After a while, you stop counting how many colleagues have left. You’ve been through five team restructures, four line managers, and at least a dozen goodbye cakes. You remember when the organization felt smaller, when decision-making was local, and when conversations were easier to finish. You’re still here, but almost everything else has changed.

While most conversations about work focus on leaving—how to exit well, when to make a move—far less attention is given to those who stay. Yet staying for the long term, especially in high-turnover environments, has real psychological effects. Some of them are subtle. Others are cumulative. And very few are acknowledged.

Most companies publicly appreciate long service. There may be a badge, a mention in the newsletter, or a nod at the annual meeting. But day-to-day, long-term employees often find themselves fading into the background. Newcomers are welcomed with enthusiasm. Leavers are celebrated. Those who stay? They’re expected to get on with it.

Over time, this lack of recognition can make people feel overlooked, even devalued. It becomes easy to internalize the idea that loyalty is assumed, not appreciated. Psychologist Donald Winnicott once described the “false self,” a protective version of the self we present to cope with external expectations. Many........

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