Being loyal to your company may not pay off during COVID-19-linked job cuts

What hurt 39-year-old Oindrila Guha the most, more than being laid off, was how she, the senior-most in the team, was treated by the company. Being an employee of the supply chain division at this conglomerate, Guha had worked with the group for 16 years.

“I had helped the company steer through many crisis situations in the past. So, I expected that my loyalty would pay off. Sadly, that was not the case. The company is even giving vague explanations for why I was chosen for being laid off. I am not even being given any pay package as a separation benefit which employees are typically entitled to in this company,” she added.

Amidst the series of job cuts during the coronavirus outbreak, employees across firms who had presumed that their loyalty to the organisation would pay off, have been disheartened.

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Staff spending more than 10 years in companies are being laid-off without warning with immediate effect and no separate severance is being offered. The old human resource (HR) practice of rewarding older employees with better incentives and safety during layoffs seems to have gone down the drain.

While one may argue that older employees are higher paid and hence would be a financial burden during the pandemic, this is not true across companies. Individuals are paid as per their skill set and relevant work experience and not merely based on their seniority in the company.

Several accounts of individuals are coming out of individuals serving 10 plus years in companies being fired without any notice. Often mocked as ‘furniture’, these employees often help companies tide over major crisis situations and can also turn out to be brand ambassadors for the firms.

Shashank Agarwal (name changed on request) who worked as a senior engineer at a global oil major recounts an incident 11 years ago when he worked for two days straight with barely any resources when an offshore unit caught fire.

“Even though it was a risky operation, me and a team of three others worked overtime to ensure that the resources are not impacted. Now I was laid-off in June over a text message. I have not even been given any severance package and been terminated with immediate effect. I gave 20 years to the company for this?” asks Agarwal.

HR managers often caution employees from being too attached to the organisation, for then they would be unable to spot the signs of the company not caring for them. Especially during the pandemic, HR experts state that older employees who have received subtle signs of a layoff should be open to accepting offers from other firms.

These subtle signs would include senior management constantly talking of a gloomy future, indicating job cuts or frequent top management emails about cost cutting. Being ‘loyal’ and rejecting job offers may only cause distress.

Late former Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam had said, “Love your job but don’t love your company because you may not know when your company stops loving you.” This seems most relevant for employees across companies in India.

Kavita Bhaduria recollects how she had voluntarily cut short her maternity leave by one month in 2010 because her employer, a hospitality firm, had received a new contract which was the biggest ever since then and had to be completed within a tight deadline.

“I have been working with the brand for 12 years. And I wasn’t even informed properly despite me always going out of the way to serve the company. In fact, I had rejected an offer from a larger entity in January because I didn’t want to ‘betray’ my company. I had even discussed this with my reporting manager. Now in May, I was laid-off even while many others who are not even contributing to the team have been retained. This is unfair,” she added.

One thing is clear. Nothing seems to be termed ‘unfair practice’ by corporate HR teams. It is not one’s loyalty to the company that matters. It is a cost-saving exercise and even veterans aren’t being spared.

As part of basic code of conduct, what companies can at least do is set some benchmarks to communicate with employees with 10 plus years of work experience in the firm. This would ensure that the employee doesn't exit on a bitter note and burn all the years of trust built during the employment tenure.