The contemporary phenomenon of downsizing is especially difficult on aged workers because it is often the oldest employees who are targeted for downsizing because they make more money than their younger counterparts and they can be lured into early retirement. As one human resource expert states “Sometime in the past you probably had to let employees go in a downsizing move. If cost-cutting was a big consideration, the odds are good that you terminated some older workers” (Kennedy 1). Because of downsizing, traditional work-related factors such as loyalty have been on the wane in corporate America. Since the end of the 1980s, more than 4 million jobs have been eliminated in industry, from high-tech to insurance (McGarvey 1). In a past era, employee loyalty and corporate loyalty were highly valued by both employees and firms. However, the phenomenon of downsizing has created a new environment wherein many argue concepts of loyalty are no more “Downsizing changed all the old rules. It fundamentally altered the employer-employee relationship. Employers once preached job security. The message of downsizing was that corporate loyalty to employees is dead. Therefore, employee loyalty is also dead” (McGarvey 1).
If we examine Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, we can readily observe that the situation of the protagonist, Willy Loman, is very similar to employees who feel their company offers no job security. Willy has worked as a traveling salesman for years for the same firm. New management now runs the sales company and Willy finds that his age and his levels of productivity are such that he is no longer considered valued by the firm. Despite years of promises made and Willy’s belief in corporate loyalty, the new management is not concerned with these kinds of concepts. In one of the most dramatic scenes in the play, Willy becomes involve in an argument with the new manager, the son of his former manager. In ...