Loyalty at Work: Working Americans More Likely to Feel Less -- Not More -- Loyal Towards Their Employers

A new Angus Reid Group/Bloomberg Business News Poll points to declining loyalty in America's workplaces. More working Americans report weakening than strengthening loyalty to their employers, and fully one-half believe that their own employers are less committed to keeping their employees employed.

These findings emerged from an Angus Reid Group/Bloomberg Business News Poll conducted among a representative cross-section of 1517 American adults between August 22nd and September 5th, 1996. The survey respondents who indicated they are presently employed outside of the home -- 70 percent of the total survey sample, a base of 1056 respondents -- comprise the sub-sample of working Americans on which these results are based.

Working Americans' Loyalty to Their Employers

Three in ten (29%) employed Americans surveyed said they feel "less loyal" to their present employer than they felt a few years ago (18% a lot less, 11% a little less). This compares to 22 percent who stated they feel "more loyal" to their current employer (15% a lot more, 7% a little more). A large plurality -- 45 percent -- indicated no change in their personal loyalty to their employer over the past few years.

Further analysis of these survey results shows some of the biggest differences across generations and income strata. Younger (under 35) working people were roughly evenly split as to whether they feel more or less loyalty than a few years ago; the balance favors declining loyalty among middle-aged working Americans to their employer (33% less loyal versus 18% more loyal), and this margin is wider still among working respondents aged 55 and over (35% to only 4%, although the reader is cautioned that the sub-base for this latter group is fairly small). Across income strata, the survey data show an even split among lower income workers (26% more loyal, 26% less), while higher income workers report declining loyalty to their employers by a two to one margin (34% versus 18%).

Employers' Perceived Commitment to Their Employees

At the same time, working Americans tend to perceive that their employers' commitment to its employees has waned in recent years. Fully one-half (51%) of working U.S. residents surveyed said they believe that, compared to a few years ago, their own employer "values its employees less today and is now more likely to take job-cutting measures to save money". Conversely, fewer than one in five (17%) felt their employer "values its employees more and puts a higher priority on protecting jobs than they used to". Meanwhile, just over one in four (28%) said there has been no change in their employers' commitment.

The view that their employer values its employees less today was voiced by a majority or plurality of working Americans from all major sub-segments of the survey population.

Eileen Wolford, Angus Reid Group Senior Vice-President, offered the following observations on these poll findings: "In other polls we've conducted, we noted that Americans are becoming increasingly frustrated with downsizing, particularly when it occurs at profitable companies, It appears that the price employers may be paying for this is declining employee confidence and diminished loyalty."

This Angus Reid Group/Bloomberg Business News Poll was conducted by telephone between August 22nd and September 5th, 1996 among a representative cross-section of 1517 American adults. The survey sample was regionally stratified, and included a sub-sample of Spanish-speaking Americans. This data was statistically weighted by survey respondents' age and income within geographic region to ensure the sample's characteristics match those of the actual U.S. population according to the 1995 Current Population Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau. With a national sample of 1517, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the results are within 1772.5 percentage points of what they would have been had the entire adult American population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population.

For further information, contact:

Eileen Wolford Senior Vice-President Angus Reid Group (612) 904-6970