The Concept of Paycheck Loyalty

More so than anytime before, I see workers around the world are more committed and loyal to the paycheck than to the "joy of work". 

What do I mean by committed to your pay check. Workers more than before, focus on securing their incomes than on doing what they are most passionate about. Workers visualize their efforts at work directly on doing what is necessary to stay employed. They tow the line and do not speak their minds. Even if they speak they say what their bosses want to hear. They switch allegiances to wherever "wind blows". Their focus is short-term employment. Risks are avoided in the workplace. Compliance is exhibited readily as opposed to expressing opinions creatively and freely. They demonstrate loyalty to their immediate bosses not necessarily with genuine regard but with an eye to secure their paychecks. As someone said to me the other day, "I feel really insecure at work now, I need my paycheck, because I have children to feed, loans to pay. I cannot do or say anything that will jeopardize my income source". This is what I call "pay check" loyalty.

Employees today have to protect their income source. Therefore, we find in the modern work environment a prevailing attitude of "cya". The work environments are intense. There is constant concern with, "when I will be axed". 

In this essay I plan to explore the causes of this observed mind shift and then I would like to offer some concrete mitigation ideas to those who care to listen. 

This comes from my heart, which has been molded by being exposed to work environments across the world as an employee and also as someone who has supervised others and unfortunately had to fire others.

Let me please, at the outset say, that if indeed my hypothesis turns out to be true through some concerted research, then this trend does not bode well for the future of work as it stands today.

But let us now delve into some of the causes of this apparent mind shift.

First, the work climate over the last twenty years has been clouded with rampant lay-offs. We have coined new words to glamorize the act of firing an employee - right-sizing, down-sizing, realignment, restructuring, re-engineering, early retirement, re-deployment, de-layering and on and on. Organizations have and still are disrupting human life at will. This phenomenon covers all sectors of the working world around the globe. Countless people across the globe stand in unemployment lines, collecting bare minimum funds just to survive. I for one as a long term Human Resource person have participated in such devastations in many companies I have worked for.

No wonder the modern day worker is now just committed and loyal to their paychecks. Organizational conditions are characterized by feast or famine within very short time periods. One maybe might be all happy with their company environment today but six months later their job is at risk. Bosses turn over frequently bringing in new styles and their own work acquaintances. I have personally had twenty-eight bosses over a career span of thirty-nine years; that is a "boss ratio" of one boss every seven months. Just contemplate this ratio for a moment and the chaos and havoc it can create to the work environment and the psyche. Remember, every one of them had a different style and a different impression about me and  my work abilities. No wonder why I, and scores of others are just committed to the paycheck, because our paycheck has been our only constant. And as a consequence the modern worker walks on "egg shells". There is no job security. This is the main reason for the current mind shift to paycheck loyalty. The "joy of work" is a vanishing phenomenon. 

In most organizations the link between effort and reward is all blurred. Salary increases (within very limited budgets) are distributed quite subjectively. Bonuses have lost their "lines of sight". Stock options are quite often underwater. The role of unions in protecting "worker rights" has diminished. Executives, mostly in big companies are racking in the big bucks - paying themselves bonuses when the company is in dire conditions. Many an executive has devastated companies and then have walked away with multi-million dollar parachutes - the fat city phenomena prevails. Under these conditions, is it any wonder why the average employee is just loyal and committed to their paychecks? I think a law should be passed if a CEO or CFO lays-off more than ten percent of their workforce in a year, then at the end of that exercise they have to loose their jobs also - here is a wild idea to ponder! The ratio of compensation between the highest paid executive and lowest paid worker is astronomical. There is absolutely no logic in the concept of the worth of a job done - it is not necessarily based on economic worth or contribution to organizational success. In fact, in reality there seems to be an inverse relation. No wonder the average worker's mind shift has gravitated to paycheck loyalty. Can anybody blame the average worker?

Now with the ever-changing landscape lifetime careers are a thing of the past. With ever-changing technology, with global competition, with the speed of everything, and with the advent of two-earner families it is hard to stay in a job. Gone are the days of my father who remained employed at one place for over forty years. In contrast I have had twelve employers. Let me tell I have not been job hopper. I have had to job hopper out of necessity, because some of the companies, although large do not exist anymore. So why would not the average worker be loyal to the paycheck only. That is current reality.

So what does one do to survive? Here are some tips:

1. Develop career self-sufficiency - develop your own long-term career plan and then stick to it like a hawk, never deter from your own goals

2. Engage in life long learning - always be the most knowledgeable. With real genuine knowledge you will become indispensable

3. Invest in yourself - you are your main asset. Do not expect anybody to take care of you. And remember "YOU" are number one!

4. Do not ever miss the "home runs" - the joy of family and the celebration of your personal life, for the sake of work. Just like me do not waste your life away at the work, it will not get you anywhere. Spend time with your loved ones.

5. Do not put into the employment exchange more than you expect to get back. The scale always will be unfavorably balanced against you. Your inputs always will be higher than what you get back. Be loyal to yourself and your loved ones and not to the organization, which has temporarily engaged you. 

6. Do not have a "love affair" with your employing organization. I can think about many other things to be passionate about.

7. And finally, understand your success does not necessarily depend on your intelligence, hard work and work conscientiousness. It also depends on "practical intelligence" and a great deal of luck. If you have not done so, please read Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, "Outliers". He very interestingly describes what is actually behind the success of apparent successful people.

And above all enjoy life. You really do not know what is going to happen to you tomorrow. Who knows what is written in your destiny!