The cruel ‘loyalty tax’ blindsiding workers who stayed at their jobs for years

New survey data reveals why 5 or more years of company seniority leaves workers uniquely unprepared—and under-networked—for sudden head-count cuts.

[Illustration: Getty Images]

The days of cradle-to-grave jobs are as long gone as fully employer-funded pensions, medical insurance, and annual company picnics for staff and their families. But while most employees have accepted a hefty dose of employment precarity as a fact of today’s labor market, new data shows many longer-tenured workers are blindsided—and suffer debilitating setbacks—in getting layoff notices they thought their seniority had made impossible.

That continued belief in the traditional unwritten employment rule of “first in, last........

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