Conference 7.286::digital

2566.0. "Company Loyalty -- RIP???" by ASE003::GRANSEWICZ () Thu Jul 01 1993 16:56

    
    Every manager in this company should read this recent VNS article.  
    IMO, it pretty much sums up what is currently happening at Digital.
    Some things in this world have no price tag.  But that only means they
    are priceless, not worthless.
    
    
    
    
VNS TECHNOLOGY WATCH:                           [Mike Taylor, VNS Correspondent]
=====================                           [Littleton, MA, USA            ]

                            Company Loyalty Dies,
                             A victim of Neglect
                        {Industry Week March 1, 1993}

    IW readers say company loyalty is all but gone and can be resuscitated
    only when industry creates a mutually beneficial working environment.


    Anger, frustration, and resentment have replaced loyalty in American
    industry. Loyalty, after being taken for granted by generations  of
    executives and companies, is now virtually missing in action the
    apparent casualty of hostile fire in the trenches from executive suites
    across the nation. Regardless of the methods tried by management 
    participative management, employee involvement, empowerment - IW
    readers suggest there will be a continuing decline in loyalty between
    companies and their employees. 

    Many IW readers now take a "hired gun" attitude toward work admitting
    they aren't working as hard as they could. 

    More than 96% of 2,185 respondents to a recent IW survey consider
    loyalty  an important factor" in a company's success or failure, yet an
    overwhelming number of readers no longer think there is such an
    implicit or explicit social contract between themselves and their
    employers. (The number of respondents to this survey is unusually high,
    suggesting a degree of interest in the issue.) 

    Asked if there if more or less loyalty between companies and employees
    than five years ago, 87.3% of IW readers say there is less, and only
    12% Bay there is more. Two years ago, a slightly smaller percentage,
    86.7%, thought there was less loyalty than five years earlier. 

    Downsizing will have a negative backlash once the economy starts to
    grow," says a director of manufacturing from Sunnyvale, Calif.
    downsizing did not eliminate the critical workload; it just moved it to
    some already overloaded person. Restructuring of the 'critical
    workload' is lagging downsizing  and negatively impacting loyalty."
    Almost to a person, surveyed readers think loyalty is earned through
    mutual respect. "Employees are neither blind nor stupid," says one
    reader in Greenville, S.C. 

    "Loyalty is a two-way street. Some of my co-workers have worked for
    three different company owners in the last 30 years at our plant. Where
    is our company's loyalty to our people and their products? What should
    we feel when we bear the burdens of another cost-reduction program?"
    asks an environmental engineer in Charleston, S.C. 

    "When the [executive] suite doubles the workload but does not add to
    the staff, it's hard to remain loyal," says a reader in Springfield,
    Mo. "Loyalty is merited only in a mutually beneficial environment. The
    current era of corporate Feed does not tend to foster such an 
    environment," notes a director of finance from Oklahoma. "Loyalty is
    the factor in a company's success. But the [hard-line] managers never
    did disappear, they will cut employees in a second to save a  buck. Why
    should employees act any differently? It's a two-way street," says one
    modern-management proponent. 

    "My friend and co-worker was let go last month with 34 years of
    seniority. What company loyalty?" observes a project manager in La
    Jolla, Calif. Readers think company loyalty to them has declined, yet
    ironically, their own loyalty to their companies hasn't fallen as much.
    Nearly 77% Bay their company is less loyal to  them today, and only 21%
    think their company is more loyal now than five years ago. When the
    question is reversed, you more loyal or less loyal to your company than
    five years ago?. 60% admit they are less loyal today, while 35% say
    their loyalty has increased since 1988. Employees are less loyal today
    because companies are showing less regard for their experience and
    loyalty. Companies would rather have new, cheap blood than older, more
    highly paid employees," says a reader from Portland Oregon. 

    A General Motors employee, who declined (was afraid?) to sign his or
    her name, says that "GM's upper management does not believe or care
    about loyalty. Their arrogance is unbelievable." 

    Not all employees have lost that loving feeling. "My company supports
    and practices a promotion-from-within policy. This helps loyalty more 
    than anything else. We also eliminate jobs, not people, by [placing
    people on] profit-improvement teams when their jobs are eliminated,"
    says Christopher Hollowat, plant manager for Milliken & Co., LaGrange,
    Ga. "My company is ethical, produces a good-quality product, and has a
    bright future. The pride I have in being part of this team is what
    makes me loyal," says Diana Wales, a manufacturing  engineer with
    Motorola Inc., Arlington Heights, Ill. 

    In the survey, IW asked respondents to rank (six factors that foster
    loyalty in order of importance). 

    Recognition for a job wen done is most mentioned (by 79.5%) as either
    the first or second most important means of fostering loyalty.
    Challenging work was the second major reason mentioned by 52.2% of
    readers as either a first or second choice. That was followed by
    increased pay (19.6%), promotions (18.1%), a dynamic boss (14.9%), and
    years of service (7.5%). Readers also added their own personal views of
    what fosters loyal employees. Honesty, open communications, the  chance
    to be a part of the decision-making process, and management vision are
    some of the most-mentioned ways IW readers suggest to nurture loyalty.
    That fosters loyalty is leadership. Leadership commands respect. If you
    can't respect someone in your company, how  can you have loyalty? I
    don't respect most of the leaders of my firm," writes a reader from St.
    Louis. 

    Kenneth S. Herberger, program manager at Hughes Training Inc., West
    Covina, Calif., believes the most important attributes for a
    company/employee to share are integrity, fairness, honesty, and open
    communication. Never, never lie." Many IW survey respondents offer
    opinions that favor open participation and involvement of management 
    with workers from the top down, and working toward common goals, with
    recognition for achievement. 

    What, exactly, is loyalty? An overwhelming 98% of IW readers define
    being loyal as supporting company objectives and 91% mention hard work
    as a sign of loyalty. Only 2% believe loyalty is shown by "blindly
    following orders," though one-third still think spending a career with
    one company is an act of loyalty (or courage, or survival). Almost two
    in three respondents, 64%, think pensions and benefits tend to "force"
    loyalty to a company or employer. "Medical coverage is forcing loyalty
    because the cost of coverage without company support is prohibitive,"
    says a reader from Ellicott City, Md. "Pensions tend to 'force loyalty'
    on older, long-term employees who do not have the working years left to
    get vested with a new employer," adds a special-projects coordinator
    from Elko, Nev. 

    Another reader in Bremerton, Wash., echoes what many readers are
    thinking "A poor economy and limited job market can also 'force'
    loyalty as much as pensions or benefits." More than half of the
    respondents (53.4%) say they have turned down a job offer from another
    company because they feel loyalty to their current employer. 

    One respondent from Troy, Mich., changed jobs last year because "there 
    was no opportunity to grow. In a sense I am still emotionally loyal to
    the company 

    I left, but I couldn't stay and be loyal to myself." A reader who has
    turned down many" positions with other companies reasons, "In our
    company 70% of employees have 15-plus years. Loyalty is one reason [why
    they don't job skip]; their lack of 'skills' to look outside is the
    other." 

    Some enterprising IW readers who have turned down outside offers are
    forming a group to finance a new firm. "One of the objectives is to
    have virtually no employees. We will use independent contractors as
    much as possible," they say. Apparently they have learned the lessons
    of corporate America's financial success very well. 

    Do IW readers ever see loyalty returning? The overwhelming view is
    summed up by one manager from South Windsor, Conn.: "Loyalty will
    return only when management discovers that employees are a valuable
    resource, more valuable than capital equipment and begin to treat
    employees accordingly."


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<><><><><><><><>   VNS Edition : 2858      Monday 28-Jun-1993   <><><><><><><><>

    INdeed, one of the frightening aspects of our downsizing, is the great
    emphasis we seem to have placed on getting rid of the "older employees"
    I have seen at least a dozen new farewells, in the last week, and they
    are all 10 year plus veterans. Maybe, it is just that these are the
    people I know, or these are the people who are more vocal about things.
    But I really don't seem to see too many 1-5 year employees being shown
    the door...
    
    Each and everyone of these long term employees has put their heart and
    soul into this corporation, not because of pay, or anything, but
    because of pride, in who they work for, and what we well, and who they
    are. I have memories of snoozing on computer room floors at 3AM, while
    working around the clock to fix problems, of sleeping in the back seat
    of the car, because every hotel in town was booked out and I had a
    customer problem to solve, or working Xmas Day, to get a tender out the
    door on time. ANd I am sure, many other "Veterans" have similar
    stories. BUt what happens nowadays... You go out of your way to do the
    right thing for the company, you bust your buns to make sure that
    Digital looks good, or to sell that extra item, and some arbitrary
    and quite obviously insensitive organization, picks you at apparent
    random to feed the Downsizing machine...
    
    q

    Loyalty is a 2 way street... I was extremely loyal to DEC once... Now 
    I'm extremely loyal to the people I support. It used to be "great 
    people, great company", now it's "great people, but..." 
    
    Greg

    i wonder if DEC much cares about employee loyalty anymore. nothing i
    have seen in the last 2-3 years would indicate so.

    loyalty isn't what wall street care about...they care about a profit...

    Yes, but it is the responsibility of the executive of the corporation
    to turn, Employee Loyalty and other assets, into profit...
    
    
    q
    

    You're right.Loyalty is like goodwill-it is a very tangible and
    measurable asset and like most assets,is used in the assessment of the
    financial performance and management of a company.So,if an asset is
    badly used or falls is value below similar assets in other companies in
    the same domain,then the management of that company is suspect.
    It would be easy to jump to the conclusion that Digital has badly
    managed itself over the last 5 years(due to having a rock-bottom morale
    and loyalty problem)-but-other IT companies aren't much better off,so
    it is easy but probably not correct to blame the management only.Times
    are hard and the relentless push for a good stock price means that the
    whole concept of loyalty needs review.
    The trend in Europe is towards massive pressure on companies to keep
    their employees rather than dumping them on the state-this will inspire
    a useful conflict with other economies and their way of measuring
    success.
    So,loyalty-the managements fault or the trend?Could we have done
    better?

    .-1  did your space-bar get stuck?  or is it the new writing style that
    says don't use redundant spacing after any punctuation - in these times
    of economy,  robots don't need them?

    re .6
    
    I have never seen loyalty in a balance sheet, unlike goodwill.
    
    Perhaps it should be there:  Digital has a lot of loyal customers which
    are worth a fortune.  It has a lot of loyal employees as well.
    
    I fear the bean counters will not take this seriously for some time.
    
    Tony

    Hello,
    
    Inc. magazine in last april's edition had a simmilar cover story by
    John Case named "Emancipation capitalism". Anyone care to summarize?
    
    Jan.