View Full Version : are you invaluable at work?
I have been thinking about this a lot as I look for another position. I have always been the "glue" person at my current work so things would be rocky for a while if/when I leave - but probably not for long. Additionally, I have a lot of historical knowledge having worked for the organization since its inception. Not sure that matters anymore though. I really like the sense of contributing to an effort and where I am now is feeling less and less fulfilling. Assuming you work for someone else, would they miss your presence if you moved on or are you easily replaceable?
I have been thinking about this a lot as I look for another position. I have always been the "glue" person at my current work so things would be rocky for a while if/when I leave - but probably not for long. Additionally, I have a lot of historical knowledge having worked for the organization since its inception. Not sure that matters anymore though. I really like the sense of contributing to an effort and where I am now is feeling less and less fulfilling. Assuming you work for someone else, would they miss your presence if you moved on or are you easily replaceable?
I think it depends...if you work for a small business there is a very good likelihood that you could be considered "invaluable". If you work for a major corporation then at the local level you could also be a very important asset within your team but in all likelihood above the local or area level you are reduced to a number, or more correctly a SS number.
One of the more disgusting things I did as a senior manager in a major corporation was dealing with the tech downturn in 2000/2001. The decision making was an exercise in poor management. Favorites, connections, performance appraisals were all used as WMD's when it came time to cut numbers.
In a major corporation you will never be missed - no matter who or what level you are - it is simply a numbers game and in tough economic times employees are considered expendable. There is always someone younger and eager to take your place and seniority or more correctly experience is not considered much of an asset these days for lots of reasons.
Peace
Nope! I am of the opinion that no one should be invaluable. If I was kidnapped by aliens tomorrow, someone could take over my job - though no one in the org seems to want anything to do with fundraising, or to be involved with what I actually am trying to do! But that's another story...
ApatheticNoMore
6-6-11, 1:18pm
Additionally, I have a lot of historical knowledge having worked for the organization since its inception. Not sure that matters anymore though. I really like the sense of contributing to an effort and where I am now is feeling less and less fulfilling.
Oh boy do I understand this.
Really pretty much noone is invaluable, yea I know they tell us we should be. It's not reality. Be a valuable employee, ok, but invaluable, puh-lease.
I think it depends...if you work for a small business there is a very good likelihood that you could be considered "invaluable". If you work for a major corporation then at the local level you could also be a very important asset within your team
This is what I think too, being more or less "invaluable" (and again noone is truly invaluable) has as much to do with the structure of your organization as it does with you. A small organization yes, a larger one, no not so much so. Part of my preference for working in small organizations is precisely that you get that appreciation!
In a major corporation you will never be missed - no matter who or what level you are - it is simply a numbers game and in tough economic times employees are considered expendable.
Yea, I'm trying to think of anyone who truly was missed in the long run, no, the organization just kept on going. If you want people you are invaluable to, look at your relationships, not at work.
I do my work every day with the effort to make sure that my immediate departure would not be a detriment to my employer. In a big company, that means not leaving my team in a lurch. In a small company, that means business carrying on without me (although, as half of our development team, I know there'd be some pain in the short term).
Life happens. I may want to move on, they may want me to move on, something might come up (car accident, sudden death in the family, etc).
If I was hit by a bus tomorrow there is a lot of knowledge that would go out the window for my department since I developed a lot of the processes in place for managing data and reporting (my job!). I have most of the important aspects of my job written down in a binder, step by step, so they could muddle through and so a replacement could have somewhere to start from. Some stuff I don't know if they could replace so easily, but they would eventually hire someone and figure most of it out, but there is a big learning curve. So, no I am not invaluable but it would make a lot of people's lives harder for a while if I left.
Now, if I was gone and the binder and virtual copy were mysteriously gone too...well, then they might be up a creek for a while :devil:
If you think you are invaluable... you are deluding yourself! I recently retired from a position where I was one of the highest producers in the country. The only thing I'm sure they miss are my numbers! I sure don't miss work at all!
Hmm, I will take the idea I am invaluable as far as it supports me. I do not work in a way that anyone else would do and that is good, or bad if you don't have intelligence or a sense of humor. I get things done well and efficiently and with grace (at least that is how I see it and strive for). Now there are other people who could do my job, would do it different and it would probably be okay but not as much fun.
So the other day someone at target left me with a lable maker, oh the folly! After I labeled all the staplers for the check lanes I continued to make labels. I re-labeled all our bins for items that are 'abandone' throughout the store. One said 'squirrel kicking boots' another 'zombie body parts' for grocery. My fave one that doubles as an intelligence test is 'toxic cookware made by Chinese felons'. Ahh, classic. So the next morning I had told some people to look for my new labels and the HR manager thought they were funny, sounds like most of management knows about the labels and I am getting a reputation. It is all good, but the monday morning humorless one ripped them all off and threw it away. She claimed I wasn't working. Um yeah, took 15 minutes to think up and create 8 labels. I have a feeling I should be using this creativity in a more beneficial manner but since summer camp started today I have an outlet as soon as I get all the paperwork in perfect order.
My job included a pretty steep learning curve. I've been there almost 2 1/2 years and didn't really feel like I hit my stride until about a year ago. My immediate boss would undoubtedly hate to see me go, as he would then have to work a lot harder, just as he did when I was new and couldn't be expected to carry my own weight. His boss would describe me as a hard worker and valued employee, but not invaluable. Anyone past that would just describe me as one of about 50 line underwriters in my division, and as such, utterly replaceable. I work for a very large international company so I'd certainly be deluding myself if I claimed that I was at all invaluable to anyone other than my immediate boss.
As long as I, and our branch, keep making our new business numbers I/we don't have to worry too much about job security. If I/we stop making our numbers then I/we won't even be considered valued, including my immediate boss who I happen to think is incredibly good at what he does. If that happens life will go on. My company has a reputation in our industry as being a tough place to be successful because they basically give modest training but leave it to each person to figure out on their own how to be successful and then let us either sink or swim on our own. I'm now at the point where I could point to my success as having learned to swim so, while I'd rather stay, if I had to look for work elsewhere I don't think it'd be an incredibly difficult job search.
No one is irreplaceable, and I tire of those who create their power structures that allow them to carry on as though they are. I spend a certain amount of time at work knocking down these structures.
In my office, we're quite good about filling in for each other. My first task tomorrow morning is well out of my prior expertise, but I need to do it in place of a co-worker who retired last month.
All in a day's work.
They would be thrilled if I left because that would save them a few dollars. Okay, I exaggerate, but really, no one is invaluable.
I went to a workshop and the first thing they talked about was bus-proofing your job so that if you were to get hit by a bus all the work you've done would serve as a foundation for someone else. I thought that made a lot of sense.
I know I'm not, but it doesn't hurt if I try to give the impression that I am.
poetry_writer
6-7-11, 2:03pm
I worked for a company that was very unethical and dishonest. They fired many (including myself) who were doing a good job. The job was difficult to learn, and many were doing it well and efficiently. I found out that it really doesnt matter one way or another when working with nut cases...:o)....You can be invaluable and still lose your job.
Me, invaluable at my job? Not at all...the very idea makes me laugh! :)
Nope! Pretty much anyone who can read, write and use a computer could do my job.
I wouldn't worry about things being slightly shaken up if you were to leave. Change happens and people deal with it. Give someone else a chance to try out that position!
Hmmm...I think my intent was misunderstood. I just keep reading that a person must make themselves irreplaceable at work which these days is laughable. I am very aware that just about anyone could take my place and probably do an equal or better job. I would love to give it over to someone new and fresh...but first I have to find a different job and so far, I haven't found anything better.
Even if one's work group felt it couldn't manage without one, upper management - where the decisions are made - has no concept of that and will lay you off in a heartbeat if the numbers call for it.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.