Unfortunately it is a 2-way street. As a small business owner, I have seen a change in mentality of the people entering the work force after college here in the US. Very few seem to care or be committed to the companies that employ them. I don't know if it is because they hear growing up that 'companies are evil', etc., or if it is because the economy has been doing so well they can easily go down the street and get a job with a competitor if you ask them to do anything they do not feel like doing. Pull an all-nighter or come in over the weekend to meet a pressing government deadline? No chance in heck. Work even a minute of 40 hours in a week? No chance in heck. All the stuff my peers and I had to do for our first two decades of work in order to solidify ourselves in our careers, and to help our company fulfill it's obligations are of no interest to many of the younger people in the work force these days. None seem to want to stay at a company for more than 5 years, and I am in a business segment where people used to stay with their employers for decades (and there still are many in their 50s and 60s who have done so).
I would welcome the chance to give someone extra recognition for 10 years of service, as the closet anyone has come to that in the last 10 years is a little over 7 years. And 20 years of service? There are two current employees who might hit that in another 14-16 years, but I suspect one of them will be leaving the area and heading back to where he and his come from in NC at some point since they have started a family.
The issue is a change in perceived values, not that many years ago Companies rarely made employees redundant, in fact to have been made redundant was a stigma that you didn't want to be associated with.
Companies valued their employees and rewarded them usually with a job for life or as long as you wanted it, (unless you misbehaved
馃槜).
During their employment an employee would get recognition as their service lengthened, maybe the company gave increased holidays after 5 years and extra weeks holiday after 20 years, improved sickness pay for longer serving employees, enhanced pensions for long term employees, Christmas hampers for those that had reached a certain level, a 18k gold watch at 25 years, and other small but welcome benefits.
Employees felt as though they were part of the family, they felt that they belonged and so responded accordingly but most importantly they stayed.
However, the world turned, a different era dawned, one where profit was king.
In the drive for profit and to get the efficiencies required to make more profit, those perks were gradually removed, one by one they went, then the redundancies crept in, then mergers, then closures, soon the employee felt that they were not part of the family but just a number. The job no longer was one that was enjoyed, the camaraderie had gone, the job was now one that simply had to be endured to keep the wolf from the door.
The employee started looking elsewhere and ultimately people started leaving. First the core workers started to leave, then key people the supervisors and junior managers - the people with hands on experience who knew the job inside out. Performance dropped, targets started to be missed, profits fell, to improve profit the company cut some staff out, the focus was to reduce costs, close branches and merge with another, sell assets.
Now the company still exists but nothing like the one that existed all those years ago, it is still profitable but staff get their wage, no more no less, there are no perks, even good old overtime at time plus a half has gone, replaced by a single rate irrespective of how many hours are worked, people endure because they have to, there are bills to be paid but there is no belonging, people come they stay a while then leave for something hopefully better, long service is not going to happen with the new staff as the Company is just part of the job carousel and doesn't prioritise the long term retention of employees.
The days of a job for life is now long gone in the vast majority of cases, yes small micro brands claim otherwise and maybe they will get that loyalty, but unless you can get into public service and even here costs are examined more closely than they ever have been, 5 years in a job is probably as good as it is going to get for many.
