Ignore the signs at your peril: When the firm that employs you runs into financial trouble

NEW YORK -- As the Lehman saga reminds us, it doesn't take much bad news these days to sack your employer. When you pick up bad signals on your antennae, be prepared.

Recently, an escrow officer told me about her own workplace story. Laura, who preferred not to use her last name, worked for Financial Title, a division of a large national financial services firm. It could have been a secure company in an insecure industry. But in this case, it wasn't.

Laura first knew something was definitely wrong when company computers were mysteriously inaccessible at 5:15 p.m. one day. "Routine maintenance -- we'll get them running soon," was the official line from the corporate information-technology department.

When she arrived for work the next morning, the doors were locked. People were let in to clean out their desks, but not much else. Cold turkey, no pay going forward, no bonus, accrued vacation gone.

There had been a few warning signs in the weeks before. The company's largest underwriter had filed suit, and the company had filed a countersuit. Laura had heard about the suit through the grapevine and had asked her immediate managers about it. "Nothing to worry about" was the answer. In fact, the company president had sent out a couple of reassuring emails that week saying "everything's fine."

And now this.

Laura is well connected in her industry with 20 years of experience. Even as she accepted what her management team said, she started contacting her network. Good thing, too: She landed another job in a week.

What to do

She had this advice to share:

• Don't put your head in the sand. Especially in bad times, when people sense trouble, there's a tendency to look the other way or trust the first thing they hear if it's what they want to hear. Laura asked her manager about the lawsuit, heard a reassuring answer, and didn't look further. Better to ask more questions, do independent research, and monitor industry news and sources. You still may not find out much, but it starts the rest of the preparing process. "Don't be afraid -- take charge, starting now," she said.
• Realize those closest may not be in the know. If Laura made a mistake, it was in trusting her first-line management. In hindsight, she said, she feels they weren't being dishonest but instead were probably not aware themselves. It's tricky. You don't want to be a nuisance or bypass channels too much. But still, make a few phone calls, keep an ear to the grapevine. It's your career. You have a right.
• Try to line up another job. Just in case, and it never hurts. Like buying that generator before the hurricane, it'll be easier if you've made your contacts before the job denouement. And you just may find something better. If you get reprimanded for doing this you might not be working in the right place anyway.
• Take care of your customers. Again, cold turkey, no pay? Laura could have simply walked away. But she spent two unpaid weeks finishing delicate escrow transactions that would be tied up for weeks otherwise. The goodwill helped her bring regular realtor clients along to the next job. When you're facing your own turmoil, this one's easy to forget, but important.

So, be prepared, take care of your customers, and the worst-case job scenario will eventually blow over.

Peter Sander contributed to this article.