I find this topic interesting is because as a youth it appeared to be the norm for individuals of my grand parents’ era to retire from companies for which they had worked their entire careers. I had even heard my parents discussing ambitions of establishing careers with companies, with the hopes of one day retiring from the same company. At the time, my parents were in their 20s which would mean that they were looking at a 40 years career at a single firm. Being raised in such a culture, I too as a youth had ambitions of finding a company at the start of my career, where I would anchor myself and pay my loyalty until I decided to retire or I was retired.
However, this was the day of my grandparents and the earlier years of my parents’ careers but we are now in the days of the ”warrior employee.” According the Andrew Grinbaum, the days of working for one company and the loyalty that comes with it are long gone. In the days of the “warrior employee” there is no loyalty in companies anymore as individuals seem to be faceless characters or simply employee identification numbers. Companies seem to have gotten increasingly more focused on the bottom line as they chase profit margins and the desire to keep their shareholders happy. These companies will reduce headcounts by laying off employees in an effort to reduce overhead, and in some cases some of the reduced employees may have been productive. Andrew Grinbaum indicated that even in his company he would try to give employees every chance to perform, but if he sees that they are underperforming, he will fire them. Grinbaum further indicates that as a business owner, it is his obligation to make sure that he is running a good business and his clients are happy. With the company owners’ perspective in mind it is easier to understand why individuals in our current environment can be warrior employees.
According to Andrew Grinbaum, the warrior employee is an individual who is professional but does their job with little or no emotion relative to their commitment to live out their career life expectancy with any one company. The warrior employee is someone is always thinking one or two steps ahead of everyone else. The warrior employee starts looking for new opportunities while still gainfully employed as employees are more attractive while still employed. Andrew Grinbaum indicates that there is nothing to lose even if the opportunity you are interviewing for carries the same title as the current role you are in because you can ask for a 10% to 15 % raise in the process.
In a Wall Street Journal article title “Ginni Rometty: Benefits of Staying Put” by Rachel Emma Silverman, she discusses the advantages of staying loyal to one company throughout an individual’s career. Rachel Emma Silverman spotlighted the career of Virginia Rometty, who was named the next Chief Execute of IBM and is the first woman to hold that position in the company’s 100 year history. Silverman also reported the Virginia Rometty had been at IBM for 30 years, which is much longer than many professionals stay at a single company in this era of frequent job-hopping and layoffs. In her article, Silverman asserted with the support of various reports and studies that the benefits of staying within the same company varies based on gender, with job hopping being more beneficial to men. Silverman indicated that a recent study, which was completed by Catalyst – a group which researches women in the workplace – found that women who climb the career ladder within a single company tend to have more career success and earn more money than women who switch employers. The report found the men are rewarded with higher salaries if they move around. Silverman further stated that women who changed jobs two or more times post M.B.A. earned $53,472 less than women who rose through the ranks. However, in contrast, men who switched from their post M.B.A. job earned $13,743 more than those who stayed with their first company. Silverman further indicated that plenty of other women have been able to leverage their successful career successes with higher pay and more responsibility by jumping to new opportunities as well as developing powerful networks outside of their firms.
There will be exceptions to the rule in every situation however, while some individuals may find success in spending their career life time with a single company, many more individuals have found it advantageous in more ways than one to job hop. Not only is there the opportunity of a bigger pay day but individuals can get opportunities for increase responsibility and the chance to build powerful networks.
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