We live in an era that celebrates the job-hopper. LinkedIn feeds overflow with stories of people who doubled their salaries by switching companies every two years. Career coaches preach about the dangers of staying too long in one place. The message is clear: if you’re not constantly moving, you’re falling behind.
But what if we’ve got it backwards?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, especially since my father just celebrated his 30th anniversary at the same company. When I mentioned this at a dinner party recently, the reactions were fascinating. Some people looked at me with pity, as if I’d just told them he was serving a prison sentence. Others immediately asked, “Isn’t he bored?”
Here’s what struck me: nobody asked if he was happy. Nobody wondered what he might have gained from those three decades of deep experience. We’ve become so fixated on the idea that staying equals stagnating that we’ve forgotten to ask what grows when you plant roots.
Recent psychological research suggests that people who stay in the same job for 20+ years aren’t stuck at all. They’re developing something remarkable that the rest of us might be missing in our rush to update our resumes.
1) They develop true mastery, not just competence
Remember when Malcolm Gladwell popularized the 10,000-hour rule? Well, imagine what happens when you hit 40,000 hours in the same field. Long-term employees don’t just know their jobs; they understand the intricate ecosystem of their entire industry.
My father once told me about a problem at his company that stumped everyone, including expensive consultants. The solution came from a woman who’d been there 25 years. She remembered a similar issue from the early 2000s and knew exactly which obscure vendor component was failing. That kind of institutional knowledge doesn’t fit on a resume, but it’s invaluable.
Psychologists call this “crystallized intelligence” – the deep, contextual knowledge that only comes from sustained experience.
We live in an era that celebrates the job-hopper. LinkedIn feeds overflow with stories of people who doubled their salaries by switching companies every two years. Career coaches preach about the dangers of staying too long in one place. The message is clear: if you’re not constantly moving, you’re falling behind.
But what if we’ve got it backwards?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, especially since my father just celebrated his 30th anniversary at the same company. When I mentioned this at a dinner party recently, the reactions were fascinating. Some people looked at me with pity, as if I’d just told them he was serving a prison sentence. Others immediately asked, “Isn’t he bored?”
Here’s what struck me: nobody asked if he was happy. Nobody wondered what he might have gained from those three decades of deep experience. We’ve become so fixated on the idea that staying equals stagnating that we’ve forgotten to ask what grows when you plant roots.
Recent psychological research suggests that people who stay in the same job for 20+ years aren’t stuck at all. They’re developing something remarkable that the rest of us might be missing in our rush to update our resumes.
1) They develop true mastery, not just competence
Remember when Malcolm Gladwell popularized the 10,000-hour rule? Well, imagine what happens when you hit 40,000 hours in the same field. Long-term employees don’t just know their jobs; they understand the intricate ecosystem of their entire industry.
My father once told me about a problem at his company that stumped everyone, including expensive consultants. The solution came from a woman who’d been there 25 years. She remembered a similar issue from the early 2000s and knew exactly which obscure vendor component was failing. That kind of institutional knowledge doesn’t fit on a resume, but it’s invaluable.
Psychologists call this “crystallized intelligence” – the deep, contextual knowledge that only comes from sustained experience.
While job-hoppers might gain breadth, long-termers achieve something different: they become the person everyone turns to when things get complicated. They’re not just doing a job; they’re holding institutional memory.
2) They build relationships that transcend transactions
Have you ever noticed how differently people interact when they know they’ll be working together for years versus months? Long-term employees develop what researchers call “high-trust networks” within their organizations.
These aren’t just professional contacts you message on LinkedIn when you need something. These are people who’ve seen you through product launches, layoffs, reorganizations, and holiday parties spanning decades. They know not just what you do, but how you think, what motivates you, and what you’re capable of when pushed.
A colleague once shared something that stuck with me: after 15 years at her company, she could get things done with a single phone call that would take a newcomer weeks of meetings to accomplish. That’s not about playing politics; it’s about the compound interest of trust.
3) They develop emotional resilience through multiple business cycles
Job-hoppers often leave when things get tough. But what happens when you can’t leave, or choose not to? You develop something psychologists call “adaptive capacity” – the ability to navigate change while maintaining your core stability.