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Ten Signs Your Company Couldn't Care Less About You

This article is more than 6 years old.

Dear Liz,

I just passed my ten-year anniversary with my employer, but I'm becoming very frustrated here.

I have worked for six different managers in ten years, not because I've been promoted but because they keep moving managers around.

I did get promoted once early on in my tenure here, but I haven't even been considered for a higher-level role since then.

I've received excellent performance reviews every year, but I can tell I've been pigeonholed. No one else in the company knows my job, but I still get overlooked and ignored. Months go by and my boss doesn't communicate with me.

Last month we got a memo from HR announcing a long list of changes in our employee benefits plans. All of the changes take away benefits we have had for years.

We are losing vacation time. I should be receiving four weeks of vacation time a year now because I hit my ten-year anniversary, but the new policy caps vacation time at three weeks a year and also prevents employees from carrying over any vacation time from  year to year.

We also lost some of our health benefits, holiday time and even frequent-flyer benefits. We used to accrue our own frequent flyer miles for business travel, but now the company is going to take those miles.

There are no outward signs that the company is in trouble. They might be cutting our benefits just because they can save money doing so, but it's one more sign that I may be wasting my time here.

Is it time to change jobs?

Thanks,

Ronnie

Dear Ronnie,

It is really hard for most people to wrap their minds around the fundamental change that has taken place in the working world. Long-term employment is gone.

Sticking around at a job these days is more likely to hurt you than to help you because your ability to navigate the talent market is your greatest career asset now.

Yes, this is the perfect time for you to job-hunt. If you needed a reason beyond stagnating in your career and going months without any contact with your manager, then the irony of hitting your ten-year anniversary and losing your hard-earned fourth week of vacation time is all the reason you need!

We are all entrepreneurs now, even when we work for someone else. This is the perfect time for you to take control of your career not just a one-time job search.

What does it mean to take control of your career? It means understanding the talent market in your area which companies operate there, and what they do and what kinds of people they employ. It means knowing your value in the talent market, and growing your network so that you can get introductions into the organizations that might need your help.

Above all, taking control of your career means knowing what you bring to employers what kinds of problems you solve.

Once you know how your talents can help employers, you can brand yourselves for the jobs you really want and are most likely to get not all the jobs you could theoretically perform.

There is no better time to start reflecting, branding, networking and growing your career muscles than right now!

Here are ten glaring, obvious signs your employer couldn't care less about you:

1. They announce major, financially impactful (negative) policy change to employees with the unstated message "If you don't like it, too bad go work somewhere else." Would your company ever treat its customers so badly? No way!

2. They leave you in the dark for months or years without guidance, recognition or support.

3. They pay you under the market rate for your services.

4. They move managers in and out of your department without explanation, and don't ask for your opinions on their management moves or even your own career progression.

5. They maintain a fearful, tense, rule-bound workplace where you don't feel comfortable saying what you really feel. You don't need another reason to job-hunt if this is what you're experiencing!

6. Managers don't chat with the employees, smile at them or even make eye contact.

7. Managers talk about "the employees" in your presence like you and your coworkers are heads of cattle.

8. The workplace furnishings and decor are cheap and threadbare. The break room is dirty and you aren't sure the building is up to code. Get out of a workplace like that your safety comes first!

9. When you have an issue or complaint, no one wants to hear it and you may even be shunned for speaking up.

10. Your manager doesn't hesitate to ask you for extra effort and extra hours but doesn't show any appreciation when you give them everything they ask for. Why keep beating your head against the wall?

You deserve more than just a paycheck from your job, Ronnie. You deserve to work with people who celebrate your talents. Get your stealth job search going and soon your unworthy employer will be receding in your rear view mirror.

All the best,

Liz

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