When Work Cut Your Hours...You are Authentically Blessed.

Then again, all jobs (and businesses you own, if applicable) are temporary, irrespective as to what level of employment you are at. If you believe and accept that meme, then you will be less attached to the outcome/s around your current job/business/career. The pandemic has quickly demonstrated the importance of not resisting change. Your work status does not matter either. Permanent jobs can quickly change at the (proverbial) drop off a hat. Permanent means that you are simply a permanent employee on an employers payroll, with the entitlements to match. Not permanent as in forever. Those days are long gone, where people would stay at the same company, and possibly in the same role for their entire working career. They (as in employers and clients) can still stand you down, get rid of you/let you go, and reduce your hours if work volumes decrease or are low unexpectedly. Your performance and like-ability is irrelevant here. Your cheese has been moved. (The latter saying is based on the book Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson. You're welcome.)

I get it. If you have a family to feed, as well as bills, debts and rent to pay; the psychological and emotional shock of having your work hours reduced is an unwanted and unpleasant surprise; and therefore causes morale levels to drop, and bitter cracks in an employer and employees relationship to dwindle and land on some (metaphorical) thin ice, depending on how all of this has been handled on the employers end of course. Despite many people's best intentions to save money for a rainy day (yes, having you work hours cut is classed as such); not everyone is a saver, let alone a great one at that. It is no-ones fault, as none of us were properly taught to save at school, and at college. This is something that us adults had to figure out for ourselves, if we were to be any good at it. The system has trained us to work, work, and work some more, and perhaps until we drop dead in some cases. Saving money was not part of the equation of that success, for the moments for when things do not go according to plan; and the same is true with your work hours getting cut.

It may not seem like it at the time, yet your boss/client is doing you a massive favour by cutting down your work hours, whether in advance, or at the last minute on shift, based on what is going on at the time. Time to rest and reflect - the recipes for being authentically real and raw with your short and precious life. The only life you have.

The extent of the favour depends on what is going on for you at the current trajectory and circumstances of your life.

You may have an unwell relative in hospital, and therefore more time is allocated to spend time with them, and/or with another loved one, irrespective of what is going on with them at the time. For me personally, those cuts in hours have enabled me to build my business, where it did not take me long to say hasta la vista to employers forever, with the exception of participating in a few temporary gigs for the Government twice a year, of which are community focused. Right now, at a temporary Government gig I am working in, with a few weeks left (as at the time of writing this); yours truly has enjoyed a handful of unexpected cuts in hours. For some, this can also mean less time spent with people you no longer wish to/don't want to spend time with anyway. This extra time can also be spent on your healing, and that alone is a gift from the heavens; even though such gifts are not always reciprocated with the gratitude they truly deserve. Not all the time anyway.

Cuts in your working hours can also become some much needed manna from heaven in order to rest, and to enjoy the calm before the storm at work. Negativity breeds negativity, and so does being positive. We are allowed to think what we want in any given moment, and sure, we as the human race are naturally programmed to be negative, and that is ok. The aim is to catch that negativity, and to flip the switch into a positive thought. In life (and in jobs) we do not always get what we signed up for, and the same goes with your hours. See it as a test of your mental fortitude in the tougher times. As much as this is a thin wedge, and I might ruffle a few feathers here; yet gratitude is to be enjoyed both ways.

Yes, gratitude cuts both ways, both in the extra time you have been given, courtesy of your employer/client for giving that extra time to you, and to also be grateful for the hours that you have been given at your workplace and/or business.

People complaining about some aspect of their job and/or business is a common phenomenon. All too common. Humans have an innate need to be seen and heard.

It is ok to vent your frustrations, provided such is not an attack on any other person...your employer/s and/or client/s included.

Remember, they (employers and clients) are people as well, with pressures, stresses, and responsibilities of their own. If you constantly complain though, that is where such becomes very annoying to the recipient, as their energy is being drained as a result. The receiver may (if not highly likely) be unwilling to help you, if you are not willing to help yourself in return.

"People will help and bend over backwards to help you, provided you show that you are willing to do the same for yourself. No one is a mind reader." - Quote by the author/writer of this article. Justine.

That extra time can also be used to search for a new and better opportunity. That way you become better and better at creating resumes/CV's and cover letters, helping you get closer and closer to the right opportunity. Be careful of your thoughts, and of your complaints, as the relevant employer and/or client that is cutting your hours can (and highly likely will) pick up on the negative energy you are sending out, from a situation that is totally out of your control, as well as theirs.

This (unplanned) extra time away from work enables people to reflect on their values. If you are financially stressed, this extra time off will enable you to further look into that, and into your values as a whole. Life is a risk. All of it. This time away from work is a test, to see how much you are willing to change about yourself. When you change, the people around you will change. No one owes us anything. From increasing my entrepreneurial spirit, to improving my health, skills and lifestyle; I have personally crossed the bridge of complaining and negativity to actually thanking those previous employers who have sent me home early in the past, through no fault of my own. With the right attitude, your needs and obligations will be taken care of. If you turned down other offers to take such jobs, then see it for the reasons as to why you are working with and for the relevant employer and/or client for a reason. You chose them, and obviously they chose you. Then again, The Great Resignation is real. People leave jobs for a variety of reasons.

Case in point. I have personally worked with people who have complained that other people on other teams have more work than them. If your work hours are not up to par, usually as a result of them being cut due to insufficient workloads; if you really want to work extra hours, and/or to join another team that is being offered more hours - then all you have to do is ask. Nothing ventured nothing gained. If not, keep applying for other opportunities, as well as invest (or learn to invest) and/or start up a new business or side hustle. It is super annoying coming across a coworker who is complaining about other teams being offered more work, while the relevant team you are working in with this person has an unexpected cut in hours. It is annoying (yep, supercharged annoyance) when this same person needs to leave an hour early from their already reduced shift for personal reasons anyway, and who also has a small mortgage that even the most disciplined of people will envy. No charm there.

No one likes a whiner, and at the same time, a money obsessed individual. Yes, there is a financial loss from having your work hours cut, through no fault of your own, and such is no fault of the employer/client either. Same for any periods where you may have been out of work full stop. Forecasts can only go so far, yet with dominant disruptions and/or unplanned and unexpected outcomes like the state of the economy to supplier strikes and misunderstandings, as well as a once in a 100 year pandemic; those forecasts blow out the window, and it goes to show that we are all human and far from perfect and exact on our hourly sales and other predictions in business. If a client of yours loses a client, then it trickles down to you. That is clearly not your fault.

It is worse when such coworkers complain when they are in a fantastic financial and life position. Again, be grateful for having a job in the first place. There are unemployed people out there who are busting to work. No employer (even not for profits and Government departments) is a charity. Again, no ones owes you anything. You are employed to perform a certain role, and if there is a shortage of demand in performing that certain role at that time; then the logical move is for work hours to be temporarily cut. Give me a temporary cut in hours than a lay off or redundancy any day of the week.

In more ways that one, this article is simply here to serve its intended purpose in Vocal Media's Remarkably Real challenge, by being raw, real, and authentic. Well, reminding us to be anyway in the toughest of these tough times.

An event and circumstance of having your work hours cut for whatever reason is an invitation for authenticity to shine.

If you are not clear on your values...in short, that extra time is a present from your employer and/or client to allow you to spend more time outside of work on matters and life experiences that are critical to you; irrespective as to how much notice you receive in relation to the cut/s in hours.

This alone builds grace, empathy, compassion, and resilience with and for other people, as well as for yourself most importantly. In short, authenticity in your career (let alone in your entire life) cuts the ingratitude, negativity, complaints, and whining when traffic does not go your way. The latter is life, and we have all witnessed a lot of that, and especially in the last couple of years, existing systems (including the system of work) has been shaken to its core. Enough said. Be remarkably real in your career. If not, cuts in hours will force you in that direction of though. Trust me, I have been there, as shared in this article on not fitting in, in my career until now.

Keep digging for gold. If you do not give up, no matter how long it takes you to find it, will keep you grounded in the core and beyond.

Next time you rock up to work...if you are asked if you wish to - or told to go home/finish up for the day early when the tide is out/things are quiet...then what are you going to say? Yes please should (and has to) be the logical and authentic answer to that question.