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I have always been bouncing around my jobs. I've found a decent job I like in a long time and wondering if anyone has stayed at their job or profession for 5-10 years without quitting (liking it or not).
Have your employer rewarded you (pay raises/income raises) and feel like you are receiving and at the same time you are able to chase certain advancement within your job.
I know plenty of people who were loyal. Received many raises and promotions over the years.....Than one day, new high level executive management came to power and one big SWOOOP........They all no longer have jobs now in this economy. LOL. There goes loyalty. LMAO.
Years ago, fresh out of college, I got hired as an Asst. Manager for this clothing chain store. The District Manager was telling me that if I work hard and loyal...this company will reward me the same way they rewarded him. He started when the company first opened its door and over the years, he rose up to District Manager. One day, Corp. People showed up and SWOOOP! Fired one of the most successful person in the company who started with them from the very beginning. So much for loyalty.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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My first real job I stayed at for 17 years during which time I had a total of 6 promotions. When I left it was to move to another state. I have been at this job just under 4 years and have had 2 promotions. I'll be here until I retire though I don't expect to go any higher and really like what I do.
My last job was 5 years. I got one small raise during this time and lots of praise about the quality of my work, extra effort and productivity. Praise is cheaper.
When I left they were very surprised and they begged me to stay. Offered a $1000 year end bonus*, but no raise. I also agreed to stay longer than intended while they dragged out their hiring process, and I helped train the new worker, but got basically nothing out of this act of loyalty.
There was no advancement potential because it was a company far too small. I was hoping that having 5 years in one place would look good on my resume for future employers, but that hasn't been realized.
My last job was for ten years. I worked for a law firm. When I'd been there 9 1/2 years I was rewarded with a demotion from salaried full time (37.5 hours per week) to hourly part time (32 hours per week). They stated that, since I was now part time, I would not be eligible for any paid holidays. They also took away my two weeks per year vacation, and gave me five days a year. They stated that if "I didn't like it, I was free to quit and they wouldn't contest unemployment". Then they cut back on the cleaning lady's hours and had me clean the bathrooms, kitchen, and take out the trash. Six months later, they terminated me, stating it was due to "too many phone calls from DH". They did this two days before Thanksgiving. I was given a box and one hour to clean out my desk, while they had someone changing the locks. They never even said goodbye to me.
I worked hard for them for ten years and put up with a lot of stress and crap. I was always given raises and good yearly reviews. Toward the end, there was a lot of friction in the office because the other secretary and associate (hired long after me) didn't like me and ostracized and demeaned me a great deal. The person they hired to replace me lasted only ten months. That was three years ago. According to their website, there's now an opening for a secretary - interesting.
I was a mechanic for most of my working life. Ended up working for a city transit company. (Buses). I stayed there for 30 years and am retired. There were times when I hated some of the things I had to do. Like laying under a broken down bus on a snow covered road in the winter, some really filthy jobs, and a couple Maintanence Directors we had over the years. But I stuck it out and am glad I did. The last 7 years I was a supervisor. I retired with a modest pension that I can live on and decent health insurance although since I turned 65 I'm on Medicare. That job gave me the means to provide my wife and 6 kids with a decent home and way of life. Nothing fancy but we always had what we needed. We lived in good areas, have lived in the same house for almost 25 years that we bought, and had dependable cars. The kids are all grown now and have left the nest. But that job gave us stability and security. There were times when I wanted to quit. But I looked at the long term and knew it would be in my best interest to stay for the simple reason it provided my family with a better life than if I started jumping around from place ot place.
I know plenty of people who were loyal. Received many raises and promotions over the years.....Than one day, new high level executive management came to power and one big SWOOOP........They all no longer have jobs now in this economy. LOL. There goes loyalty. LMAO.
This was my experience. 10+ years at my last job -- thought I would retire there. After surviving several layoffs, I got caught up in a massive one (many thousands). But they were fair -- severance, plenty of notice, good references. All of our old positions were "in-sourced" -- done by under-paid temps/contract workers.
I was one of the few who made it to that magic combo of being just old enough and had just enough years in to be "bridged" to retirement. I'm not old enough to collect a pension, but the HUGE payoff is that I now get to pay into retiree healthcare insurance. As long as my former company continues to offer this benefit to their retirees (fingers crossed), I will never again have to hunt for health insurance or a job that has good insurance. It's not cheap, but it's cheaper than private insurance, and will allow me to change jobs more easily in the future.
The people that were left behind are now hunkering down -- not sticking their neck out for anything, just biding their time until the next layoff. Several of them got pay cuts, since all the pay tiers were restructured. And there is NO room for advancement now. I'm told that this is the last year for bonuses.
So, for a while, yeah, it really was worth it to stay.
Last edited by Blinx; 03-21-2013 at 07:10 AM..
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