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Career Loyalty
Posted by Renddy Rose Rodriguez
on
1/30/2009 02:05:00 AM
When employers open their businesses and employees start their careers, both usually have one similar goal to succeed. During the beginning of this 21st Century, the work office is full of tough competition. N interesting part related to this is the different view of loyalty between employers and employees.
Companies must be competitive with their market rivals. The management executives expect employees to show their loyalty to the company by taking on additional asks or working overtime (OT) hours more often. For example, instead of a dozen people working in the Human Resources (HR) Department for a full workday, through restructuring many companies have downsized and gotten rid of some positions so that only nine people do the same work as twelve. This usually requires employees to work more OT to complete the extra assignments.
As a result, the employers are pleased. This saves the company some overheard cost, which indirectly increases their profits. This money can be used to make them more competitive with their market rivals. The employers believe the honor of working for a leading competitive company will make the employees more loyal. What might be occurring is actually vice versa.
For the employees, the benefits are not quite clear. Showing their loyalty by working more means that they could have less leisure time and yet they could still be sacked at any time. These work conditions could reduce competitiveness as the employees’ morale decreases and they are burnt out from working too many hours. This could actually trigger the employees to look for another job with better conditions (better salary, fringe benefits, working hours, location and so on). If this happened, some money the company saved by downsizing to make it more competitive with market rivals would then have to be spent on training new employees.
VOCABULARY
21st Century - Years from 2001 to 2009
ex: Better technology will be used in business during the 21st Century.
Market rivals - Competitors, companies competing to be more efficient
ex: What company is our main market rival?
Restructuring - Reorganizing a company to be more efficient
ex: Restructuring mainly benefits employers more than employees.
Downsized - Laid off employees to be more competitive by lowering costs
ex: Asian companies downsized after the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.
Overhead cost - Cost to run a business not related to producing and selling goods or services (eg. Salary, electricity and rental fee)
ex: High overhead costs in Paris forced the company to move to Jakarta.
Vice versa - The reverse, the other way round
ex: The employee really likes his boss and vice versa.
Morale - enthusiasm and loyalty for the job
ex: The morale at the office was bad because of law sales.
Fringe benefits - Employees’ non-cash benefits in addition to salary that is paid by employers (eg. Medical and pension plans, a company car)
ex: I chose to work for his company due to its generous fringe benefits.
EXPRESSIONS
Talking on - Accepting new responsibilities
ex: I will be taking on new projects next month.
Gotten rid of - removed or done away with
ex: Have you gotten rid of the old data yet?
Be sacked - have their job terminated; be fired
ex: He will be sacked for arriving late at work too often.
Burnt out - Tired and needing some time off from work
ex: She is burnt out because her boss always tells her to work overtime.
Trigger - Cause
ex: Rude comments can trigger an argument between colleagues.
DISCUSSION POINTS
1. What work conditions do you consider fair for both the employers and employees?
2. How is loyalty rewarded at various companies you know?
For instance, do the employees receive a special bonus or an extra day off/
3. How can companies stay competitive by decreasing costs, yet still maintain enough employees?
For example, could the executives reduce their entertainment accout or could the company move to a less expensive office location?
4. What have you done to prepare for your future in case your job position is not as solid as it was before?
Companies must be competitive with their market rivals. The management executives expect employees to show their loyalty to the company by taking on additional asks or working overtime (OT) hours more often. For example, instead of a dozen people working in the Human Resources (HR) Department for a full workday, through restructuring many companies have downsized and gotten rid of some positions so that only nine people do the same work as twelve. This usually requires employees to work more OT to complete the extra assignments.
As a result, the employers are pleased. This saves the company some overheard cost, which indirectly increases their profits. This money can be used to make them more competitive with their market rivals. The employers believe the honor of working for a leading competitive company will make the employees more loyal. What might be occurring is actually vice versa.
For the employees, the benefits are not quite clear. Showing their loyalty by working more means that they could have less leisure time and yet they could still be sacked at any time. These work conditions could reduce competitiveness as the employees’ morale decreases and they are burnt out from working too many hours. This could actually trigger the employees to look for another job with better conditions (better salary, fringe benefits, working hours, location and so on). If this happened, some money the company saved by downsizing to make it more competitive with market rivals would then have to be spent on training new employees.
VOCABULARY
21st Century - Years from 2001 to 2009
ex: Better technology will be used in business during the 21st Century.
Market rivals - Competitors, companies competing to be more efficient
ex: What company is our main market rival?
Restructuring - Reorganizing a company to be more efficient
ex: Restructuring mainly benefits employers more than employees.
Downsized - Laid off employees to be more competitive by lowering costs
ex: Asian companies downsized after the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.
Overhead cost - Cost to run a business not related to producing and selling goods or services (eg. Salary, electricity and rental fee)
ex: High overhead costs in Paris forced the company to move to Jakarta.
Vice versa - The reverse, the other way round
ex: The employee really likes his boss and vice versa.
Morale - enthusiasm and loyalty for the job
ex: The morale at the office was bad because of law sales.
Fringe benefits - Employees’ non-cash benefits in addition to salary that is paid by employers (eg. Medical and pension plans, a company car)
ex: I chose to work for his company due to its generous fringe benefits.
EXPRESSIONS
Talking on - Accepting new responsibilities
ex: I will be taking on new projects next month.
Gotten rid of - removed or done away with
ex: Have you gotten rid of the old data yet?
Be sacked - have their job terminated; be fired
ex: He will be sacked for arriving late at work too often.
Burnt out - Tired and needing some time off from work
ex: She is burnt out because her boss always tells her to work overtime.
Trigger - Cause
ex: Rude comments can trigger an argument between colleagues.
DISCUSSION POINTS
1. What work conditions do you consider fair for both the employers and employees?
2. How is loyalty rewarded at various companies you know?
For instance, do the employees receive a special bonus or an extra day off/
3. How can companies stay competitive by decreasing costs, yet still maintain enough employees?
For example, could the executives reduce their entertainment accout or could the company move to a less expensive office location?
4. What have you done to prepare for your future in case your job position is not as solid as it was before?
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