I wish they'd given me a more comfortable chair

Image by mtsofan via Flickr

When you leave one job for another it naturally calls a person's loyalty into question, but is there such a thing as loyalty left in the business world?

Not too long ago workers committed themselves to one employer for a lifetime and their employer in return would guarantee job security and attainable rungs of the corporate ladder. This is no longer the case. Business got too big and the people got lost in the growth. Employees are assigned employee numbers, and are identified as such on paperwork, in their logins, and in the barcode on their security badges. Their salaries are now expenses, and when the black line falls these expenses are the first to be cut. The gold watch appreciation days have been retired, an achievement so many aging workers now struggle for, regardless of the hue of their collar. Workers are expendable. We are an exhaustable resource, and most of us have settled into the concept far too easily.

The American worker is made to feel lucky to have a job and, out of fear and a degradation of self-worth, we cling to the mediocre and the menial wages. We're scared and timid and alone. We've given in, content to be nameless and faceless because we are also hopeless, having replaced our dreams with cable TV and goals with late night drive-thrus. Most unfortunate is that the hardest workers are the slowest to learn. Those men and women have yet to discover that there is no reward for quality and no acknowledgment for outstanding diligence. They don't accept that early starts and late stays aren't recorded in their files. They can't grasp that management will no longer be hired from within. And they'll be shocked when they're replaced for half the pay by a pre-conditioned college grad with no experience.

Corporate America asks us to keep personal lives out of the workplace because from the managerial side the concept is already well established. When a loyal employee is fired because of cutbacks or any other term meant to strip humanity or blame from the occurrance, it is still personal. So why is there no rioting? Why aren't the millionaires who initiate these mass layoffs pulled from their mansions and beaten?

Examples should be made. Warnings should be issued. Fires should ignite!

The abandonment of emotion is our biggest problem as people and the reason for this perpetual and accepted atrocity of hollow, heartless industry. A job is still a very personal thing. A career defines you and where you work speaks to your ethics and beliefs. An array of emotion is expressed in the office. We get angry and frustrated. We have pride in our success. When we are forced to leave it hurts.

Years of mistreatment and disloyalty from enterprise giants have created a workforce that is just as expendable and indifferent as they're expected to be, and maybe one day this weakened foundation will cause the tower to fall. Until then or until we awaken from our pacification there can be no notion of selfish behavior. Loyalty can no longer be questioned as anyone who wants to achieve must only do what is best for them. Anyone who wants to stand out and move up has to be a self promoter. If you work hard, make sure everyone knows it and demand compensation. Don't be afraid to quit.

I have been given an opportunity for growth in my particular industry and it means leaving my current employer. The work I've done has not been unrewarding and my employers have not been unkind. None the less, I'm taking my own advice and doing what I think is best for me. I can't possibly know how this decision will turn out, but I'm not afraid.