At some point in our careers, some of us will be on the receiving end of the message, “You’re fired.” Especially if it’s a surprise, we need some time to recover from the initial shock before we start looking for answers to the question, “Why did I get fired?” The question becomes more painful to answer if others in the organization, whom we think are performing no better than we are, have not lost their jobs. We ask ourselves why we are the only or the first person to be laid off when all other things are equal between us and other members of the staff. Or are they?

Why Did This Happen? There are 7 Possibilities.
Unfortunately, not all employers are honest. Sometimes, we are not given a reason for our termination because the company is afraid of legal repercussions. In these cases, the managers giving out the pink slips restrict their wording to a script that was developed by attorneys and that contains phrases such as, “without cause” or “without reason.” We’re not gullible enough to believe that any boss would go to the trouble of firing someone, after having recruited and trained that person, for no reason. Even if management does not always exhibit the most rational behavior, we wouldn’t be out of work without at least one precipitating factor. What is it?
Let’s assume that performance is not the reason for the termination. There are 7 remaining possibilities.

• Attitude. Sometimes all of us need an attitude readjustment, but there is a problem when this is the rule rather than the exception. A poor attitude can include such things as consistently being angry, acting condescendingly to others, and complaining about the company.
• Underperformance. It can be tempting to arrive to work late and give any sort of excuse, not fully complete assignments to leave work early or close to the end of our assigned shift, but our bosses are taking note of this behavior. If we are not putting in our best efforts and always taking short cuts, the boss will have a very good excuse to let us go.
• Engaging in Religious Discussions, Political Debates, and Office Gossip. It’s so tempting, isn’t it? But it is so ill-advised. Participating in this activity is problematic in a couple of different ways. First, the side we vocally support may not be the same as the boss’s preference. It shouldn’t matter, but do we want to test that hypothesis? Second, even if our views coincide with those of the manager, he or she may become concerned about our continued loyalty, over the long haul, if views shift.
• Being Too Open About Personal Problems. Yes, of course, openness can be a good thing. It may be the first step toward confronting a problem and dealing with it. But should we really be discussing substance abuse, marital issues, financial dilemmas, and the like with our co-workers? While some of them are also personal friends, many of them are not.
• Dishonesty. This one should be coupled with stupidity, because if we don’t refrain from this because of moral considerations, we should because the chances are good that we will be caught. Whether it is lying about past job experiences, time spent working, or the personal use of the Internet and company email while supposedly doing assignments, the behavior is wrong—clearly so.
• Last One Hired/First One Fired. Sometimes it’s just a matter of an inadequate track record to justify being retained during unstable economic periods. Maybe this is nothing more than an accommodation to other employees with more seniority. This may be hard to swallow if we’re the first to be fired, but it is a fact of life in some companies .
• Discrimination. While we don’t like to think that this can still be an issue in the 21st century, sadly, it can. If we can think of no other possible reason to have lost a job than our age, disability, ethnic group, national origin, color, race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, there is a strong possibility that we’ve solved the mystery. The Department of Labor provides links for guidance on various forms of job discrimination in the workplace.

How Can We Prevent Being Laid Off If We See It Coming?
If we think that there may be a target on our backs, we should look for these warning signs. For example, if we are no longer in the loop or told to take a vacation, we should do some honest self-evaluation to see if any of the 7 reasons mentioned above could be at play. If any are, and if they are within our power to change, we need to do so ASAP. If it means working late, volunteering for “extra credit” work, or exhibiting the 4 key strategies for on the job success, we need to make ourselves the employees whom the boss can’t function without.