Employee loyalty not always rewarded.

• Position: Business Trends - Brief Article

An increase in the number of employees staying with their first and only employer undoubtedly has been vital in helping companies recover following the recession. However, a recent survey shows that in a slow economy, not even loyalty to a single employer will help protect one from downsizing. Job loss among managers and executives who worked for just one company during their careers nearly doubled over the last three quarters to its highest level since 2000, raising the question, "Does it pay to be loyal?"

"Unfortunately, our latest numbers show that increased loyalty on the part of employees toward their employer is not always reciprocated," points out John Challenger, chief executive officer of the international outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., Chicago, Ill. "It is not that these one-company employees are more vulnerable to job cutting, it is simply that there are more of them in the workplace, so they are more likely to be affected by no-fault downsizing.

"Some would argue that employees'...