Study: Growing Number of Employees Are Not Loyal

Inside Indiana Buisness ^ | 9/7/07 | Walker Information

[Myrddin]

Interesting story. I’ve noticed that the “professional slugs” are also the ones who tear more productive workers down through office politics, character assassination and outright sabotage.

My office mates took all 3 approaches. Bitching my my "clean desk" as a sign that I wasn't "busy". Theirs were piled high with file folders that hadn't been touched in years. Whining to boss that I should get more of "bad" offices as punishment for keeping my engineering work completed up to 7 weeks ahead of the due dates. I did have a case of outright sabotage. There was an equipment shelf missing an upper section. It was a $25 part and would be delivered in 1 week and installed for free by Western Electric. I was sent out of town for a 2 week training class. Upon return, a "senior" engineer in the group had directed Western Electric to "fix" the problem by relocating and recabling the shelf under another shelf in an adjacent bay. That came with a $2500 price tag and a 30 day delivery. I asked my boss "what the hell?". The fix was documented in the office folder and scheduled to be complete before I returned. There was no need to screw it up in that manner. She said he was just "helping me". Sure. BS.

[Califreak]

Deplorable.

[conservative cat]

If you’ve ever worked in retail or really anything ‘lower level’ that interacts closely with customers, you see how they push these kids to get people to sign up for the store credit card or some other nonsense and it’s the supervisors and the execs who get the bonuses for whipping the employees.

I like to tell people about when I sold clothes when I was in college, making minimum wage (then 4.25 an hour). Working part-time, we were required to sell thousands of dollars in clothing a week. One week, I somehow made the stretch goal amount, and sold over 6K of clothes. I was rewarded with a $20 gift certificate to the store. They took taxes out, so it ended up closer to $16 or $17. Then, they wouldn't let me use my store discount with it, so I was able to buy maybe 2 pairs of underwear with it.

[ran20]

Reminds me of my post on Jim Press leaving Toyota. That was the final confirmation to me that American employees are not very loyal as a generalization. I couldn’t help buy notice Toyota’s replacement for him as President of Toyota USA, was a Japanese person.

Thing is with employees is true wealth is gradually building up an employees skill and experience over decades. Raising their rank one small step at a time, just like in the military. And staying with one company. Like a Karate master, becoming a master over many years.

Why hire an American who you put so many years of development into.. when basically guarunteed at some point they will jump ship. Taking their experience and skill with them.. and worrisome, taking proprietary information with them.

Sure for little companies it doesn’t matter so much. But for great multinational corporations. Btw its not that american corporations are blameless.. not at all. Its a chicken and egg argument about who caused it.

[ran20]

I’m as pro-capitalist as you’ll find. Well, maybe there are a couple people. Anyways, one thing I noticed about corporations is that instead of REAL profit and growth being the prime mover (as we’re told) what really happens is that decisions are NOT made with the long-term reputation or security of the company in mind (reputation when you’re dealing with customers who have alternatives is pretty important) but stock prices and personal objectives.

I believe great wealth is built up over decades. Both increasing employees skill and building rock solid brand recognition. And of course research and development building over time, capital plant built over time.

Our B-school geniuses found they could gut companies and ride on the employee loyalty and built up brands for a few years making huge profits. Then things gradually erode.

[goldstategop]

The example starts at the top. When employees see management disregard ethics and cut corners to turn a profit, they take their example from the boss and conduct themselves accordingly. So to have loyal employees, loyalty has to be earned and the company has to have rules that are enforced consistently.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[goldstategop]

That's true. If the employees are disposable, they can hardly be expected to show gratitude to the company. If the company has no interest in long term employee presence, then it can't ask more of its employees than it asks of itself. "Give and you shall receive."

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[papertyger]

Thing is with employees is true wealth is gradually building up an employees skill and experience over decades. Raising their rank one small step at a time, just like in the military. And staying with one company. Like a Karate master, becoming a master over many years.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

How 'bout holding some of those multinational corporations to your "true wealth" standard?

[Centurion2000]

Study: Growing Number of Employees Are Not Loyal

This is what happens when you outsource millions of jobs to the Far East.

[pepsionice]

I’ve worked the Air Force for over 30 years...last eight as a contractor...and its the same way there with loyalty. In the 1980s...there was a high expectation with loyalty...which it went both ways. In the past ten years....huge difference with no real loyalty. Signs of the times.

[Centurion2000]

You may want to give two week’s notice, but from a security standpoint, you are out the door that day. Locks are changed. Passwords and IDs are terminated so you should have no access to files or other confidential information. That is the reality of today’s workplace.

I work in security. I've always given 3 weeks notice. Then I usually get asked to leave about a week in. Still get paid for the last two weeks though. Fair enough for me.

[ran20]

I’m not sure what you are saying. Are you saying the companies don’t pass on the great wealth created from their internally well developed employee to said employee?

[ran20]

The corporate memory and skill embodied in employees is grossly underestimated. I left the employ of PacBell in 1991...along with 5,000 others. The company decided it needed to cut headcount to improve the bottom line. They did save lots of salary expense. They also wiped out 500 major projects that were underway. Out of that 500, they determined that 380 were a total loss. They no longer had the ability to proceed. They took the 100 most likely to succeed and outsourced many to a well known IT consulting firm. Nearly all of the outsourced jobs were screwed up beyond belief. Once again, the loss of corporate memory lead to incorrect decisions by unknowledgeable contractors.

This is one of the factors I'm talking about for building great wealth. Corporate memory. Think of a longterm engineer at Honda who started right out of university. Say hes been with the company 25 years. His memory and experience is worth a lot, hes 'been there, done that'. Its something that isn't easily quantifiable in terms of value. I see a lot of companies going new trendy management who are relatively new to the business, and especially the unique situation of that particular company.

Building longterm relationships with contractors.. and not pushing contractors to bankruptcy is another and I believe related factor. Squeezing contractors, or switching contractors all the time, is a similiar mentality to squeezing employees and hiring from the outside.

[DoughtyOne]

It just seems like workers are thought of more like replacable widgets these days. Eh, if one wears out, we’ll replace it. Employees don’t react well to that dynamic.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the tendency to move many jobs offshore has convinced employees that employers simply aren’t reliable any longer. No employer loyalty, no employee loyalty...

[Myrddin]

Think of a longterm engineer at Honda who started right out of university. Say hes been with the company 25 years. His memory and experience is worth a lot, hes 'been there, done that'.

That engineer is exceptionally valuable within the Honda organization where he knows all the corporate relationships and issues. Once booted out of the organization, those intricate details have little value to another employer. If the employer is a Honda competitor, the engineer must be very careful not to disclose proprietary information from his former employer. He can only leverage the "generic" experience with the new employer. That may be a much less valuable commodity.

[papertyger]

I'm not sure what you are saying.

I'm saying no successful company today would tolerate that kind of slow incrementalism for *itself*, so why should its employees?

[BuffaloJack]

It’s difficult to be loyal to an employer who treats the employees like mushrooms.

When they layoff people with 1 minute notice ...
When they make you go through security checks coming and going ...
When they give increases that aren’t up to the cost of living year after year ...
When they decrease your benefits package and tell you that you will have more say so ...
When they tell you it’s raining while they are peeing on your shoes ...

They expect loyalty but give none in return.

[ran20]

Ah I see. Ya it is funny when you think about some of our ADD organizations thinking about something over 20 years! And think of all the latest and greatest management and organization fads that have come and gone just in the last 20 years lol.

[GOP_1900AD]

Boomers run everything. Everyone else is PO’d and frustrated.

[GOP_1900AD]

It’s why BRIC / SCO nations are kicking our butts.