Does loyalty exist anymore?
Pete: [00:00:00] Good morning, Nat.
Nat: What's happening, Pete?
Pete: Woo, I'm pumped up today.
Nat: What's going on?
Pete: Oh, I'm pumped up. I get to go to a historic field NFL game this weekend. I'm going to Lambeau Field in Wisconsin.
Nat: Really? How pull,
Pete: so my friends have a box there, so we're gonna go to a game and you know, I went to school in Wisconsin, but I've never been to Lambeau Field.
I've never been to a Packer's game. So I'm super pumped up about going, you know what, and I think I'm gonna get, I'm gonna get one of those cheese heads, you know those blocks of cheese that you could put on your head? I'm gonna get one of those. Why not? I'm gonna get crazy and wild. I wanna be a cheesehead for the day.
Nat: Yeah, that would be epic.
Pete: So when you see me on TV and they go, who is that weird guy, you know, and they pan to the crowd, that, that's me with the cheese head, so. Yeah, that'll keep you warm too. Yeah, I'm also pumped up today. We're going to talk a little bit and [00:01:00] we get this all the time is that, you know, we're seeing less and less loyalty in the corporate world.
Corporations. They just they're treating their executives like commodities. And so I thought maybe we do is let's have what we do this. Why don't we come up with the 10 top reasons why corporations aren't loyal to executives anymore?
It sounds kind of depressing, but I'm up for it.
All right. Fair enough.
All right. What's the, what would be kind of one of the things was we talk about corporations not being loyal. I know definitely
like globalization and outsourcing has got to be up there. You know, that's been a huge trend over the last 20 years
or so. Yeah, absolutely. They're moving a lot of that work other places, right?
They just don't, they don't need these executives. What would be another one?
I feel like a lot of times companies, you know, as soon as like private equity gets involved or whatever, they start to get [00:02:00] bigger. They're just pretty focused on profits. shareholder value and they're like squeezing, you know, they're squeezing the nickels out of
everything.
Isn't that the truth, right? And it's the, the problem is, is that you need those executives. But if in fact, you're only focusing on the bottom line, delivering a value to the shareholders, there's a little bit of conflict there. Right. And, and so it's a fine line, I think, but certainly they, they needed a better job of focusing on, you know, the executives they have.
Cause that's going to drive the business. What would, what would be a third one?
Economic pressures, you know, kind of tying into the. The previous topic, you know, the obviously they have to balance their budget and, you know, they might have to lay off people or cut, cut cost or whatever they need to do.
It's just you know, it's just math for
them. We're seeing that today, right. Is that you're, they're just a number. This is a certain amount of salary associated. This person is not even a burden. It's a role we're spending this much [00:03:00] money and we're seeing a lot of that this year. Right. People are kind of cutting back and I think we'll continue to see that more economic pressure and.
That's not good for for that loyalty for sure won't be another one. I think the uberization of the economy like a lot of people are just kind of wanted to work when they want to work where they want to work. You know, kind of working as contractors essentially.
Yeah, I think that's right. I mean, it's just easier now where we can, we'll call it that gig economy where they're just looking for kind of that short term contract employee.
Like we read all the time where they lay somebody off and then they, they hire them back just on a contract basis because they don't have all that. That expense that all that liability or commitment to the person. So that's kind of the new world, unfortunately. And it doesn't promote. I mean, I was raised where you go to college and you spend your whole career at the company.
And those days are long gone, right? Average job. Somebody's on for four years and they're now transitioning them just to contract work or [00:04:00] consulting or kind of that side gig. Yeah,
Nat: they can't. transition them to that, then like probably another, another reason would be automation and technology. They literally, you know, are using robots or kiosks to replace employees.
Pete: You know, next thing you know, I ChatGDP will basically replace you and I doing the podcast. That would be hilarious. I'd like to, I'd like to see that. I don't know what, I don't know what it would do with me. It'd be kind of scary. So, all right. What else? What would be another reason why there's just less loyalty by companies for corporate?
Nat: I think huge focus on mergers and acquisitions. And, you know, they're just, again, kind of bottom line spread, you know, we're focused on the spreadsheet. Profitability you know, so they don't have as much loyalty to the existing, you know, employees that are being paid
Pete: a lot. Well, in the merger and acquisitions, we see a lot of redundancy.
Right. Redundancy. And so also now we've got two VPs of marketing. We don't need two [00:05:00] VPs as we, as we merge with another company or acquire another company. So it's an easing savings by, you know, eliminating one of them for sure. And I mean, that's why we work with so many executives to own their own business, to own their own franchise, right?
It's, it's about, yeah, I want to get out of all this crazy non loyalty world, and I don't want to be part of the next merger acquisition where I'm. Thrown out, right? So I want to own my own business. So that's a, that's a real significant one. Certainly won't be another one.
Nat: I mean, again, this continual cost cutting measures, like whatever they're doing, freezing wages you know, not, not spending as much on employee benefits.
I think that that just kind of impacts employee morale, makes it less, less of a
Pete: fun place to work. Yeah, right. And as they basically cap what they can pay people in, you, you may have to get rid of a couple people so that you can give some people some raises, right? So you kind of redistribute that money that you save by eliminating a few positions [00:06:00] to at least try to hold some of your executives, right?
It would just increase costs, right? So they're, they're trying to reduce those. What about you know, we, we talked a little bit earlier about this idea of a gig economy and kind of this contract work. I mean, that, that is, that is still kind of one of the top ones out there of why corporations, they, they can get away with just putting you on a contract opposed to hiring you.
Nat: Yeah. Yeah. Some short term contracts. Yeah. That, that's, that's gonna make you feel so super secure, right? Yeah.
Pete: Yeah, absolutely. And what about, what would be some other, other reasons why corps aren't, corporations aren't, aren't loyal? I think they've had this big epiphany that, you know, people don't have to come to the office, so, you know, they can be more mobile, work from home which also, I think, broadens the pool of employees for, for companies, you know, so just changing workforce dynamics, [00:07:00] I, I think.
Yeah, I guess when you, you don't have all those people in the office and it is more virtual, you just maybe don't need as many executives. I think they probably learned that in the pandemic, right? The layers of management were kind of eliminated.
Nat: So where they say nothing is for sure, except for change.
Pete: Yeah, that's true, especially this year. Absolutely. Yeah, times are changing. So, you know, at the end of the day, we work with executives all the time that are looking to protect their future. Create career and income security, diversify their assets and income through franchise ownership. And so a lot of the executives I work with want to keep their corporate job just in case something happens.
They invest in a franchise on the side. So they want to own their own business and, and that's a really good plan in this world where there's just no more loyalty anymore.
Nat: And it's also, I think kind of fun and stimulating to do something new too, because it's also easy to kind of get into a rut. And then you're like, why should I be so loyal to this company when really you don't know [00:08:00] what the future holds, you know, even, even if it, you know, theoretically is great, you're still.
At the end of the day, the numbers are the numbers, right?
Pete: Well, and if companies aren't going to be loyal to you, why, you as a a employee, an executive, why would you be loyal to the company, right? Move your family across the country or work that hundred hours a week when you just know there's no loyalty, right?
They can, they can at any point in time just say we're, we're parting our ways and it's, that's not good. All right, Nat, I got to go get my cheese hat ready. So I'm going to go get my cheese hat. So. Have an awesome day, but I, I gotta, I gotta go shopping to get my cheese head. All right.
Nat: Enjoy. That's gonna be awesome.
Pete: Yeah. Thanks so much.