A Lifetime at Work

We have a board at work that we use to display employees' work anniversaries. It's right as you come in to the door of our building so I look at it every day. Sometimes, I think to myself, "how did that person stick around here so long?" I know, not so rah rah team of me.

Once in a while, I see a notable (to me) anniversary. There are some people who have been there for a decade and doing pretty much the same job as when they started. I couldn't be that person. There are others that have been there for a short time but made a big impact and have moved up the corporate ladder.

Then, there are the long timers.

This week, the display showed 27 years for one woman. 27 years! It's not her first job by far but certainly the one with the longest tenure.

My first thought at seeing that number was, "That's an entire lifetime!" Then, I started wondering how many of our employees haven't even been alive that long. Since we have a lot of warehouse and call center jobs where people generally get their start in the workforce, it's quite a few.

Another thought was that I am old. (I think that a lot these days.) If I'd stayed at my first job out of college, I'd be coming up on 25 years. As it is, I'll be hitting 13 years in this job come September. Clearly, I'm not a job hopper.

What keeps people in the same place that long? Is it a hold over from the days when you were expected to have lifetime employment? Is it inertia or risk aversion? Is it that they change positions or technology changes their jobs so the job doesn't get stale? Is it just good fortune that they didn't get hit in the economic downturn?

Maybe it's truly a love for what they do. If so, those people are very, very fortunate.