In Japan in the second half of the last century, life contracts were popular and very prestigious. When you graduate from high school or college, you get a job… and after half a century or so you retire from the same company. By the way, this practice is considered one of the reasons for the “Japanese economic miracle”, when the second economy of the planet rose from the ruins of WWII.

But today’s world practice is a couple of years at the same job at best, and a constant search for something better or just something new. Is it just a lack of loyalty, or are the companies themselves to blame for this? The author of the story we are going to tell you today, the user u/dirthurts, is trying to answer this question.

The author of the post has a friend who was once promoted to a managerial position after long and hard work at his previous one

Image credits: Annie Spratt (not the actual photo) 

During his first week as a boss, the guy constantly complained about how disloyal employees are

Image credits: u/dirthurts

Two months later, the boss got laid off by the board without any notice, and the whole department got outsourced as well

Image credits: Bram Naus (not the actual photo) 

Image credits: u/dirthurts

Image credits: Ono Kosuki (not the actual photo) 

Image credits: u/dirthurts

The author states he feels pity for the guy who lost his job and career, but such is the modern world and modern business

The story, by the way, is quite classic for our days. The Original Poster (OP) had a friend who, after several years of successful work in his very well-paid position, received an offer to move to a managerial one. And to become the boss for the author of the post. Some people in this guy’s place would have refused, but he agreed. And, as it turned out later, agreed in vain.

For the first week in his new position, the newly minted boss complained tirelessly that employees weren’t loyal anymore and were leaving without due notice in anticipation of higher salaries, benefits, or some other expectations of their own. He complained that people have become mercantile, and loyalty is no longer valued…

Just two months later, the company, without much warning, not only laid him off, but also outsourced all of the jobs of the whole department to a third party. Simply because it’s cheaper. As they say, nothing personal, just business. And now the OP’s boss, after his complaints about the disloyalty of employees, seems to have realized where the roots of this disloyalty lie.

The original poster admits that he sincerely feels sorry for the fired manager, who lost his job, career and, in fact, faith in his own principles – because years of hard and loyal work in a previous position turned out to be practically nothing for the higher-ups. Yes, sadly, but such are the realities of our time, the author states with sadness.

Image credits: Startup Stock Photos (not the actual photo) 

Indeed, in recent years, the level of loyalty of companies to staff has been gradually decreasing, and many years of hard work have almost ceased to be appreciated. And this is not just the point of view of a random guy from Reddit, many known economists agree. “Implicit contracts are violated in the corporate world on a daily basis,” Stanford Business quotes Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Jeffrey Pfeffer. “Workplaces not only fail to acknowledge past employee loyalty and contributions, but they also renege on what has been implicitly or explicitly promised, such as pensions and retiree health care.”

Zippia cites not-so-pleasant statistics – there were 15.4 million layoffs in the U.S. in 2022, of which 6.9 million were in the second half of the year. As a result, 40% of Americans have been laid off at least once in their lives, and around 28% of them faced a layoff within the last two years. Not surprisingly, according to the same studies, nearly half (48%) of Americans have layoff anxiety.

“The modern world has changed a lot even compared to the beginning of the 21st century. First of all, we mean the general speed of life, and the expectation of quick results,” says Olga Kopylova, Ph.D., associate professor of economics at Odessa National Maritime University, with whom Bored Panda got in touch for a comment. “Not only is the time of production cycles reduced, but the waiting time for results is also reduced. And, accordingly, the management, which is not ready to play long-term, is trying to optimize the workflow as much as possible. Even if by giving up loyalty to employees.”

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“I can’t say that this is a positive trend, rather the opposite. In any case, the rejection of human values, the perception of personnel simply as a resource – valuable, but interchangeable – will definitely not lead to good. Because now business is also facing a reverse trend – when employees aren’t loyal anymore. For the past few years, the world economy has been on the verge of a serious global crisis, and we can only hope that it will not break out, because the consequences could be much worse than, for example, in 2008,” Olga notes.

Many commenters fully agree with the original poster, noting that if a company shows a completely consumer attitude towards staff, it is difficult to expect any significant steps from employees towards it. “I’m loyal to the family I have to provide for, loyal to my bottom line. And loyal to my bank account. If an employer doesn’t want to act as a partner meeting my needs, I’ll find somewhere that will,” one of the folks in the comments aptly summarized. And it’s hard to disagree with that. By the way, have you, our dear readers, ever also encountered similar behavior from your own employers?

Most of the commenters agreed with the author, stating that they are loyal only to themselves and their own family after facing such behavior from companies

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