An article in IT World about Five ways to make your company Gen Y friendly struck a bit of a chord with me this morning. This point especially:

Narrow the rungs of the corporate ladder. Millennials are willing to work hard, but when it comes to moving up the ranks, they want to do so quickly. According to the study, 51% of Millennials surveyed believe professionals entering the workforce should have to spend only one to two years proving themselves in entry-level positions. That means you aren’t likely to attract or keep talented Gen Y employees by requiring them to spend years “paying their dues.”

First, I was glad to see that most Gen Y employees still believe in spending one or two years working at entry level. While I’m sure there are some that would be content staying at that level longer, I find that there’s a large group who also feel like they shouldn’t have to work entry-level at all. This is a ridiculously dangerous attitude.

Second, I think IT World makes a good point about “climbing the ladder.” I’d add that I don’t think it’s so much about the speed at which one climbs the ladder, but rather that opportunity is given equally, and that any decisions made are based on performance and not how long someone has been with the company.

When someone gets a bonus or a promotion for being with a company for five or ten years, they often call it a “loyalty” thing. But I don’t really agree. I think it’s only a longevity thing. There’s nothing truly loyal about staying in the same place for a long time. And, in fact, true loyalty — the kind that actually can impact a company’s bottom line — doesn’t have a lot to do with accumulated time.

True loyalty is sticking with a project even when things get bad. It’s going the extra mile to fix a mistake that could make the company look bad. It’s using so-called “personal time” to learn, create and promote — to better yourself in ways that better the organization.

Ultimately, it’s the small acts wherein you put your employer before yourself that make one loyal.

Employers: reward that. And if that happens to line up with someone who has been with your company for five, ten or twenty years, even better. But be careful about simply rewarding longevity — there’s nothing really difficult or impressive about sticking with a mid-level position, working in auto-pilot, for decades. And if Gen Y sees that that’s all you really value, you’re not giving them much of an incentive to show you any real loyalty.