Employee Loyalty

Yahoo
samcrow

Go to company page Yahoo

samcrow
Feb 18, 2016 14 Comments

I want to start a discussion about loyalty and how it's used by companies to extract value out of employees.

At Yahoo we are going through a difficult time and I hear a lot of anger about how long time employees are treated the same as new hires.

So I wanted to say this, "Your company is not loyal to you. Your company does not think of you as family. These are traits that may or may not exists in your manager and those that personally know you, but a company doesn't have these feelings. Your company would like you to think it has those traits and wants you to feel way."

Your company wants to ad value to it's investors, period. Everything else is just a facade. To all the younger people out there, learn this early.

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TOP 14 Comments
  • Yahoo
    JyQs28

    Go to company page Yahoo

    JyQs28
    Well, a company isn't a living thing. It doesn't think and it doesn't make deals with you. People do. Any loyalty you have/feel is entirely between yourself and your peers/managers/other individuals within the org.

    The loyalty between yourself and those you work with can and often will be overridden by someone else in the company.

    Loyalty to a company? Sure, that is nonexistant.

    But reciprocated loyalty with peers and other individuals? That's something that will be a two way street of help that will last well into your careers.

    Just wanted to add the nuance that just because you can't get loyalty from a company doesn't mean you shouldn't find loyal people to network and build relationships with.
    Feb 18, 2016 0
  • Yahoo
    ana-ng

    Go to company page Yahoo

    ana-ng
    the joke here is the assumption by old school Yahoos that somehow by stint of longevity they are adding more value than new hires. what I've seen couldn't be further from the truth.
    Feb 18, 2016 2
  • Yahoo
    dL4842

    Go to company page Yahoo

    dL4842
    Companies don't have emotions, people do. Companies make decisions based on business needs.
    Feb 19, 2016 2
    • Companies don't make decisions. People make decisions on behalf of companies.

      Don't ever think that it's just business when crap happens -- someone decided that you didn't matter enough to offset whatever.
      Feb 19, 2016
    • The secret sauce is to spread the tough stuff.

      Someone decides on a number. Someone else decides on a process. Someone else picks the people.
      Feb 20, 2016
  • Maybe this is a good time for a company to differentiate itself by showing the appreciation to long time employees. I am amazed at how similarly all the IT companies are doing the business including the same interview processes, review and hire-layoff timing. If you follow the same way as front runner, you will never catch up. These CEOs are the same across and I wonder why they pay them so much when all are doing similarly.
    Feb 19, 2016 3
    • Even without people hoarding tribal knowledge it makes sense to try to keep people for a while.

      It takes about 3-6 months for someone to come up to speed, and hiring takes a lot of developer time, and there is an opportunity cost from not having people around to do whatever the employers want to do next. Reducing turnover saves a lot of money.
      Feb 22, 2016
    • Microsoft / Product
      SpitRoast

      Go to company page Microsoft Product

      BIO
      Sorry, I am anonymous here :) IM me if anything I say strikes your fancy.
      SpitRoast
      I have the impression that we deal with different timescales in our two companies:) in Microsoft "long time employees" means decades.
      Feb 22, 2016
  • be loyal to the work you do and people you work with. beyond that you are just a gun for hire with no strings attached as far as the company goes
    Feb 20, 2016 0