Psychological Contracts

A psychological contract is essentially an unspoken expectation of what the employee will do for a company and what the employer will do for the employee. Every day this is becoming more and more complicated. Because of the fast pace of the modern industries, an employee is expected to contribute more now than in previous times, there is also less job security for those who aren't keeping up with the demands. As a result of lower job security and higher demands on time and more stress on the job, an employer is expected to provide a more comfortable place to work as well as other things in order to keep the employee morale up. If an employee doesn't keep his or her end of the bargain, termination is likely. For an employer, employees will either quit, or possibly worse, just be unhappy and ineffective.

How does a good, hard working employee feel when his or her employer doesn't respect these expectations? What actions can an employer take when employees aren't honoring this psychological contract?

What can we all do to keep up our end of the contract?