How to stay hired: a dozen Labor Day resolutions can help employees greatly improve their workplace status.

• Author: Challenger, John A.
• Position: Life in America

DO YOU WANT to make sure you are on the payroll in 2003? If so, you should volunteer to travel or relocate, increase your likability quotient, become a problem solver, and brag about your accomplishments.

These are just some of the things American workers will have to do to improve their odds of remaining employed, especially if they hope to survive the most treacherous four months in terms of corporate job-cutting--September, October, November, and, worst of all, December. The period between Labor Day and New Year's Eve has proved to be the heaviest downsizing period of the year, according to a survey of job-cut announcements from 1995 through 2001.

In five of the last seven years, the largest number of cuts occurred between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31. Since 1995, a total of 2,090,966 job cuts have been announced during this four-month stretch. That is 25% higher than the 1,666,702 layoffs announced between January and April, as well as 38% higher than the 1,517,574 announced from May through August.

Ironically, the month most noted for receiving gifts has also been the biggest for receiving pink slips. Between 1995 and 2001, December job-cut announcements totaled 594,077. October ranked second with 536,902, while the least-likely month for job cuts is May.

Starting Labor Day, workers really have to kick it up a notch--and probably a few notches--in order to secure a spot on the coming year's payroll. The reason this period experiences such heavy downsizing is that companies are making budget decisions for the coming year, and payroll is top priority.

It will not help workers that more and more firms increasingly are outsourcing tasks which are not central to their primary output, such as marketing, customer service, and information technology. The use of outsourcing is clearly on the rise, more than tripling since 1996. This market grew from $100,000,000,000 in 1996 to $345,000,000,000 during 2000, according to the Outsourcing Institute and Dun & Bradstreet.

Relying on outsourcing gives companies more flexibility in regard to budgeting and allows them to respond more quickly to fluctuations in the economy. Knowing there is a ready workforce available as needed also permits them to focus on their main business when demand picks up, rather than spending resources on recruiting. Outsourcing is particularly popular among smaller firms, which may not have the capital or expertise to tackle certain business functions or projects. A survey of small to...