Loyalty and Its Role in the Employee and Employer Relationship
Loyalty and its Role in the Employee and Employer Relationship
For many businesses, employee loyalty is a prerequisite for any job seeker in the marketplace, especially now that the economy is still recovering from a major recession. Employers are picking from a large base of potential employees, and selecting the right one isn’t all about skills and experience; should a company suspect that an employee is a potential liability with respect to loyalty, the large population of available replacements serves as an effective deterrent and potential solution. Still, regardless of economic health, there are many who say that employee loyalty is impossible or inadvisable. These objections to loyalty - a concept that, ostensibly, seems like an auspicious virtue – range from a business’ inability to reciprocate loyalty, to challenges to the very idea that employee loyalty is even possible. Duska’s article: “Whistle-Blowing and Employee Loyalty” is a good summation of the breadth of objections to employee loyalty. But for many reasons, these objections are misguided and off base, and in fact, employee loyalty is a good thing for both employer and employee. In his article, Duska bases his entire argument on the idea that since the relationship between an employee and his employer is one-sided, meaning that an employer expects the employee to sacrifice some of his own beliefs and practices in favor of that of the company, loyalty toward that company cannot be justified. Loyalty, by its nature, cannot be directed at a company, as a company is incapable of returning this loyalty. He makes the point that a company will not hesitate to fire its employee should the employee not conform himself to the duties expected of him. He describes loyalty as an inherently two-way relationship, and if a company cannot reciprocate loyalty to its employees, then they have no reason or obligation whatsoever to be loyal to the company. He argues next that unreciprocated loyalty to a
For many businesses, employee loyalty is a prerequisite for any job seeker in the marketplace, especially now that the economy is still recovering from a major recession. Employers are picking from a large base of potential employees, and selecting the right one isn’t all about skills and experience; should a company suspect that an employee is a potential liability with respect to loyalty, the large population of available replacements serves as an effective deterrent and potential solution. Still, regardless of economic health, there are many who say that employee loyalty is impossible or inadvisable. These objections to loyalty - a concept that, ostensibly, seems like an auspicious virtue – range from a business’ inability to reciprocate loyalty, to challenges to the very idea that employee loyalty is even possible. Duska’s article: “Whistle-Blowing and Employee Loyalty” is a good summation of the breadth of objections to employee loyalty. But for many reasons, these objections are misguided and off base, and in fact, employee loyalty is a good thing for both employer and employee. In his article, Duska bases his entire argument on the idea that since the relationship between an employee and his employer is one-sided, meaning that an employer expects the employee to sacrifice some of his own beliefs and practices in favor of that of the company, loyalty toward that company cannot be justified. Loyalty, by its nature, cannot be directed at a company, as a company is incapable of returning this loyalty. He makes the point that a company will not hesitate to fire its employee should the employee not conform himself to the duties expected of him. He describes loyalty as an inherently two-way relationship, and if a company cannot reciprocate loyalty to its employees, then they have no reason or obligation whatsoever to be loyal to the company. He argues next that unreciprocated loyalty to a
Cited: Duska, Ronald. "Wisle-Blowing and Employee Loyalty." Johnson, Deborah G. Ethical Issues in Engineering. Upper Saddle River: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1991. 241-247. Larmer, Robert A. "Wistleblowing and Employee Loyalty." Journal of Business Ethics Volume 11.2 (1992): 125-128. Stieb, James A. "Clearing Up the Egoist Difficulty With Loyalty." Journal of Business Ethics (2006): 75-87. Varelius, Jukka. "Is Wistleblowing Compatible with Employee Loyalty?" Journal of Business Ethics 85 (2009): 263-275. Bok, Sissela. "Whistleblowing and Professional Responsibility." T.L. Beauchamp, N.E. Bowie. Ethical Theory and Business. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1983. 261-269.