How long is it normal for employee to work for one company?
A very common question among employees is about loyalty to a single employer. The extent to which loyalty to an employer is questioned in the labour market, and the extent to which it benefits the employee, and how difficult it is to find a new role afterwards. Employee loyalty is an important topic for anyone who is planning to change jobs at least once more and wants to make sure that it is a smooth process.
When is loyalty good and when is it too much?
Of course, it is very rare to hear people say that loyalty to an employer is bad. In most cases, it is much worse for candidates who change jobs every year. Such turnover often blacklists candidates, and with good reason. After all, frequent job changes can be the fruit of poor quality work. Even if the quality was good, but the employer itself was not the right fit for the employee, this is also a bad sign. Not being able to choose the right employer is also not a good quality in a candidate. Frequent recruitment practices quickly attract disloyal candidates who apply frequently and for different roles, even though they have just changed jobs.
So, frequent job changes are bad, but it is important to know how often it is normal to change jobs. This is often related to the work culture in a particular country. Recruitment is carried out slightly differently in different countries and what is normal in one country may be completely unacceptable in another. In the case of Lithuania, a period of 3 years or more in a single job is no longer considered critical. Of course, there is the other end of the stick – too long a period in one company. We can start with 12 to 15 years in one company. Both recruiters and employers are really cautious about such candidates.
How do employers view them?
When recruiting, employers may ask a variety of questions. If a candidate has only been with their current employer for a year, then it is expected that they may just as soon start applying for new recruitments when they join a new employer. At the same time, employers who see that a candidate has worked for one company for 15 years start to question his or her flexibility to adapt to a new business and rules. There is only one case in recruitment where working for one company for a long time is seen positively – career progression. If an employee has been with one company for 15 years, but has moved up three or more positions in those years and has completely changed his or her job, then that is a plus.
So it’s important to strike a balance between loyalty and constant development. If an employee starts in a job that goes nowhere and learns nothing a year after starting in a new job, it’s really not worth the effort to work for at least three years to get a better CV entry. By the same token, if you have been with the same company for 15 years and feel that you are constantly improving and moving up the career ladder, you should not change jobs just because of the length of time you have been with one company.
