Sources: https://www.businessinsider.com/why-loyalty-between-employers-employees-2024-5 + https://www.businessinsider.com/boomer-retiring-early-nervous-about-money-2024-5
Archives: https://archive.is/oJ4iq + https://archive.is/JKj2x
As a marketing executive and a strategy, management, and operations consultant for two decades, I've heard and read a lot about employee loyalty. The blame seems to always fall on the (perceived) fickle and selfish nature of millennials and Gen Z, thought to be self-centered and loyal only to themselves.
And that's how it would appear — if you hadn't been in the corporate world for decades prior and saw firsthand how the initial social contract that created loyalty was broken by the employers, not employees.
I thought to myself, "Well, I'm going to work here forever and I'll just figure it out later and retire at 65, maybe before that!"
After all, this was what I'd been told by my grandfather right before I left for college. He'd retired after working at the same bank branch for 45 years, working his way from sweeping the floors to branch president.
I'll always remember his words that day at the kitchen table: "In my day, when you got a job, you did that job, whether it's what you wanted or not, until you retired. And you didn't worry about jumping around for money; if you took care of the company, they'd take care of you and your family."
He told me that his pension and healthcare were what kept him comfortable and allowed him to pay considerable medical bills for my grandmother.
My colleagues were outraged. There was suddenly talk of "bailing out" by people older than me, but I didn't really get it at the time.
A year later, they announced an IPO and that all common stock would be liquidated and paid out at about $5 per share. The IPO price was $25.
"This used to be a great place to work," was all I kept hearing, though I don't ever recall anything significant that made that company such a great place to spend your career — except for the generous pension and common stock benefit, that is. These were the things that the company used to do to reward loyalty and make you want to stay, and they were gone.
I eventually left, as did many mid- and upper-level employees. I'd realized that since my former company wasn't going to take care of me, I had to do for myself what I could to work towards security and retirement in my future.
My manager explained the magnitude of the situation: People had essentially sought employment at this tech company, perceived as a dinosaur among the dot.coms, specifically for the long-term security it offered.
Worse, many employees who had been there for many years were not "grandfathered" into keeping their pensions, forced to migrate to a 401(k). A unique benefit used as a powerful recruitment and retention tool had been erased.
It took me a while to see the gravity of that moment. Now, as I start to think toward retirement at age 52, I really get it. I have an uncle who'd worked for this same tech company who retired with his pension at a decent age and now spends his summers on his boat teaching sailing near Nantucket and his winters working ski patrol in Vermont.
He gave them 40+ years of his life, and in return they took great care of him. It seems like those days are gone now — or only reserved for the fabulously wealthy.
As I've gotten older, I'm sometimes jealous of friends who took jobs in public education or government. They haven't lived lavishly over the years, but with 30 years' experience can retire at full salary in perpetuity and sleep comfortably without the plague of questions like Will my 401(k) be enough to retire at 60? 70? Will the government move retirement from 65 to 70 and I'll have to work for nearly 20 more years?
I also wonder how much I may have missed along the way because I've had to be so focused on my future, instead of the present.
It'll require companies to understand that there's a massive misalignment between what companies think will create loyalty versus what makes employees feel like they work for a great company and want to stay.
Though some startups and next-gen businesses are exceptions, most companies still focus on very linear, financially-based hooks for loyalty: salary, 401(k) match, stock options; maybe work-from-home flexibility.
But as a marketer who has conducted years of research and cultural reconnaissance on Gen Z, millennials, Gen X, and baby boomers, I know that what seems to most drive young people today is the freedom to pursue their passions. They care less about money and are financially driven as a means to an end, pursuing things like side hustles, immersive travel to unusual places, music festivals, costly fitness classes, and mental health investments like therapy and life coaches.
That's why I've strongly encouraged the companies I work with to create sabbatical programs, such as five years of service matched with three months of paid leave to travel or pursue personal interests (with parameters that keep them from quitting on their first day back); to establish corporate partnerships that help employees pursue physical and mental wellness; and to create programs where employees are permitted and encouraged to dedicate a percentage of their paid time pursuing passions or work for non-profits.
A company that matches this demand with benefits, rather than just higher salary, can win loyalty.
Steven Piluso is a marketing operations and strategy consultant and a proud husband and father to two young children.
For the last 20 years, I've had the same two alarms set every weekday — one at 5:15 a.m. and one at 9:17 a.m.
As a Texas high school teacher, the 5:15 alarm is really just a formality. After 20 years of early rising, I'm up before the sun with no prompting required. The 9:17 a.m. alarm is also deeply ingrained; it's the official attendance time when I'm required to pause my instruction and take attendance. It's Texas' official "time of record" by which schools are funded on daily attendance.
It's the schedule I've followed for two decades. But after this week, neither time will matter. I will walk away from teaching and into early retirement at 59, which makes me more than a little nervous.
I've been a remote adjunct instructor at a local community college for the past year, concurrent with my high school job, but the rules of my pension require me to sit out this Fall semester. It took me years of applying to secure that adjunct position. I worry that being forced to sit out the busiest semester of the academic calendar will push me to the back of the adjunct line once again. The pay isn't great, at about $50 per hour, but a few classes certainly can help close the gap in my income.
Since I won't be making nearly enough, I decided to accept a remote writing job, but it doesn't have benefits and won't have any structure or routine. While I'll be doing something I care deeply about, I will still be below the salary I earned this year.
Wary of only my spouse for interaction, I have big plans. I've applied to join a committee for my community — one that meets monthly to review permits for home improvements, paint colors, and landscape design.
Two Mahjong sets have been growing dusty in my closet for decades. I've found a beginner's group that meets twice monthly that I have every intention of joining. I'm hopeful that Mahjong will keep the cobwebs from settling into the corners of my brain and give me a new group of peers.
Additionally, it's been easy to push off any amount of formal exercise with the "I don't have time" excuse. Now that I'll have the time in retirement, what will my new exercise regime look like? For 20 years, it's been steps in the school building that have been my only exercise. I've always known I need to stave off osteoporosis with weight resistance training, but now will be the time to pick up a dumbbell.
I'm not quite ready to say, "I'm retired." That phrase carries too many negative connotations for me. More than 30 years later, I finally understand why my former mother-in-law didn't embrace her new status as "grandmother" with any enthusiasm. Titles carry weight, and I'm not ready to shoulder "retiree."
Archives: https://archive.is/oJ4iq + https://archive.is/JKj2x
Loyalty at work no longer pays — and it's employers who are to blame
Steven Piluso - May 31, 2024, 6:41 AM PDTAs a marketing executive and a strategy, management, and operations consultant for two decades, I've heard and read a lot about employee loyalty. The blame seems to always fall on the (perceived) fickle and selfish nature of millennials and Gen Z, thought to be self-centered and loyal only to themselves.
And that's how it would appear — if you hadn't been in the corporate world for decades prior and saw firsthand how the initial social contract that created loyalty was broken by the employers, not employees.
I got an early impression of what company loyalty was supposed to be
After college graduation at age 22, I got my first job at an advertising agency. At the orientation, sitting with mostly entry- or low-level employees, an HR rep went over a lot of confusing information — stuff about common stock, benefits, and a pension plan.I thought to myself, "Well, I'm going to work here forever and I'll just figure it out later and retire at 65, maybe before that!"
After all, this was what I'd been told by my grandfather right before I left for college. He'd retired after working at the same bank branch for 45 years, working his way from sweeping the floors to branch president.
I'll always remember his words that day at the kitchen table: "In my day, when you got a job, you did that job, whether it's what you wanted or not, until you retired. And you didn't worry about jumping around for money; if you took care of the company, they'd take care of you and your family."
He told me that his pension and healthcare were what kept him comfortable and allowed him to pay considerable medical bills for my grandmother.
Then I watched my company's loyalty perks dry up
About three years into my tenure at that job, a memo informed us that the company was discontinuing its pension program; we could either be paid out or migrate the balance into a 401(k), the new retirement provision for employees.My colleagues were outraged. There was suddenly talk of "bailing out" by people older than me, but I didn't really get it at the time.
A year later, they announced an IPO and that all common stock would be liquidated and paid out at about $5 per share. The IPO price was $25.
"This used to be a great place to work," was all I kept hearing, though I don't ever recall anything significant that made that company such a great place to spend your career — except for the generous pension and common stock benefit, that is. These were the things that the company used to do to reward loyalty and make you want to stay, and they were gone.
I eventually left, as did many mid- and upper-level employees. I'd realized that since my former company wasn't going to take care of me, I had to do for myself what I could to work towards security and retirement in my future.
The older I get, the more I understand what's been broken
A few years later, I was working at a renowned global advertising agency and found myself in an all-hands client crisis meeting for a Fortune 500 company that was discontinuing its pension program.My manager explained the magnitude of the situation: People had essentially sought employment at this tech company, perceived as a dinosaur among the dot.coms, specifically for the long-term security it offered.
Worse, many employees who had been there for many years were not "grandfathered" into keeping their pensions, forced to migrate to a 401(k). A unique benefit used as a powerful recruitment and retention tool had been erased.
It took me a while to see the gravity of that moment. Now, as I start to think toward retirement at age 52, I really get it. I have an uncle who'd worked for this same tech company who retired with his pension at a decent age and now spends his summers on his boat teaching sailing near Nantucket and his winters working ski patrol in Vermont.
He gave them 40+ years of his life, and in return they took great care of him. It seems like those days are gone now — or only reserved for the fabulously wealthy.
As I've gotten older, I'm sometimes jealous of friends who took jobs in public education or government. They haven't lived lavishly over the years, but with 30 years' experience can retire at full salary in perpetuity and sleep comfortably without the plague of questions like Will my 401(k) be enough to retire at 60? 70? Will the government move retirement from 65 to 70 and I'll have to work for nearly 20 more years?
I also wonder how much I may have missed along the way because I've had to be so focused on my future, instead of the present.
The broken loyalty contract between employers and workers can be repaired
Is loyalty a dated and dead concept? My answer, despite what I've seen, is an emphatic "No." In fact, the shift in values from Gen-X to millennials and Gen-Z creates a great opportunity to ignite loyalty.It'll require companies to understand that there's a massive misalignment between what companies think will create loyalty versus what makes employees feel like they work for a great company and want to stay.
Though some startups and next-gen businesses are exceptions, most companies still focus on very linear, financially-based hooks for loyalty: salary, 401(k) match, stock options; maybe work-from-home flexibility.
But as a marketer who has conducted years of research and cultural reconnaissance on Gen Z, millennials, Gen X, and baby boomers, I know that what seems to most drive young people today is the freedom to pursue their passions. They care less about money and are financially driven as a means to an end, pursuing things like side hustles, immersive travel to unusual places, music festivals, costly fitness classes, and mental health investments like therapy and life coaches.
That's why I've strongly encouraged the companies I work with to create sabbatical programs, such as five years of service matched with three months of paid leave to travel or pursue personal interests (with parameters that keep them from quitting on their first day back); to establish corporate partnerships that help employees pursue physical and mental wellness; and to create programs where employees are permitted and encouraged to dedicate a percentage of their paid time pursuing passions or work for non-profits.
A company that matches this demand with benefits, rather than just higher salary, can win loyalty.
Steven Piluso is a marketing operations and strategy consultant and a proud husband and father to two young children.
I'm a boomer who's about to retire at 59. I'm nervous about retirement because I'll have less income and too much free time.
Essay by Laura Landsbaum - May 27, 2024, 4:14 AM PDTFor the last 20 years, I've had the same two alarms set every weekday — one at 5:15 a.m. and one at 9:17 a.m.
As a Texas high school teacher, the 5:15 alarm is really just a formality. After 20 years of early rising, I'm up before the sun with no prompting required. The 9:17 a.m. alarm is also deeply ingrained; it's the official attendance time when I'm required to pause my instruction and take attendance. It's Texas' official "time of record" by which schools are funded on daily attendance.
It's the schedule I've followed for two decades. But after this week, neither time will matter. I will walk away from teaching and into early retirement at 59, which makes me more than a little nervous.
My income will now be cut in half
I'm unnerved by several things. I'll be "living smaller" on less income. With my pension, my income will be less than half what it has been. My expenses will be lower but won't be cut by 50%.I've been a remote adjunct instructor at a local community college for the past year, concurrent with my high school job, but the rules of my pension require me to sit out this Fall semester. It took me years of applying to secure that adjunct position. I worry that being forced to sit out the busiest semester of the academic calendar will push me to the back of the adjunct line once again. The pay isn't great, at about $50 per hour, but a few classes certainly can help close the gap in my income.
Since I won't be making nearly enough, I decided to accept a remote writing job, but it doesn't have benefits and won't have any structure or routine. While I'll be doing something I care deeply about, I will still be below the salary I earned this year.
I'm struggling to understand how I will fill my time
For 20 years, the more than 200 teachers in the building have been my daily interaction with adults. We lunch together, and I've shared the rollercoasters of their lives. They've been there to discuss and weigh in on my classroom dilemmas and personal predicaments. Where will the new voices of reason come from?Wary of only my spouse for interaction, I have big plans. I've applied to join a committee for my community — one that meets monthly to review permits for home improvements, paint colors, and landscape design.
Two Mahjong sets have been growing dusty in my closet for decades. I've found a beginner's group that meets twice monthly that I have every intention of joining. I'm hopeful that Mahjong will keep the cobwebs from settling into the corners of my brain and give me a new group of peers.
Additionally, it's been easy to push off any amount of formal exercise with the "I don't have time" excuse. Now that I'll have the time in retirement, what will my new exercise regime look like? For 20 years, it's been steps in the school building that have been my only exercise. I've always known I need to stave off osteoporosis with weight resistance training, but now will be the time to pick up a dumbbell.
I'm not sure who I am without my job
Finally, for the last 20 years, I have proudly proclaimed that "I teach high school" to anyone who asks about my employment. What will the next answer be? I haven't found one that I'm comfortable with.I'm not quite ready to say, "I'm retired." That phrase carries too many negative connotations for me. More than 30 years later, I finally understand why my former mother-in-law didn't embrace her new status as "grandmother" with any enthusiasm. Titles carry weight, and I'm not ready to shoulder "retiree."
