A look at the downside to employee loyalty

While unpaid overtime and skipped breaks might be seen as morally acceptable or acts of dedication to a company, they can also lead to wage exploitation, says a W. P. Carey management expert.

In this article published Feb. 28, 2026, on AZ Big Media:

We tend to think of loyalty as an unqualified good, something that makes workplaces stronger and more humane. What we found is that when people strongly value loyalty to a company, they are more willing to see unpaid work as acceptable or at least not that bad. In other words, loyalty can quietly flip the script. Instead of seeing unpaid overtime or skipped breaks as the company taking advantage of workers, people start seeing it as employees stepping up for the greater good. The same behavior that would feel wrong in a neutral setting suddenly feels justified when it is framed as helping the team or supporting the organization.

— Christopher Neck, professor of management and entrepreneurship