Do You Owe Your Company Loyalty?

Heck no, says Tiffany of Magic Pot of Jobs.

This might sound sort of bitter and cynical, but think about it: A company exists to provide a product or service, and to make money while doing so.  A company has employees only because employees are needed to accomplish those twin goals.  The company does not exist to feed your family or to help you achieve your personal and professional goals. Those are YOUR goals, not your company’s.

As a result, your relationship to your company (note I did not say “your boss” or “your team,” which is a separate issue) is a business transaction designed to maximize benefit to each party.  The company purchases your work in order to meet its own goals, and you sell your work to it in order to meet your own goals.  It is a business transaction, like any other.

Companies abandoned loyalty to their employees long before the favor was returned, and while Tiffany doesn't blame the companies for cutting costs, she also doesn't give them any pity for employees ditching for better opportunities.

She's correct, at least in this country, because companies exist only for the stated purpose of shareholder value.  This brand of capitalism is the American version, but it's not the only one.  In Japan, a company is not designed merely for profit, but to bring value to all of its stakeholders, the employees, the vendors, the shareholders, and the banks that hold the notes.

That has its own share of problems, but one thing we should be aware of is the claim that shareholder value is not just about stock price.  We choose to make it that way, and with that choice, we abandon loyalty.