Sometimes employers take advantage of their top performers. Are you a pawn in the game they play? Find out and learn how to protect your own interests.
If you are good at your job, your company should regularly process your promotions and pay raises, right? Well, not necessarily. Many talented and dedicated professionals get passed by for a promotion or raise. Often driven by intrinsic motivation, they take their job personally and do it as best they can. They are also engaged employees who don’t just hop jobs or change companies easily. They believe in and support their employer’s brand.
Does that sound like you? Then keep reading and see if you are trapped by your employer and hooked to your job with the Loyalty Hook.
What is a Loyalty Hook?
As an experienced HR, I can attest to the fact that most companies try to create a work culture that reduces turnover to help retain employees and keep them motivated. One way to do so is to develop a value-based employer brand that the team members can relate to on a personal level.
There’s nothing wrong with this approach per se, under one condition: the loyalty and dedication of the employees should be reciprocated by the management. In real life, however, that’s not always the case. While companies can proclaim to be “performance-driven”, “green”, or “community-serving” they often handle their employee issues in a manner that directly contradicts their corporate rhetoric.
But employees can easily fall for the big words and get caught with the Loyalty Hook when the management misuses their dedication without fair compensation in the form of regular promotions and pay raises.
Career reality check: how companies take advantage of their top performers
If you are hard-working and loyal to your company yet feel like you got stuck in a rut and reached a career dead-end, check out the following signs to see if you were caught:
- Your workload and complexity of job duties are constantly increasing, but your salary is not.
- Your bosses delay and postpone discussions about a pay raise without providing a clear timeline for the conversation.
- You regularly work overtime without billing your company for the extra (or without taking extra time off if you are exempt) because that’s what most of your colleagues do, too.
- Some new job duties that were delegated to you as temporary are now considered your essential duties, but your salary and job title did not change.
- Your work does not provide much opportunity for new experiences or professional development, and you are only offered re-training on performing the same duties differently.
You may wonder why so many employees accept the above, and then some, without giving the 2-week notice. The catch is that the management tells them how much they are appreciated and contribute to the company’s core values. They even can get regular public recognition and cheer at team meetings – just not anything more tangible, like a new job title or higher pay.
How to jump off the hook
If you drive great results and improve performance but are not given real opportunities to progress, please stop listening to your bosses’ talk and pay close attention to their actions. A loyal employee is working hard for the success of their company. In return, a loyal company cares for its team, develops and promotes talented professionals, and offers fair compensation for their increased competencies. If that does not happen in your company, return your loyalty to its rightful owner: yourself.
If the company does not protect your best interests, stop buying their BS rhetoric and plan your exit strategy. Set a deadline needed to complete your next big project, learn new skills, brush up on your resume, and start looking for another employer that will really appreciate your contribution.