‘WE ARE FAMILY’ was the mantra of many companies through the 80’s and 90’s. When I first started in the work world, I remember my brother-in-law who is my senior by 20 years talking about how when he started in the workplace company’s were loyal to their employees. Were they really loyal to their workers? If so, are they still and if not why do those ‘old’ workers think so? What about employees, have they shown loyalty to their company in the past or now?
Employment by its nature is a relationship between employee and employer (the company). In this relationship, loyalty can is defined as all about honesty, trust, and commitment between both parties. Are these characteristics that describe long gone work environments or today’s workplace? Is loyalty a necessary attribute for either party in this relationship today?
A look at the research states employee loyalty is defined as the extent to which employees are committed to and involved with their organization. Furthermore, it states if employees are loyal, they are less likely to quit, look for another job, or speak negatively about their employer. They work harder and are more enthusiastic about their roles. Research leads to the conclusion that employee loyalty is significantly related to and has a positive influence on company performance [Online].
Companies talk and put in writing how important their employees are, have parties at different times of the year, and do other things for employees. What are you doing in your organization with the thought of building employee loyalty? When the business runs into difficult times what should your loyalty be to employees?
Let’s look at the shifting sands of loyalty in organizations. After WWII there was a shortage of males who made up the majority of the labor force. Through the 70’s the labor force was still primarily male, and companies had to ‘keep’ employees because of low numbers of in the labor pool. A negative outcome of these low numbers was putting up with bad behavior by employees, mainly males, in the work environment. Workers during that time looked at companies having loyalty to their employees. Unemployment was low and jobs were limited. It didn’t look good for an individual to be ‘job hopping’. My dads advice upon graduating from college, “find someone you want to work for because you are going to be there for a long time”. The long and short of it was that organizations had all the power and could chose how loyal they were to employees.
A workplace outcome of the women’s movement that started in the 60’s was an increasing number of qualified people in the labor pool. As women cut their teeth in different non-traditional roles organization could become more selective in who they hired as well as what type of workplace behavior was acceptable. Women and the rapid growth of the economy made dramatic changes to what defined loyalty for both parties.
Technology drove change along with faster economic growth in certain segments of the workforce and the workforce started to have leverage when it came to job opportunities and pay. Silicon Valley was the early pioneer of both job hopping and the talk of loyalty. A friend of mine who was at Apple in the early ‘crazy’ days always told me no employee every ‘unpacks’ their briefcase because they would move across the street to another company for more stock options. In other words, there was very little employee loyalty because of the opportunities available to them.
The continual changes in the economy, workforce skill sets, and cultural shifts have created an ebb and flow in ‘loyalty’ by both parties. We now have a workforce that was raised with ‘safe spaces, quite quitting, driven by feelings, and always getting high marks’. Along with this workforce is lower numbers to fill vacant jobs.
This brings me back to my original premise, has there really been loyalty by either party towards the other? Not really. To a varying degree maybe. The hard reality is the main goal of a business is to make money for its shareholders, period end of point. How they operate to accomplish that goal is up to the owner, CEO and Board of Directors. When the business falls on hard times difficult personnel decisions have to be made. Is this an indication of disloyalty towards employees? What about employees that leave for a better situation?
People act in their own self-interest the majority of the time. Everyone inside of an organization whether it is for profit or non-profit have their own personal motives for the decisions they make. Companies can have a party every Friday for employees but that doesn’t mean they won’t have massive layoffs if profits fall off a cliff. Likewise, employees will leave a company for their own benefit if it’s enticing enough.
Loyalty by both parties is transitory relative to the environment they find themselves operating in. Some organizations truly work on developing it, but they are only one side of the relationship. Their employee base is large with multiple needs and wants. In the end both parties would benefit by keeping their eye on the ‘prize’, the mission, and goals of the organization and be honest about loyalty.