Loyalty?? Wat loyalty??

Much has been said abt employees' loyalty to the companies they work for. Lots of employers complain that their employees have no loyalty at all and jump ship after 1-2 yrs, after training, etc.

Well, being an employee myself, I can say that we (i.e. employees) are all dispensable. I dun deny that there are bad employees who are out there to milk their employers without doing any work but I know there are also good employees out there who won't think twice of working their ass off. But let's face it, all companies are out to make a profit, else they wouldn't be in business. And when it comes to a time where the company decides it has to cut its headcount or slash its employees' benefits, it goes ahead and does so. I guess the mgt has to do wat it has to do to keep the costs down but for me, one of the real problems lies in the communication of these measures and how it is implemented.

One major issue is that ALL the companies that I've worked for have ZERO communication skills when it comes to informing its employees of its direction, current/future plans, etc. If they want to implement something, they just go ahead and do it without briefing its employees. Here, I'm talking about things that impact the employees' work, job scope, benefits, etc. Things that have a direct impact to the employees. And then they (the mgt) act totally shocked and surprised that the employees kick up a fuss!!! IMO, it's fine if you want to implement a new policy/procedure (assuming it's a sound and logical one) but just brief the employees abt it so they'll understand wat it's about and why it's been put in place.

Another thing that causes ppl to change jobs is the increase in the cost of living. Given that prices of EVERYTHING increases except our salary, we can either (1) tighten our belts and make do with our current salary, OR (2) change jobs to get a significant pay increase. Coz if we depend on the yearly increments that we get, we'd be forced to live on the streets. Ok, that's an exaggeration but u get the drift.

Some companies think that just coz they pay their employees to work, they own their employees lives and think nothing of making them slave long after official work hours have ended. I've had the unfortunate pleasure of having to go thru 3 continuous months of coming in to work at 9-10am and working till 2-3am (and occasionally till 7am) the next day. So much so that when I go for interviews now, I'd always ask wat're the working hrs like and whether we're required to work till the wee hrs for extended periods of time. One of the reasons I'd turned down an attractive offer was coz they'd freaked me out so much when they told me I had to work long hrs. I'm fine with the occasionaly late night (even nightS) but pls pls, not for extended periods of time. We're humans, not machines. Even the Energizer bunny runs out after the batteries are dry. Plus most (if not all) of us have families to be responsible for... husband/wife/kids/parents/pets/bf/gf/etc.

I guess when it comes down to it, loyalty works both ways. Employers need to respect their employees to earn loyalty from their employees. Dun think that just coz u pay them, ur employees will walk to the ends of the earth for u. It's a dog eat dog world out there and each of us has to watch our own backs coz no one's gonna watch it for us, and definitely not our employers, from my experience thus far.