[tl;dr]
During the previous decade and especially the last 5-8 years I would say, an employee may owe loyalty to one or multiple person at a company, but not for a company. Even if the company do very generous things like give you extra helping hand for relocation or give your permission for extra leave because personal but non-professional reasons still the employee should have zero loyalty because for a company all such beneficial things are just simple tools what is available and very rarely costs money - or amount of money what counts/visible.
This is especially true against startups. I was consultant for startups in London, UK and Berlin, DE, and seen they throw thousands if not ten-thousands of euros into one person or one issue. But then in the very first moment they throw away an employee because they are like wrenches or cogs/gears, nothing else. Just tool. Just an object. The person behind it does not count. The skill set and the in-that-seconds-value what counts. At the end of the day any employee will be not much, just some number in a spreadsheet.
So personally believe, loyalty is a feeling and in business better to close off them to avoid any kind of distortion, if possible.
I remember few investors from UK and Germany, who talked about "there is no rule" and "there is no emotion" should be involve into business by any means. [/tl;dr]
My thought in short: none, nothing.
[tl;dr]
During the previous decade and especially the last 5-8 years I would say, an employee may owe loyalty to one or multiple person at a company, but not for a company. Even if the company do very generous things like give you extra helping hand for relocation or give your permission for extra leave because personal but non-professional reasons still the employee should have zero loyalty because for a company all such beneficial things are just simple tools what is available and very rarely costs money - or amount of money what counts/visible.
This is especially true against startups. I was consultant for startups in London, UK and Berlin, DE, and seen they throw thousands if not ten-thousands of euros into one person or one issue. But then in the very first moment they throw away an employee because they are like wrenches or cogs/gears, nothing else. Just tool. Just an object. The person behind it does not count. The skill set and the in-that-seconds-value what counts. At the end of the day any employee will be not much, just some number in a spreadsheet.
So personally believe, loyalty is a feeling and in business better to close off them to avoid any kind of distortion, if possible.
I remember few investors from UK and Germany, who talked about "there is no rule" and "there is no emotion" should be involve into business by any means.
[/tl;dr]
This seems to be a common opinion, thank you for sharing your insight and experience.