I REFER to Ms Bertha Henson's article, "Is the 'L' word a dirty word in today's job market?" (The Sunday Times, Nov 11), on loyalty in the job market.

Employee loyalty is traditionally understood to be loyalty to a company. However, a company is a non-living thing, thus, it may be more appropriate to say that one is loyal to one's employer.

Most employees are wise enough not to have 'blind' loyalty - they are loyal to bosses who take care of their interests, such as choice job exposure or postings, or developmental opportunities. Once they perceive that their interests are no longer on their employers' radar screens, they naturally do what it takes to put themselves on someone else's radar screen.

Sometimes, this may mean their leaving the company.

Employees should be grateful to, and remain supportive of and loyal to their (good) bosses though. I believe our core values should not be compromised although society is continuously evolving. However, they must always remember that, unless their bosses own the companies, they themselves are also employees. And in the scheme of things these days, employees must necessarily take charge of their own careers.

Hence, their bosses may also make a move if they do not see developmental opportunities for themselves in their companies.

"Job hopper" is a label traditionally accorded to employees who hop from company to company primarily because of higher pay. This in itself is not a practice to condone, and employees do this at their peril, as their resumes will not be very attractive.

However, if employees move because learning or developmental opportunities are lacking, regardless of the length of service in one company, it is a "good" thing, as the employee is proactively managing his career.

Finally, "talent poaching" is simply an outcome of a healthy job market - something that will happen anywhere in the world. Companies just have to deal with this as best as they can.

Paul Heng
Founder
NeXT Corporate
Coaching Services

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