Is Loyalty Rewarded? Study Shows Devoted Workers End Up Working Extra For Long Unpaid Hours

You might think that being a hard worker is one of the most important things you can do to be successful in your career.?However, in line with the findings of one study, if you are a dedicated employee, you may be more likely to be given more duties and required to do unpaid work.

Recent studies show that loyalty to an employer may be a double-edged sword since managers tend to give more attention to loyal employees than coworkers who aren't as committed.

The group conducted several online studies with Duke University as the principal investigator. Around 1,400 managers took part in these experiments.

The participants were given a story to read about a fictitious worker named John, who was 29 years old, and the managers found out that John's company was functioning with a limited budget.

They needed to find a way to cut expenses, so they had to determine whether or not they were prepared to ask John to work more hours and take on additional tasks without paying him extra compensation.

The researchers found that regardless of how they framed the case, labelling John as "loyal" increased his willingness to engage in unpaid work.?

This was in contrast to other versions of John, who were more "honest," "fair," or "disloyal."

The results, published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, also found the reverse true.

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When John was presented to managers as having a reputation for being willing to put in more hours and effort, they evaluated him as more loyal than they would have if they had represented him as having a reputation for being unwilling to put in the same amount of time and effort.

'Loyal workers tend to get picked out for exploitation. And then when they do something exploitative, they get a boost in their reputation as a loyal worker, making them more likely to get picked out in the future.'

Scientists think managers look for loyal workers because dedication means making personal sacrifices for the company.

Lead researcher Matthew Stanley said: “It's a vicious cycle.”

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They cautioned that company loyalty doesn't mean we can overlook work commitments or avert unpaid overtime.

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They claimed this is an awful side-effect of a mostly favourable attribute.

'I don't want to suggest that the takeaway of the paper is not to be loyal to anybody because it just leads to disaster,' Mr Stanley added.

'We value loyal people. We think about them in favourable terms, and they get rewarded often.

'It's not just the negative side. It's tricky and complex.'

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