Recently, I wrote about the positives of changing companies, but I also believe there are positives about staying at the same company.
There are a number of common reasons people stay at the same company:
- Loyalty. You’ve invested in the customers, company, and teammates.
- Challenged. You continue to be challenged with your work opportunities – in a good way 🙂
- Benefits. You have attained certain levels of benefits (increased vacation days, salary, etc)
- Reputation. You’ve built (through hard work) a strong reputation and trust within the company.
- Location. There may not be many alternative options in the area you reside. You may not be open to travel or working remotely.
Regardless of the reasons, there are amazing opportunities in staying at the same company for an extended period of time:
- Expanding your abilities. If you have a strong reputation, chances are you will be given more opportunities within brand new areas needed for the company. As a go-to rockstar in the company, you often will get first dibs on upcoming projects.
- Relationships. Colleagues that become teammates that become mentors, coaches, partners, friends, etc create an environment that is extremely supportive. These relationships will often outlast a project – even sometimes the company. They will help you grow. They will help center you.
- Increasing your willingness to take risks. Hopefully, you’ve seen success and failures that have led to enormous learnings worthy of the effort. Given your history, that fear of being fired often lessens, which increases your willingness to take risks to deliver something truly innovative, etc.
- Learning the long game impacts. The most successful change agents create change that lasts after an extended period of time. Remaining at the same company, allows you visibility into what happens after a year or two from a particular change.
- Leveraging the history. Ignoring the past is harmful. We need people that understand what and why something exists today in order to best help things evolve.
No matter what the reason for staying, your biggest concern will be to not make the job feel like a job. Try to remember these positives and let go of whatever the reason you had to stay was.
What are other benefits to staying at the same company?
