Job Search, Week Two: Does Loyalty Matter?

If you're like me, you believe there are no coincidences.  As the saying goes, when the student is ready, the teacher appears.  So, you don't bat an eye when a colleague from another part of the country--someone whose friendship would never have been possible, under most circumstances--picks up the phone and calls.  "Hey, check this out.  It's a non-typical career website.  I was listening to NPR, and the founder was on.  I thought of you..."

That's how I learned about Careerealism.com.  Right away, I knew I was in a different world.  The site's slogan is a tip-off: "Because EVERY job is temporary."  Such refreshing honesty.  If only someone had shared this truth with me about thirty years ago.  It might have changed everything about how I viewed my career.  I might not have been so blown away when I got the news about my layoff.

I'll write more about Careerealism in an upcoming Blix.  For now, I want to focus on a single article I found there.  Let us consider the idea of loyalty in the workplace.  Simply put, there is none.  Dawn Rasmussen writes the article about how loyalty is a false concept. Bogus, in fact, when it comes to jobs.  Ouch.  Then again--in all fairness--it seems both employees and employers love the idea of "till death do us part," but like an unstable marriage, both are actually committed to only one thing: Looking out for Number One.  Self-protection, if you will.

On the employee's part, there is the comparison to an unhappy spouse.  The roving eye, looking over seductive want ads.  Fantasies about what it would be like to be with other organizations.  Maybe even a dalliance, sending out a resume or two.  The clandestine interview.  Sometimes, we're the ones to initiate the break-up.

Companies can change, too.  Adopt a new look, like the man going through a mid-life crisis who buys a red sportscar and gets hair plugs.  Experienced employees can suddenly seem frumpy in the redesigned culture.  Out with the old, in with the hip.  Companies can also purge, to save some bucks.  And that "purge" most frequently means living, breathing souls. Complete with mortgages, orthodonia bills, and now, a dead hope for a family vacation.  No big deal.  It's just a head count, after all.

My company, like many, was one which spoke of compassion and caring.  "We take care of each other" was the message.  On one hand, people were encouraged to enjoy vacation, or get education that would improve their careers. On the other hand, staff who traveled frequently were forced onto the cheapest flights, with multiple stops, negating consideration for the personal toll of being away from home.  If you didn't like it, too bad.  It was a sacred cow.  Rasmussen would not be surprised at the dichotomy. Here's the down-and-dirty: "But don’t forget, for even one moment, the workplace is first and foremost a business environment, and your being there is a mutual business decision."

So.  We're not one big, happy family after all?

I bounced this possibility off a couple of colleagues.  Here is the wise response from one:

"It is all so true.  I was just thinking about it today, because although I know all the legal reasons for no authentic communication, the #1 reason is that to them, it's just a job.  Even though it certainly doesn't feel like just a job, and we care about other people like a friend, or family....i.e. caring about each other's families and health issues, etc.  Then, BOOM, it's like scissors to a ribbon, leaving you dangling from the ribbon.  How could someone who 'cared' about you do that???!!!  The lack of financial support is one thing, but the lack of emotional support or friendship feels unconscionable.

 

But, as the website says... employers do, they cut the ribbon, just like that.  I guess our big mistake is falling for the idea of being in a work family, and that includes sometimes giving more than we want, or feels right.  I have known this in my head...but falling into the "we're like family" mode is so seductive, and you really believe that it would be different." 

 

Rasmussen points out that we spend about 40% of our 168-hour week at work. For people like me who have often worked more than 40 hours a week, the job consumed more time than we had for relationships and fun.  Suddenly, loyalty seems a tad over-rated.  Turns out, we're just little cogs in the big wheel of profit.

 

Remember this on your next job interview, when asked the inevitable question about your strengths.  "I'm loyal" might not be the best choice.  

Comments

[Ginna]

Loyalty was something in my father's generation - maybe your grandfather's generation - when a person expected to stay with a company from his first job to retirement. That's so long gone! Now they say, expect three careers; not just jobs, but careers! Boy, I'm feel very lucky to have made it to retirement.

[Ed Koizumi]

My old college called up and asked me to come in part time to mentor students and manage the shop. The offer came at a perfect time and I was thankful that I had kept in touch with modest contributions over the years. I've been mostly self-employed cobbling a working life with many clients over the years. Loyalty has more to do with being reliable and performing well for a regular client though one needs to do that for a new client as well. Perhaps, loyalty to one's own good reputation is job #1 in any employment situation. It's true that one always works at the convenience of the employer whether a job is for an hour or a full lifetime.