Hi Meera,
Employee Loyalty (as a concept) expired roughly 10-12 years ago.
It arose because Employers decided to offer something called "job for life" or "job security" in return for the employee working faithfully (can be read as continuously). Because jobs were difficult to come by (due to various reasons like education, connections, etc) the employee would do whatever was asked to hold on to the job. Of course, no one spoke about this aspect of the job. So we had an entire social structure where seniority (length of service) was respected.
And it was understood that one could be promoted for spending X number of years in the organization because employers followed this policy. You could say that it was a supplier's market, so entry/exit in the organization was controlled by the employer.
With the opening of the economy over the last 12 yrs, the job market has opened up. Today, knowledge is prized, along with the ability to learn quickly - leading to large scale hiring of youth / fresh graduates. Poaching (read as head hunting) started in a huge way (and shows no signs of reducing) when certain skills / work experience became prized.
Employees realized that they need not wait 25 years for a GM position. And, employers wanting to maintain a competitive edge in the market realized that there was a WAR for TALENT. Hence the line "get the right person for the right job" was born.
So there was now a huge number of jobs in the market, and comparatively fewer "right" people to choose from. When the talent war came in, employee loyalty went out of the window.
Today, you will hear of some employers who claim to provide Skills for Life instead of Jobs for Life. They have realized that they can no longer hope to keep people in their organizations for their entire lifespan.
Hope this was helpful.
Ryan