to equip you with the tools you need for your next job.

3. Low volume of emails

Getting a low volume of emails comes hand in hand with getting no work.

What a low volume of emails means is that people are not looking to keeping you involved.

They don’t see you or your position as a value to specific deliverables your team is working on.

If you have a large list of action items at your work, then you should be constantly sending emails left and right.

For emails you need to be following up constantly. You also need to be constantly emailing your team regarding tasks that you’re accomplishing and for items that you need.

This will ensure that people know you’re working on tasks to crush your deliverables.

Crushing your deliverables means the company is making money.

4. People don’t know you

If people don’t know who you are, then the company will even question why they have on in the first place.

In meetings regarding employee staff and layoffs or firing, managers and leadership all get into a room. They review each person line by line and review the value that they add.

If the senior leadership team of a company doesn’t like you, or let alone know you, then you’re out of luck.

To make sure that you have a strong presence at the company, you will need to be vocal in meetings.

If you work in an in person environment, then make sure to socialize with your coworkers. (There is a lot of down time to socialize in an on-site company setting – use this chance to network with coworkers.

5. Random 1 on 1 meetings with your manager

There will be nuance associated in interpreting this, but from a high level standpoint we see meetings as a bad thing.

Meetings take up time and are not productive in getting deliverables done. However, meetings are productive when it comes to strategic/planning type of work, which is valuable.

If your manager is setting up one on one meetings with you, then you need to determine whether it is a good thing or not.

Did your manager say ahead of time that they were going to set 1 on 1 meetings with you?

Are there situations occurring that are warranting that your manager set up 1 on 1 meetings with you?

It’s up to you to determine.

6. More people getting CC’d on your emails

If you randomly notice more people getting CC’d on your emails and with no specific context, this is a bad sign.

This is a bad sign in which the company and management is looking to transition work away from you.

Day by day, you need to keep an eye out on who is in your emails.

Our approach to emails is that you need to have as many people on there to showcase that you’re delivering value. It’s also good to keep people informed. But you need to make sure that every person on the email is on there with intent.

In general, just pay attention to who is on your emails and make sure that you’re delivering value.

If you do see this though, consider it a red flag, and look to start boosting your performance at the company or look for a new job.

7. Making lots of mistakes at work

If you’re constantly making mistakes at work, then you’re making the company lose money.

Mistakes can cost anywhere from the thousands of dollars to millions of dollars depending on what you’re dealing with for the company.

Constant “back and forth”, revising documents, and fixing mistakes takes time and money.

Companies do not want to pay you to make mistakes, but instead to solve customer problems. In return for solving customer problems, they will give the company money, and as a result, your salary comes from that.

Making a ton of mistakes at work will hinder your growth and development, and will also put a red flag on your when it comes to staffing decisions.

Closing Thoughts

There will be a lot of nuance on this, but these are the 7 signs that you’re getting laid off.

If you see any of these, then you need to start making changes ASAP.

Look into why things such as your performance are down or why you’re making so many mistakes.

It could be a number of reasons such as:

• Lack of interest in the job
• Unmotivated
• Anxiety or depression regarding work
• Not compensated well enough to care
• Incompetence

We realize that these are harsh, but you need to do some difficult self evaluation when it comes to systematically changing your life for the better.