​ Should you be loyal to the company or yourself | 忠誠的對象，是公司還是自己 -- 辦公室隨筆 (一)

Yesterday, one of our colleague got sacked. We kind of expected this to happen but we were still shocked when it came. There were signs about his termination about 3 months back and it was obvious that it was inevitable. It was just when that would happen we were guessing. I was expecting a much earlier timeframe, that's why I didn't expect to see him again after my US trip. To my surprise, he was still here when I came back. But the time eventually came within 2 weeks.

昨天一位同事被公司辭退了。雖然大家都早已預期有此一日，但是大伙兒仍然有點錯愕，包括當事人在內。其實早在三個月前已經有先兆公司想辭退那位同事，而且多個事件都令人確信事情已到了沒法改變的地步。大家都在估計公司會在什麼時間行動，我自己甚至認為我從美國回來後就再見不到那位同事了。出乎意料之外，我回來後還見到他如常上班，想不法兩個星期後公司就手起刀落，以部門重組的理由把他「炒魷魚」！

He was still new to the company, a little bit more than 1 year. Position was not high. Not very smart but good enough for the job. He got sacked not due to his capability but was a result of poor execution of company strategy. His team could not support 2 headcounts, obviously he would be chosen by his boss. Luckily his didn't seem to have any financial or family burden. If I were in similar scenario , I would be in a much worst situation.

這位同事年資淺，只有一年多。職位不高，能力雖然不是超卓，但仍是游刃有餘。被辭退基本上不是能力或態度問題，而是公司本身在新策略的執行上有所不足，所以他的二人部門沒有足夠能力養活兩個人。作為下級的他當然被犧牲了。幸好這位同事並不缺錢，亦無負擔，沒有工作亦不是問題。如果換了是我，恐怕不能這麼瀟灑。

This made me reminded me about the question : "Should one be loyal to his company no matter what?" My colleague got terminated not because of his own issue. He was let go because of company's own issue. He was still new, he didn't experienced much with the company, but if someone else who had been contributing to the company for long time, let's say 20 years, were in the same situation, I believe the company would make same decision. Meaning that, loyalty of employee doesn't necessarily get repaid in a fair manner.

就因為這件事令我想起對公司忠誠的問題。像這一位同事，被辭退並不因個人的原因，而是公司的問題。公司為了解決問題而要放棄他。當然他年資尚淺，並沒有為公司貢獻太多。但是即使將他換了作一位為公司工作，貢獻，甚至犧牲了二十年的員工，估計下場亦是一樣。換言之，員工對公司的忠誠並不會換來相同的對待。

From my previous experiences, unless you're in decision makers' circle, you're not going to escape the fate of getting sacked during hard time, no matter how experienced you are, how much contributions and sacrifices you made, how much you're making, you name it. The bigger the company is, the easier for the company to dump their employees for its own interests.

根據我在職場多年的觀察，只要你不是在決策層，那麼不管你在公司的職位高低，年資深淺，工資多少，曾經為公司犧牲多少，都不會影響你在類似事件中被放棄的機會。公司規模越大，管理層越加需要向投資者負責，亦更容易放棄員工以換取公司的利益。

It won't take you long to realize that nobody is irreplaceable in the company. It is just a matter of how much it costs to replace him/her. If the replacement is justified, anybody could be replaced. Employees' own issues, burdens are never part of company's considerations. Therefore, I am more towards the idea about putting my own interests at a higher priority over company's. If there is any promising opportunities, I am willing to accept the change, of course with integrity.

多年工作經驗讓我明白到這個世界是沒有不可被取代的人。商業社會談的只是錢。能不能取代一個人主要決策點在於其成本。當這成本低過換人之後的收益，那一個人就會被換。公司並不會將員工有沒有負擔，有多麼需要那工作列入考慮因素。所以我個人是比較傾向於對自己負責多於對公司絕對忠誠。即是說如果有更好的機會放在前面，我是願意放棄現有的工作而轉去其他公司和崗位。當然一切都要有誠信地進行。

Unconditional love only exist within your family. Everything between company and employees should be a fair exchange. It is not worthwhile to cost you your own (or even your family's) interests for the company's own good. If you're lucky enough to work for a good company, working there long term seems very reasonable. That's why I know many people who work for companies more than 30 or even 40 years.

世間上只有家人對你的愛是豪不講求條件的。員工和公司之間的愛應該是對等互換的。正如上面所說的，對一般的公司，大家沒有必要犧牲自己(及家人)的利益。但是如果你真的遇到一間好的公司，假如你認為公司對你不薄，那麼長期為其工作亦是理所當然。不然就不會有那些為公司工作了三十年，四十年，或者更長時間的人。這些不是傳說，我亦認識不少這些人。

No matter what, being jumpy in your own career won't do you any good. No HR department would like a resume with jobs lasting only several months. It's normal to work for one or two companies that suck and you run away from them quick. However, people will think you're not capable if you exhibit that same pattern every time. I can't tell you which company is the right one to invest your time. I will, however, check for one fair indicator : if there are good amount of employees in that company stayed more than 20 or more years, there must be something within the company that keep them stay. That's something you might want to invest your time on.

最後我要提醒大家，特別是初出茅廬的朋友，轉工過於頻繁對你的職業生涯絕不是好事。任何一間公司的人力資料部都不會喜歡見到求職者每份工作都只有數個月長的。人生中一兩次遇人不淑很平常，但每一次都是這樣，人家絕對有權將之解讀為當事人判斷力不足，沒有能力解決問題，意志力薄弱，等等。至於那家公司是值得你投資你的生命時間，那家是早走早著，大概只有當事人的你最清楚。不過有一點是可以作為參考的，就是公司中有多少那些已經為她工作了很長時間的人，例如廿年，三十年。如果這類人不是絕無僅有的存在，那麼這家公司相信有一些優點值得你去發掘及體驗一下。

Wish you all the best in your career!

祝大家職場順利！一帆風順！

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