I’m glad to be celebrating my five year work anniversary with my current employer. Looking back at our blog I even found a post of me excitedly reporting on landing my dream job. I’ve been very blessed to have done some incredible work throughout the world in the last five years, managing health related international development projects in some of the most vulnerable places on earth. This has included travel to DR Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Somaliland, UK, Germany, Turkey, Philippines, and domestically to Santa Monica and NYC. Plus allowing for side personal trips to Tanzania, Zambia, and Botswana!
I’ve been in Washington, DC for ten years this month and have two employers during that time, each for five years a piece. Starting out in my career my aim was to stick with an employer for 2-3 years, but now my feelings have changed as I’ve progressed in my career to want to stick with employers for longer if the match is good.
Having longevity with an employer has many different benefits.
Promotion Opportunities – Staying with the same employer can lead to promotion opportunities, but you have to work for it from my experience. I have had three changes in positions in the last five years, and had four promotions in five years with my last.
Salary Increases – Moving from one employer to the next can lead to increases as you switch, but staying with an organization or company can help to continue to work for increases. This post gives a good idea of part of my salary history and negotiating for raises.
Benefits – With the right employer the benefits can really make a difference as well, and need to be considered if looking to potentially move employers. My current employer covers my insurance entirely, and I don’t have any premiums to pay (though adding on additional family members gets expensive). My current employer also contributes 11% to retirement with no required matching.
This means that between me maxing out my contributions, and with employer contributions, that I have an additional $150k towards retirement in the last five years, not including ROTH contributions.
Intangibles – There are also many intangibles about sticking with an employer, such as familiarity, colleagues, senority (there are only three people who have been in our DC office longer than me), and other job satisfaction factors. Of course knowing a place well can also bring negatives, but I prefer to look at the value of sticking with an employer.
What are your thoughts on staying with a employer? What benefits do you like most about where you were now?
What is the longest you’ve been with an employer?
Happy Working!
Miel
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