Being Sacked

We often don't "call a spade a spade" as my dad would have said. We are fond of euphemisms, so we use "being let go" instead. Or "being released", "parted ways", "being laid off". How contrived is that? The HR term is "separation of employment". "Getting the boot" - "Getting your marching orders" - "Getting axed" are cruder slang versions. The bottom line is you loose your job & everything that goes with a reliable salary.

There is a difference in how often people are sacked according to their status, contract type & length of service. The vast majority of people sacked have less than 2 years service. Temporary, zero-hours, or agency contracts are always terminated first. Private corporations have much higher dismissal / redundancy rates. Customer service, sales & tech have the highest volumes of sudden terminations because of performance targets & shifting business demands.

The interesting thing is that public sector employees are far safer. A civil servant, for example is far more likely to actually die in post than be sacked for poor performance. Firing rates are as low as 0.1% - 0.2%. UK Prime Ministers, Cabinet Ministers & senior political figures suffer from an incredibly high rate of turnover and involuntary departures compared to private sector leaders. They are vulnerable to "churn", often forced out due to backbench rebellions, media pressure, or ministerial code breaches. I can't find stats for how many politicians are sacked or forced to resign because of  mistakes or incompetence. Not enough I imagine.

Fewer private company senior executives are fired because their terminations are incredibly costly, often over 200% of their annual salary to replace. They are rarely sacked publicly, but are "let go" with negotiated settlements or redundancies. Paid for incompetence or negligence.

The conclusion must be that like so many things the music hall song, "She was Poor but she was Honest", is right ;-

"It's the same the whole world over,
It's the poor what gets the blame,
It's the rich what gets the pleasure,
Ain't it all a blooming shame?" 

Not only is the whole edifice skewed & unfair, but the people least able to cope with losing a job & a salary are the ones most likely to have to find a way to cope. They simply don't have a cushion of any sort. The people in roles with status have more protection, more money & more likelihood of moving on to another job. They are also not held accountable for failings in the same way. In fact they are given "golden handshakes to leave without fuss.

Frankly it's isn't just unfair, it stinks & should change.