Managers Exploit Loyal Workers Over Less Committed Colleagues

[Windwaver]

https://today.duke.edu/2023/03/managers-exploit-loyal-workers-over-less-committed-colleagues

A loyal worker gets more extra work than the fair, honest, or disloyal

DURHAM, N.C. – Company loyalty is a double-edged sword, according to a new study. Managers target loyal workers over less committed colleagues when doling out unpaid work and additional job tasks.

“Companies want loyal workers, and there is a ton of research showing that loyal workers provide all sorts of positive benefits to companies,” said Matthew Stanley, Ph.D., the lead researcher on the new paper and postdoctoral researcher at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. “But it seems like managers are apt to target them for exploitative practices.”

That’s the main conclusion from a series of experiments conducted by Stanley and his colleagues Chris Neck, Ph.D. and Chris Neck, father-and-son researchers at Arizona State University and West Virginia University, respectively.

The findings appeared online January 6 in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

For the study, Stanley recruited nearly 1,400 managers online to read about a fictional 29-year-old employee named John. The mangers all learned that John’s company was on a tight budget, and to keep costs down, had to decide how willing they would be to task John with extra hours and responsibilities without any extra pay. (Participants handing out the unpaid work in Stanley’s study were compensated $12 an hour.)

No matter how Stanley and his colleagues framed the scenario, branding John as loyal always resulted in managers being more willing to ask him to shoulder the unpaid labor.

Managers were more willing to exploit Loyal John over Disloyal John. And when a separate group of managers read a letter of recommendation about John, the letters praising John as loyal led to an increased willingness to recruit him for unpaid work over versions of John extolled for honesty or fairness.

The reverse was true, too: when John was portrayed as having a reputation to accept extra hours and workload, managers rated him as more loyal than a John who had a reputation to decline the same workload. Agreeable John and Refusal John were rated as similarly honest and fair however, demonstrating that loyalty but not closely related moral traits is bolstered by a history of doing free labor. “It’s a vicious cycle,” Stanley said. “Loyal workers tend to get picked out for exploitation. And then when they do something that's exploitative, they end up getting a boost in their reputation as a loyal worker, making them more likely to get picked out in the future.”

One reason managers preyed on loyal workers over others is their belief that it’s just the price to pay for being loyal. Stanley and his team found that managers targeted loyal workers because they believe that loyalty comes with a duty to make personal sacrifices for their company.

It’s not all malicious, though. Exploitation may be in part just due to ignorance, or what psychologists call “ethical blindness.”

“Most people want to be good,” Stanley said. “Yet, they transgress with surprising frequency in their everyday lives. A lot of it is due to ethical blindness, where people don’t see how what they're doing is inconsistent with whatever principles or values they tend to profess.”

The study doesn’t provide a quick fix to eradicate employers’ exploitative practices, but one partial cure might be simply having managers recognize the error of their ways and point out these ethical blind spots, Stanley said.

While company loyalty seems to come with consequence, Stanley cautions that it doesn’t mean we should just abandon work commitments or dodge uncompensated overtime. This is just an unfortunate side effect of a mostly positive trait, which Stanley recently found also happens with other aspirational traits, like generosity.

“I don't want to suggest that the take-away of the paper is to not be loyal to anybody because it just leads to disaster,” Stanley said. “We value people who are loyal. We think about them in positive terms. They get awarded often. It's not just the negative side. It's really tricky and complex.”

[Ct3833]

this is not new and it is not the worst, there are large corps who exploit their dedicated workers who are at their 40s and 50s, difficult for them to make career switch any more, give them low or no increment, no promo for years etc, sounds familiar to anyone ?

[Ct3833]

 

Employee quits their job with epic resignation letter and it's a mood...

 "I regret to inform you I will be departing from my role as (Job Title) at (Company's Name) in two weeks." It further adds, "While I've generally tolerated my tenure at (Company Name) for 10 years. I will be leaving in order to pursue happiness.😄😄😄

https://scoop.upworthy.com/employees-resignation-letter-to-the-company

Edited March 21, 2023 by Ct3833

[Arogab]

This is stupid, in my context, I always have a yearly review of key players in the team and give them extra salary raise. I will always reward people who are loyal and dedicated than what being described.

[Ct3833]

  On 3/21/2023 at 6:22 AM, Arogab said:

This is stupid, in my context, I always have a yearly review of key players in the team and give them extra salary raise. I will always reward people who are loyal and dedicated than what being described.

Expand  

that is when you have control over your spending which is good, in the tyepical large  US co, all the budget are set by HQ, local has zero delegation at all. 

Edited March 21, 2023 by Ct3833

[Arogab]

  On 3/21/2023 at 6:40 AM, Ct3833 said:

that is when you have control over your spending which is good, in the tyepical large  US co, all the budget are set by HQ, local has zero delegation at all. 

Expand  

If my boss question me, I will always justify and communicate both ways and make sure we are a team. What I mean is do not exploit loyal people as exploitation never last

[Spidey10]

  On 3/21/2023 at 6:43 AM, Arogab said:

If my boss question me, I will always justify and communicate both ways and make sure we are a team. What I mean is do not exploit loyal people as exploitation never last

Expand  

if a Co dun know how to value loyal pple, then they dun deserve the services of these pple.....is a matter of time pple will move on...

[inlinesix]

  On 3/21/2023 at 6:40 AM, Ct3833 said:

that is when you have control over your spending which is good, in the tyepical large  US co, all the budget are set by HQ, local has zero delegation at all. 

Expand  

Budget is a ballpark number.  It is how you split the number.

 

[Tkseah]

Think it is easier to justify for 10% higher pay to bring in a new fella.. than to justify for 10% increment for all existing team members... 😒

[Jamesc]

That's why I never do any work.

Why be the sucker in life?

To those that do work more will be given.

To those that never do work whatever work they need to do will be taken away and given to those that do all the work.

[Arogab]

  On 3/21/2023 at 6:59 AM, Spidey10 said:

if a Co dun know how to value loyal pple, then they dun deserve the services of these pple.....is a matter of time pple will move on...

Expand  

It is very true, the last 2 I have been with. One has never value me by exploitation. The other one valued me but gives me the most difficult assignments and finally the VP cheats on me. So I hope this one really value me. Although I always say big boss ask me to go bua gu yew, but deep inside me, I have to admit he sees things that I have never consider and it really up my level each time I kena bua 😂 

[Arogab]

  On 3/21/2023 at 7:09 AM, Tkseah said:

Think it is easier to justify for 10% higher pay to bring in a new fella.. than to justify for 10% increment for all existing team members... 😒

Expand  

To justify 10%, you must also justify with growth and responsibilities

[Arogab]

  On 3/21/2023 at 7:19 AM, Jamesc said:

That's why I never do any work.

Why be the sucker in life?

To those that do work more will be given.

To those that never do work whatever work they need to do will be taken away and given to those that do all the work.

Expand  

If you don't work for your MIL, she will value you more. No worries😂

[Jman888]

make sure you have a skill that let you 吊起来卖, no need to be loyal

 

[Ct3833]

  On 3/21/2023 at 6:43 AM, Arogab said:

If my boss question me, I will always justify and communicate both ways and make sure we are a team. What I mean is do not exploit loyal people as exploitation never last

Expand  

You are in a good company.

[Arogab]

  On 3/21/2023 at 7:33 AM, Ct3833 said:

You are in a good company.

Expand  

I hope what you are saying to me will realize in the next 2 years yah. I also pray for you. Haha

[Jamesc]

Customer satisfaction is very important.

You can make your customers song song you will always have work.

Edited March 21, 2023 by Jamesc

[Jamesc]

Smart workers know loyal workers are always exploited.

Why let the stupid workers know now?

They will just compete with us lazy workers to do less!