Mitch,

No amount of anxiety can change the fact that the workplace of our fathers no longer exists. It is gone, sadly. Corporate earnings reports have become the barometer of a company's health and performance, stockholder returns are more important than employee loyalty.

I'm not sure which happened first, employees jumping ship taking whatever offer for a few $$ more per year or companies sticking it to their loyal employees to save a buck on paper, but the dismal situation exists all over the place now. Investing in people is a risky and expensive proposition, golden handcuffs like stock options or long-term benefits were a stop-gap measure to retain key employees but eventually they failed to keep up with lucrative offers from the competition.

Those loyal employees who pass up the lure of such offers are offered little in the way of compensation for years of service. Sure, stick around and get seniority and training available but when the Board is going to use the quarterly earnings report to decide who stays and who gets a pink slip it is an ulcer-producing situation. Aquisitions and Mergers are blood-lettings for loyal employees as Corporations decide that there is money to be saved by laying off duplicate services or positions.

A good friend of mine just got laid-off after 25 years with one firm. We spent a few hours last Saturday night discussing this very topic over a few cold ones, the end result is that nobody is safe, there is no more quid-pro-quo when it comes to loyalty/service/profits. My advice: Keep your eye on the big picture and look out for yourself as I'm pretty sure that the "firm" isn't looking out for your best interests anymore.

Just my $.02