Imagine this: You’ve spent years giving your all to a company. Late nights. Not being “fully” there for your family due to your mind being on business matters. Stress you carried home because you believed in the mission. You treated the company like family, thinking they’d do the same for you.
But when profits dipped or times got tough, did they stick by you? Did they value your loyalty?
I gave 14 years to an architectural/engineering firm and LOVED my work family and my boss and the work I did. I TRULY thought I would retire from there. They were a company of about 700 or so employees with over 50 years of history. But during an economic downturn, they MERGED with a larger corporation. While the original story was “business as usual”, then we heard we will “adopt” a new name, keeping our original and adding on the new company’s kind off like a “last name”. As things evolved, then our original name was dropped in it’s entirety. During the process, those who were deemed as “overhead” were quickly sought out to “cut” from company payroll. While my position was 50% billable hours, my colleague and I soon found ourselves on the chopping block. This was my first experience with corporate cuts.
The second time was going to work for another engineering firm and from the first week of working, I realized I’d essentially “boarded the Titanic”… that company has made a grave error in a project before I came on board, and it was evident that they weren’t able to recovery their losses and this ship was going down! They also MERGED with another company and cut 10% off their workforce leaving almost all off their marketing and administrative staff behind. This was my second experience with corporate cuts.
I did some freelance work for a while and then found another company that I became employed with full time. It was a company that emitted “fun” and innovation and growing by leaps and bounds. I enjoyed the work and was even promoted and began loving my job even more. Once again, I thought I’d found a company that I might be able to retire from. Then in October of 2023, I was given some bad news out of the blue. “We’ve got to cut 6 people and you’re one of them.” The need to save on payroll required that myself and two others from the sales team, along with3 other people from the marketing side to be cut. This was my third experience with corporate cuts.
The past year has been a journey in recovering from yet another “corporate cut”. In the past year, I’ve been working through the grief of job loss and trying to find my way in an ever growing bad economy with growing inflation. You may have read my other posts: Unwanted and Betrayal and Trust, where it’s been nothing short of “therapy” as I work through all the emotions.
I took on another job with a sales team and have been enjoying it for the past 6 months, but now I’ve had yet another experience of “corporate cuts” and it wasn’t me this time, but a person who had given 27 years of her life to the company and it’s got me thinking, WHAT HAPPENED to the value of LOYALTY?
Too often, we see it: decades of dedication reduced to a cold, “We’re restructuring,” or, “It’s just business.”
No handshake. No “thank you for everything.” Just a box for your desk and a generic severance package—if that. Last year, I felt like I was thrown out in the cold as all the co-workers I considered “extended family” never even reached out! In fact, I almost wondered if they were told NOT to reach out to me, or if there was some lie that had been told about my character. All those who said we were friends, who chatted with me often… didn’t call, didn’t text, didn’t reach out. It’s like I was “erased”.
I’ve realized here’s the harsh truth: corporations will always protect their bottom line before they protect you. Loyalty is expected, but rarely returned.
This isn’t about bitterness; it’s about awareness.
If you’re pouring your heart and soul into something, I hope it’s reciprocal. Build your skills. Build your network. Build yourself. Because at the end of the day, your loyalty to YOU is what matters most.
I always try to give 110% in whatever I’m doing, but I realize with this last experience, yes, give it what you’ve got, but save some for myself, to continue to build ME. Nothing is EVER guaranteed and loyalty apparently means nothing over the bottom line to a larger corporation and in some cases like last fall, even smaller businesses.
I continue to hope that the economy turns around, that things will shift for the better… but for those who’ve felt the grief of job loss after having given SO MUCH… I feel for you! Been there and done that. And with the exception of the company I dealt with last fall, know that while the corporation itself just saw you as a number to cut, that those who worked closest with you, who got the opportunity to know you… we feel the pain, we feel the hole you left behind and we will miss you… and it’s reminded each of us that we are expendable no matter what… we are still just a number within the bottom line.
Oh, and the ONLY true loyalty one might ever find… is that of a dog!
