Employee loyalty is changing. Once highly valued, staying in one job for too long is now seen differently. Job mobility is increasing across industries. While loyalty offers continuity, professionals now face a dilemma. External hires often earn m...
Because loyalty is a trait that is considered extremely desirable, organizations frequently look for it in new employees. How the value of loyalty is perceived, however, has changed in recent times. Career paths used to be linear once upon a time, but in the twenty-first century, staying in the same position for too long is not seen as the best option. Job mobility has recently started to increase across various industries, according to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2022). Many professionals are changing their jobs more frequently than people once did.
There are a few trade-offs that are not immediately apparent, even though loyalty promises you a sense of continuity. You start getting conflicting thoughts about staying or going. Employees who have been in the same environment for a long time start to find that their salary increases are slower compared to those who have changed their job stations.
People who have been hired externally generally have higher salaries compared to internal hires in the same position, a study published in the Harvard Business Review (2019) found. But there is also a significant emotional side to loyalty that affects decision-making, since employees sometimes have strong emotional bonds to teams and even to the identity of organizations.
Image Credit: Gemini It becomes harder for them to leave, even when they are presented with other opportunities. This emotional side to loyalty is related to familiarity and belonging, and not just about work; emotions are just as important as money while making career choices, according to studies published in Organizational Psychology Review (2020).
Loyalty starts to become more about how one looks at their relationship with their job, and not necessarily about duty. What is also made apparent is that loyalty is no longer necessarily seen as a positive attribute. Loyalty is seen in a world that is in a state of evolution, with stability and mobility existing side by side.
You gain depth by remaining in one place, while breadth can also be offered through mobility. Neither is necessarily better or worse, just different, with different consequences attached to them, and the concept of loyalty is still present, but it is no longer necessarily seen in positive terms.
