Monthly Salary is a fixed regular payment, typically paid by an employer to an employee in return of work done.
In both white- and blue-collar jobs, this payment is expected in the end of every month.We rely on salaries for survival. Wages range in levels, for menial jobs and sophisticatedprofessional world.
In schools, parents' and teacher’s expectations and coaching was geared towards preparing the students for the job market “to get employed’. About 1-5 years of a youth is spent on job hunting immediately one leaves school.
The task of job creation is not precisely the point of focus during this coaching and preparation process. It is remotely addressed as the duty of the government of the day. Employment period ranges between 18-60 years of age.
Most people can budget a month’s necessities on monthly salaries, but what happens when the salary is no longer forthcoming?
Companies lay off employees during hard economic times or during pandemics while others go for pay cuts as a means of organisational survival.
Picture this: you receive a Sh50,000 monthly salary, allocate Sh10,000 rent, Sh5,000 on food, Sh5,000 on transport, Sh3000 on entertainment, Sh4,000 on miscellaneous. This leaves one with a few coins left for savings from the Sh39,000 left after taxation.
One day you have it no more, no steadier income, no more insurance benefits and a controlled monthly budget. Where would this leave one’s life?
I have seen people fall into depression and drugs after losing their jobs. The expectation and excitement at the end of the month, dead; with nowhere to turn to except sinking into depts.
Why is salary a drug? It is because the salaried look forward to it at the end of the month, it’s all they rely on. Looking back on our life skills lessons, the coach would always ask, what career would you want to pursue and how would you picture your workstation?
On this, aspiring teachers would mention the classroom; doctors, the hospital and journalists like me, the newsroom. All these answers are employment and salary-based. The coach would then ask,
“Where else would you picture yourself working...?’, hands would gradually go down because, in the end, we wanted jobs, not to create them.
We are gifted differently, skills are learnt and if we, the salaried would pick on skills and hobbies we have and learnt and convert them into businesses; however small, the terms YOU ARE FIRED or PAYCUTS or LAY OFF would not scare us. Driving, cooking, farming, retailing or even production of any product can be a means of income.
Where does it start; one may you ask? I say start by learning something new while working, a new skill doesn’t have to be career-related.
You could learn anything new, from painting to writing to pottery. Staying on your edge and pushing yourself to try new things are good, they prepare you for the inevitable.
Saving and investing are game changers because savings can keep you afloat as you find a new job or help you open your new entity, While investing gives you an alternative and a cushion.
Losing your job can be an opportunity to reskill or upskill