Loyalty to a company. Do you have any?

steve1ae

There is no such thing.  What have the company actually done for you to let you know that they appreciate your loyality?  A simple thanks?  Something tangible?    

I stayed with a company for over 15 years and they replaced me a week later.  Don't fool yourself.  

[Deleted User]

Just curious if people have similar feelings? Especially when moving. 

Only when making not such a good decision, deep down, to begin with?!

You are a sales lead person more then likely leaving a sales person/environment so of course it is probably that much harder.

Jonathan_Powell

Today I told said company I was leaving and all efforts have been made for me to stay. One thing I asked for is to extend the initial 4 week notice period which they have decline. Asked for 3 months to protect myself.

They said they won't make such an arrangement. Is it an unreasonable request? 

El_Torro

Jonathan_Powell said:

Today I told said company I was leaving and all efforts have been made for me to stay. One thing I asked for is to extend the initial 4 week notice period which they have decline. Asked for 3 months to protect myself.

They said they won't make such an arrangement. Is it an unreasonable request? 

I don’t think it’s an unreasonable request. My opinion on this matter isn’t of much worth though. Maybe your employer wants everyone doing the same job to have a similar notice period and don’t want to make an exception for your role.

Regarding the original topic, during my couple of decades of working life I have learnt that loyalty to a company doesn’t make much sense, especially since it’s the people that work there that matter, not the company itself. 

I believe I have been treated well during my time at my current employer. All it would take is a change of personnel (either my direct boss or someone higher up) to decide that I’m no longer suitable for the role and my days could be numbered. I’ve seen it happen too many times to other people (in this company and previous ones), there’s no sense in thinking it could never happen to me.

With that amount of loyalty on display why should I show any in return? My loyalty extends as far as my employers are willing to keep paying me.

MovingForwards

Loyalty works both ways and gets chipped away slowly. I'm now in my first ever role where I work for that pay packet once a month. Management and directors are more than happy to keep saying this is the role you (people up to a certain level) do, there's no prospects and no ladder to climb. 

I'm a number, something sitting on a seat and no-one really knows what my job involves, they must think the invisible man does most of it. 

You shouldn't be surprised they declined your longer notice period. Move on and look out for yourself.

Farside71

MovingForwards said:

Loyalty works both ways and gets chipped away slowly. I'm now in my first ever role where I work for that pay packet once a month. Management and directors are more than happy to keep saying this is the role you (people up to a certain level) do, there's no prospects and no ladder to climb. 

I'm a number, something sitting on a seat and no-one really knows what my job involves, they must think the invisible man does most of it. 

You shouldn't be surprised they declined your longer notice period. Move on and look out for yourself.

After almost 30 years with the same company, being lucky to continually work on new things as technology and the business changed, this is the position I pretty much found myself in.   Lots of management shipped in from another company over the last few years and they're all focused on certain things while I keep the lights on in my current role.  No real respect any more and marginalised to a certain extent and they don't want my input on a lot of the experiences I've gained.  Not that I'd desperate for anyone to keep thanking me or anything like that, but if you are being treated like a number you just know.  Now I've resigned, there is little panic as I still don't think they appreciate the knowledge I'll take with me, but not really my problem any more.  

I don't think loyalty should really exist as a concept, more if you are being treated well etc you should reciprocate that with your efforts.  Once you are treated more as a number then focus on the pay check. 

techwatcher

Been thinking about this. I have a job I quite like, it provides variety and can be challenging at times. I am content with my compensation for the role. However I work for a large corporation which employs hundreds of thousands of people. The company claims, like so many others, that people are their greatest asset and to be fair they look after people fairly well.

However, we are described as 'resources', in many ways we a 'just a number' and come the next downturn, people will be made redundant.

I am content to work for them but nothing more than that. If a perfect job came along I would leave.

Do I have loyalty to the company? No. 

gm0

In larger organisations especially with a long time to train specialist workforce (with ladders) it can be very helpful to promote a sense of community and cadres - engineering / sales / operational etc. and a culture of peers helping each other out.  And of greybeards sharing their experience (of past mistakes and of avoiding them) with the new people learning their trade. 

All of this is just "the people at work" being supportive to and loyal to each other not to the "company" as such.  But this kind of  culture can be encouraged (or indeed destroyed much more quickly) by leaders. Personal behaviour, claimed values, consistency of action with these when difficult situations arise - with staff or a client - a critical failure, a death - whatever it is.  Truth will out.  Induction and training approaches can reinforce the messages.  Clearly not all jobs are suitable and not all employers will care about or do this.  Not even some of those who probably should.

"Loyalty" can be a good business idea for the company P&L.  Better outcomes - peer help, senior QA intervention etc. better communication.  If it leads to longer staff retention then it has a direct value. Recruiting difficult skills is slow and costly. 

It's essential that efforts to promote a specific culture (for this or anything else) at least appear genuine i.e. have at minimum the support of some of the senior leadership (and tolerance from the rest).  Targeted in the right way to the audience age and experience level. It's critical that there is plausible action (money spent via employee time and otherwise) in line with the rhetoric. 

To create loyalty to a group - you must first create a plausible and distinctive sense of what makes us "us". 

It is not as fashionable a concept today as it once was in an era when lifetime single company employment was more common. And the extensive use of swing capacity agency staff had not become so widespread.

So loyalty may indeed be horsepoo - but it can be useful fertiliser and enjoyable nonetheless. Via the additional sense of community and team support thereby generated.

If you have never worked anywhere that made you feel like that then you are missing out.  And if you get the chance to build it.  Do it.  It has it's own rewards (though they are unlikely to be via performance metrics or improved bonus pay).  

In many jobs even quite senior ones - the marks you leave on other peoples' growth and fulfillment are probably the only long lasting marks you leave behind at all.

elsien

I had a degree of loyalty to a company.  Then I got TUPEd. Then I was made redundant. 

In retrospect the loyalty was to colleagues and towards the clients I supported. 

At the end of the day businesses are there for a reason. I worked for a charity but a charity is still a business. And when the business model changes, or they can’t afford you any more then there’s no room for sentimentality.
You can care about your job but still make the decisions that are best for you. 

getmore4less

Jonathan_Powell said:

I'm in a weird position where I've been offered a job elsewhere. Despite being bored and unmotivated (I literally spend days just doing next to nothing) I'm one of the top performers (or the top performer for the past few months and & never finished lower than second since I've been here).

One reason why I haven't made the definitive decision to leave is because part of me feels bad for leaving the company. I can be replaced but it may be a bit awkward for our larger clients (who I have recently been given responsibility off) to be introduced to yet another relationship manager. 

Just curious if people have similar feelings? Especially when moving. 

Jonathan_Powell said:

PaulBrighton2021 said:

Firms cant expect life long loyalty any more. If OP applied elsewhere (because of ?),iI guess it was to make an improvement- salary / conditions / challenge..?

Replacement staff is not the leaver's problem.

Pretty much all of this. During the interview, I was told there was a very attainable bonus of £12,000 a year (paid each month). Only me and one other person has hit bonus for one month (so £1,000) since I joined last year. 

The role has become increasingly micro-managed to a point our call time, call volume, meetings booked etc. are discussed twice a day with updates in-between. 

This is a quite basic sales role. calling up partners, get them to refer clients. I haven't had to use Excel, attend a face to face meeting etc. Part of me does fee like I'm getting "dumber" and my previous experiences are fading away. 

I'm now more on the fence to leave. I'm very close to hitting my target but just have zero motivation to ground it out. I think that's the main indicator to me I have to leave

I have highlighted something that would have had me challenging management a lot leading up to leaving.

 There are probably too many people if there is not enough work to keep you busy so you can't achieve the bonus.

 Also if the management have got into micro management they don't have enough to do.

 Are they going to fix any of this probably not.


I had loyalty to a point, mainly with the people rather than the companies, but knew when push came to shove even the best of them would look after No.1 first and if necessary shove you under the bus.
 

Jonathan_Powell said:

Today I told said company I was leaving and all efforts have been made for me to stay. One thing I asked for is to extend the initial 4 week notice period which they have decline. Asked for 3 months to protect myself.
They said they won't make such an arrangement. Is it an unreasonable request? 

I Agree unreasonable request the job does not need 3months.

You should be addressing the real issues

Not enough work
Not getting the bonus on a regular basis.

But then that should have been worked on well before now.