Career Confidence

7Want Loyalty? Get a Dog.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the prevailing theme in employment was something called “lifelong employment.”

Nearly every dad I knew had a job at a company where he worked from the time he graduated from high school, got out of the military, or graduated from college. It was not an oddity for someone to work at one company their entire life.

Let that sink in. One company, for 40 or 50 years.

Retirement, pensions, annual wage increases, vacation time, annual family picnics, a week or two off between Christmas and New Year's was the norm.

My dad worked at a Volkswagen factory, and they changed the equipment for their annual new car models starting the week after Thanksgiving. So, he was off for 6 weeks at the end of the year. Every year. I thought everyone got this six-week break.

Companies invested heavily in their employees. From training to development to matching 401(k) contributions, health insurance benefits (including dental), and in turn, people committed to their companies for the long haul.

There was a sense of pride in working for a company, and in return, the company supported you during personal and professional challenges.

I remember my dad always wearing his Volkswagen hat or sweatshirt, or my friends' dads who worked for Westinghouse, Kennametal, or the Elliot Company were always in their hats or T-shirts too. And based on the stories I heard, work was fun. They liked their peers, were always joking around, playing gags on each other, and ...