[reasonablemann]

It's extremely important that you learn as early as possible in your career that your employer is not your friend. You are only a cog in the wheel to them. All the way up to the top you are replaceable.

Once you make this shift in thinking, it opens the doors to you increasing your status in the company, doing more interesting work and making way more money.

Stop doing any favours to your employer and start putting yourself first. The result is mutually beneficial in the long run.

[thisisweirdok]

I think this stance tends to be too harsh. The company isn't your friend, but people can be. I've done personal favors for employers that have helped my career in major ways.

[hobs]

People can also be polite and professional up until they completely stab you in the back.

The company is just made up of people, and so while some of those people can be your friends, oftentimes others have completely selfish aims.

From a position of power you can give and take, but many people pull the bullshit "We are a family" bit to eke out that extra work for no extra pay.

[thisisweirdok]

That's why I called it a favor. You only get so many favors before you've burned through trust. Then you're cut off.

An employer who burns through trust with their employee is going to perpetually have staffing issues.

[johnminter]

You are correct - the company is not your friend. Senior management has a responsibility to look out for the shareholders' interests. They are also human and look out for their own interests. That said, treating people the way you want to be treated has a positive effect on your little corner of the company.

My management treated me well when it was in their power to do so. I survived for 36 years in a company that had multiple downsizings, sometimes 2 a year in the last 15 years. Our workgroup supported each other the best we could. We still get together for lunch periodically. Ross Perot's "great sucking sound of jobs leaving the country" occured on my watch. We just had to deal with it the best we could.

I was much happier and productive when I realized that it was best to be thankful for the good parts of my work and that sometimes you go through situations that suck. That's life...

[lunchables]

>It's extremely important that you learn as early as possible in your career that your employer is not your friend. You are only a cog in the wheel to them. All the way up to the top you are replaceable.

This is not universally true. I genuinely care about the people that work for me.

[curuinor]

People are great: organizations are less so. Your HR buddy can cry while they kick you off campus, they're still kicking you off campus. Unless they're the board and CEO, it doesn't really matter that the people around you care for you and you care for them. You can see them at the bar afterwards, I suppose.

[dsfyu404ed]

People have sway within organizations. Many decisions are at the discretion of one of many people. Having people on your side is important.

Working hard might not make you look good to "the company" but it can make you look good to your supervisor(s) which (except in the event of things like mass-layoffs) has a huge impact on how the company treats you.

[lunchables]

I insulate employees from that, 99.9% of the time. I decide where I need to make reductions, which happens. It doesn't really matter that I'm not the company, for all intents and purposes, that does not matter to the employee. That the CEO might not care about them (although, he does) does not matter in practice.

[woodrowbarlow]

the employer is the company, not a person. even if you're a founder or CEO, you are not your company.

[hnuser355]

Luckily enough I read plenty of leftist authors as a teen so I had this understanding from day 1

[vorpalhex]

Another way I've heard this phrased is that office politics and such are like a game: You will get screwed over by your "friends", it's not personal, and your job is to optimize for your desired outcome.