Posted on 01/23/2024 12:46:35 PM PST by Cronos
In the two years I've been writing about Americans' changing relationship to work, there's one theme that's come up over and over again: loyalty.
Whether my stories are about quiet quitting, or job-hopping, or leveraging a job offer from a competitor to force your boss to give you a raise, readers seem to divide into two groups. On one side are the bosses and tenured employees, the boomers and Gen Xers. Kids these days, they gripe. Do they have no loyalty? On the other side are the younger rank-and-file employees, the millennials and Gen Zers, who feel equally aggrieved.
Why should I be loyal to my company when my company isn't loyal to me?
...There was a time when the psychological contract between employers and employees seemed unbreakable. In the three decades following World War II, as Rick Wartzman documents in his book "The End of Loyalty," a booming economy made American companies rich. Companies, in turn, shared that wealth with employees, both through hefty raises and through an extraordinary expansion of benefits
But the biggest perk of all was a sense of security. Blue-collar workers faced seasonal layoffs, but it was customary for companies to recall those workers when business picked up. Companies like Kodak went even further, delaying the implementation of new technology until it could figure out how to retrain and transfer any workers who would be displaced.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
There was the desire by management to avoid layoffs when possible and try to retain and promote employees from within. This used to be in the best interests of the Company long term.
Similarly employees benefitted from seniority and pensions. So there were mutual benefits in employees staying with a Company.
No more. Companies scrapped pensions and employees skip from job to job. I see blame on both sides but a lot of it has been driven by lousy economic policies by the federal government.
My gripe with younger workers is they universally think they are worth more than they are. As for loyalty, a job is a mutually beneficial situation and if a company is counting on loyalty to retain employees it better have done something beforehand to earn it.
Got a better one--my company hired a CDTO--Chief Data and Technology Officer--who's above the CIO.
He refers to us as "the portfolio."
Before starting my own business the longest job I had before a layoff was 18 months. It makes good business sense to have loyal employees and treat them well but the number one purpose of a business is to turn a profit. So unless you’re a government leech the days of decade long jobs and a retirement pension are long long gone. Get what you can when you can and expect to go in to work every day facing a pink slip.
I figured out at a very early age that I only wanted to work for commission.
Often companies wanted loyalty but couldn't really be loyal in return because the profit margin didn't permit it.
That's okay, but just don't expect loyalty when you can't return it.
People can become their own companies.
IMO-—IT STARTED WITH DEMAND FOR AA HIRING-—
People with skills said GOODBYE-—
I DID—in 1975
Corporate America, Wall Street, Private Equity mortally-wounded loyalty 30-40 years ago. Diversity and wokeism have trampled the bones into dust.
I DO still see loyalty - its in small/medium private FAMILY companies.
GAVE MYSELF A PINK SLIP & BECAME SELF-EMPLOYED.
Last accounting client retired 2 years ago.
I did his books for 53 years.
I am 100% loyal to a company and gov’t that would fire me for not taking a vax made via abortion data like jew freeze temperature data.
100%. And that will never promote me for being straight white male. 100%.
When systems run corporations, they have no loyalty to the employees, and employees clearly see this when everything, starting with hiring, is done online through a computer, as with every other thing they need to do with management or HR. Loyalty to a computer? Not happening, and everyone I talk to is sick of it, as well as the ability to get a real person on the phone. This is considered news and a surprise? Surprised by quit quitting, too, and can’t see what’s right in their face.
The MBA crowd shifted company loyalties back at least in the early 1960’s. They still teach get profits, now, as much as possible, and screw the future because there may not be one.
Employee loyalty, quality, future planning, etc., is not part of business school anymore.
I had a CEO once tell me he employees would leave for $5 more an hour, and my response was the company would fire employees to save $5 an hour.
Supposedly to transfer you to a better gig - but in reality a layoff awaits.
I agree with this too, except that so-called loyalty was gone probably 4 decades ago. It’s all about the $.
I’ve never been loyal to a company; I’ve been loyal to my bosses. And if I can’t be loyal to my boss, I go somewhere else. Works out for me more often than not.
“ I think part of the change in corporate culture took place when the Personnel Department was replaced by “Human Resources”.
Bingo. It’s similar to police officers changing from “peace officer” to “law enforcement”.
Neither change was for the better.
L
The work from home concept was accelerated by COVID, and has a lot more benefit to the employer than initially realized. First, yes, this will accelerate the push to have employees converted into 1099 contractors. The employer is now exempt from obligations of health insurance, retirement plans, workers comp, employer halves of social security and medicare, and the overhead costs of physical office space. It doesn’t mean the 1099 contract worker makes more, he makes less. He also has to pay estimated taxes and will be more likely subject to audits from Biden’s army of tax collectors. The company realizes all the savings. Its a lot easier for record keeping too.
The extension of that is that if you can do the work without going to a physical office, it doesn’t matter whether you are in New York, Indianapolis, or New Dehli for that matter.
The guy in New Dehli will do the work for 25% of the pay of the guy in Indianapolis.
The 1993 film FALLING DOWN showcased the result of the unspoken contract between employees and employers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_Down
Not to worry, every job (or task) that can be done by a machine will be done by a machine. Advanced AI and humanoid robots doing work once thought impossible.
As I look back on my long working careers I have seen many jobs be taken over my computers are other machines.
I think the bigger problem the world faces is what will happen when there are no jobs for humans? I am happy to know I will not be here to see it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.