Here are four generations (oldest to youngest) and their differing views of loyalty in the workplace:
Traditionalists |
Loyal to the organization |
Baby boomers |
Loyal to the team |
Generation X |
Loyal to their manager (the manager holds the key to their happy life and they will follow them from job to job) |
Millenials |
Loyal to their colleagues, not the organization or their manager |
The take-away here is, if you have millenials working for you, you need to ensure that people in the work place are treated fairly. If they aren’t, millenials will leave, or worse, quit and stay. Just remember that their primary loyalty is to each other, not to the boss or to the company.