Organizations need to be loyal too

 
I suspect that one of the main reasons why so many people put up with long hours, constant demands to increase output, and even Hamburger Management is simply loyalty: loyalty to colleagues and friends, loyalty to a workplace, even corporate loyalty.

The trouble is that organizations don�€™t appear to have the same sense of loyalty in return. That puts a huge strain on employees. Do you pitch in and help out your colleagues, who are struggling with the latest batch of unreasoning demands from on high? Or do you start polishing your resume and get ready to walk out the door as quickly as possible? Do you stay with your belief that the job you�€™re doing is both worthwhile and valuable—even if it�€™s poorly paid, as so many jobs in teaching, nursing, and other public services tend to be? Or do you decide to follow the money into a different career—or even consider leaving to work overseas—and let go of your loyalty to an ideal?

The loyal employee

The loyal employee is innately valuable. He or she doesn�€™t accept expensive training, only to use it to get a better job elsewhere. When times are tough, the loyal employee accepts extra work, or even a lowered income, to help the organization cope. Many loyal employees work on their own time, either to clear backlogs, or to polish or add to their skills, to the ultimate benefit of their employer. They support their colleagues and willingly help others without expecting anything in return.

You would think that organizations would be doing just about everything possible to nurture such people. After all, they don�€™t just make for a better working atmosphere; they are extremely good for that sacred bottom-line.

The uncaring organization

What we actually see is rather different. In the pursuit of quick profits, organizations appear ready to cast off loyal employees as readily as everyone else.

We�€™re told, by research, that 38% that won�€™t go the extra mile for their job, or that 40% don�€™t care about making the company successful. That only 6% would resist outside job offers. But that still leave around 60% of people who do care about the organization and will put themselves out to see it successful.

Do we see organizations pinpointing these people and protecting them from the negative effects of Hamburger Management and grab-and-go, short-term policies? I certainly don�€™t. All I see is corporations treating all employees alike: as disposable tools that are simply costs to be eliminated as far as possible, not resources to be used to help grow the business and ward off external threats.

The effects of organizational disloyalty

All actions send a message—often quite a powerful one. Organizations who discard people without a second thought, or exploit them to the maximum extent they can get away with, are sending the message that loyalty counts for little or nothing.

The results are obvious:

• People expect to be continually under threat of lay-off, so they keep their resumes permanently on the market, changing jobs without concern for anything save their own short-term advantage. Organizations have taught them to do this.
• Because they see executives cheerfully raiding the corporate coffers to enrich themselves, any natural unwillingness to engage in �€œcheating�€� or manipulating rules to put extra money in their own pockets is lessened.
• Since those at the top are obviously interested only in quick, short-term returns (especially to themselves), the attitude permeates the organization as a whole, leading to everyone focusing on what will give them the biggest, quickest return—even if that means elbowing colleagues out of the way, playing the dirtier kinds of organizational politics, or hyping resumes to leverage a quick move somewhere else that is paying a few bucks more.
• Because they recognize that their bosses are �€œon the make�€� and will sacrifice them to hit next quarter�€™s numbers, employees gradually lose their sense that they have an obligation of loyalty to the business. They may still feel loyal to colleagues, but that can turn into and �€œus versus them�€� attitude towards those higher up. If people no longer feel that the organization is anything but a short-term meal-ticket, they won�€™t invest much of themselves in their job.
• Worst of all, people start to feel devalued and see their work as less and less worthwhile. This can breed a whole slew of emotional and psychological stresses and problems.

Why corporate disloyalty matters to us all

Selfish, disloyal organizations are training a new generation of employees to be focused entirely on short-term, personal benefits and self-centered goals. Our society cannot work under such conditions, since we rely on people�€™s sense of unspoken obligations to one another, to their work, and even to society as a whole, to keep the structure of our democracies operating.

In America, perhaps the country most prone to Hamburger Management today, the number of people who vote, especially in local elections, is abysmally low. They obviously don�€™t feel engaged in their society or much interested in the outcome—probably because they don�€™t believe they can change anything against the weight of special interests and big business dollars. There is much more interest in television personalities and their private lives than there is in politics or issues of social justice. Books about career management stress looking out for yourself and finding ways to avoid being caught up in organizational or societal expectations. The business hero isn�€™t the CEO or corporate titan, but the young, freewheeling entrepreneur who makes a fortune in some esoteric, new business and retires at 35.

I don�€™t imagine our corporate leaders are even aware of the lessons they are teaching, or where they might lead in the longer term. Maybe they wouldn�€™t care, even if they knew. After all, they�€™ll be long retired to live off the millions amassed in their dubious share-option schemes.

When you know that you can lose your job at any time with little reason beyond corporate expediency, or that are only earning a minuscule fraction of what you�€™re helping to bring in, it�€™s hard to think about helping your company do even better. Are you �€œlucky�€� to have a job? Maybe, but the organization is equally lucky to have you helping them to success and financial solvency.

Loyalty cuts both ways. You can�€™t have loyal employees in a corporate that is disloyal to them. The sooner business learns that lesson, the better for everyone.

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