Loyalty To The Company

[Onyxpurr]

It's kind of sad if you think about it. I saw a posting earlier about a woman who was almost relieved if the company laid her off, stating that her loyalty had diminished from what it was last year. It amazes me that companies have the audacity to complain that workers have no layalty to the company, when it is the company itself who inspires this kind of thinking.

I'm fairly young and worked 6 years at a company that I had thought treated me fairly well. I put up with they're crappy bosses and ridicously low raises when assigned to these bosses. However I stuck it out. However, time came for lay-offs, and my head was first on the cutting board although my reviews had all been excellent and I had more seniority than some other people in the company. Even after I was laid off they called me to do some consultant work on dbs, and although the rate I quoted was fair for market, they decided not to (ab)use me.

It's such a double-standard. They complain of lack of loyalty, but don't show it themselves. They'll complain that the employees are calling in sick too much, but think nothing of asking us to work ot.

 

[sabrinaduncan]

I sometimes worry about my company. A manager took over a department with four people in May. Within a month, two of them had given notice. Tomorrow is the last day for a third person. One had been with us for five years, and another for eight years.

Based on personal experience, I can understand why this person has trouble keeping employees.

 

[SQLSister]

sabrinaDuncan - great article. Yeah I know all about toxic companies, I have worked for way too many of them.

 

[BeckahC]

We have had several rounds of lay-offs and they were mostly the higher paid employees... they seemed to want to replace those who had been here longer and were close to getting their pensions with younger, less experienced "dime-a-dozen" workers who look good on paper, have little experience and are willing to work for less starting out... I survived because they barely pay me enough to survive (never mind get by) but I had several friends and co-workers who got axed and were the ONLY people who knew the systems they worked with.

*You haven't had the good last laugh until you see an entire dept of a corporation race to get people trianed in systems necessary for day-to-day operations and it takes them approx 6 MONTHS to get back on track and recover after laying off the people who were keeping things running smooth and seemless for quite a while!*

As for loyalty... I refuse to have loyalty for a company that goes back on the promises they make and a manager whom I cannot bring myself to respect in any way. I work for a measly paycheck and excellent medical and dental and those benefits are what's keeping me here... certainly not the management or the company "work ethic".

I think if companies spent more time seeing to their employees, they would get a more productive, loyalty inspiring environment with people more than willing out go out on a limb to help get soemthing done. It's that old, old saying "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" If companies took better care of their employees, they would tend to have better and more loyal emplyees! That seems common sense to me... but I guess it hasn't come up in the weekly management meeting yet.... ;-)

BeckahC

 

[SQLSister]

BEckha, Bean counters don;t understand that there is a differnce between a $30K worker and a 60K worker that is something other than an additional $30k of expenses. Sometimes I think the worst thing to ever happen to American business (can;t speak for other countries, but asuspect this of them as well) is the rise of the MBA. People who think analytic thinking only involves number crunching are harmful to all organizations that have them.

 

[Onyxpurr]

What I don't get is everyone I talk to (including managers) seems to reiterate what we've all said here, yet it still happens.

And always you hear the same thing, like what I heard at my last layoff, "You're a great worker and if it was up to me I'd keep you, but management says..."

What the heck?! At least have the decency to just tell me the truth.

 

[longhair]

i read an article some time back that referenced a study that was done (even further back) - may have actually been from a post here.
if i remember correct, this was the juxt of it:
a company patiently explained to it's employees that they would be work more but being paid the same - production had to rise. questions were answered to everyones liking. the next quarter it was explained that paid holidays would go away - again to increase production. again questions were answered to everyones liking. next quarter, paid holidays were back but everyone had to take a pay cut. this went on for quite some time, with different changes but production never fell, it actually increased. the conclusion was basically that if you take the time to talk to your employees and help them understand then you will not have the issues that most corp's face.
this is the only type of company that i wuold have any loyalty to.
it's not neccessarily how many perks i get or how much i get paid, although they are part of it, it's how i'm treated as a person.
take the time and usually people will be willing to meet you at least 1/2 way.

longhair

 

[BeckahC]

SQLSister - I totally agree! I really think that if I were paid enough to pay my bills and save a little - enough to live on, even just when combined with my hubby's salary - I might just have a better motivator for working harder and being a bit more loyal... I still feel I need to have respect for those I work for, but I do not think that will ever happen while I continue to work for this particular dept and boss.

Onyxpurr - Our company actually tries to convince us that they "plan" to "recreate" everyone's salaries so they are more "in-tune with today's job market". They know what's wrong and continue making empty promises (for YEARS now) to fix it. I totally agree with you - Faith and loyalty get lost if you cannot trust your employer to at least say what they mean and mean what they say.

Longhair - I could never have said it better - Honesty goes hand in hand with loyalty and where there are cover-ups or lies/half-truths, there will always be people that that care as much as the people who spread the disinformation.

BeckahC