Kelly,
I, personally, work in an "at will" state, meaning you work at a company as long as it is the mutual will of you and the employer...You can leave when you want (for no reason), but unfortunately, you can be terminated for no reason, as well.
As long as there is equilibrium in the job market, this means people work pretty hard at their jobs and employers work pretty hard at keeping their employees.
Now, to your question specifically.
Kelly said:
Is it ethical to terminate a well-performing associate based on his lack of loyalty to the company?
First, in this day and age, in the U.S. at least, virtually no one works for the same company their entire lives. Companies generally want to retain good employees for as long as they can keep them. But also, companies recognise that they keep their employees via a variety of "hooks" such as good pay, good benefits, good working environments, et cetera. But frankly, companies do not expect employees to stay simply for the sake of "loyalty". Although loyalty is certainly commendable, most companies consider an employee who would stay for the sake of "loyalty" only, to be a "sad sap", especially since companies faced with financial expediencies generally have no "loyalty" qualms about letting employees go during belt tightening phases.
Therefore, if you live in a state where a "case" needs to be built before firing an employee, even in such states with legal protections on either side, you would be hard pressed to prove that "circulating a resume" is proof of disloyalty, unless it is occurring on company time.
If I am a manager wanting to keep an otherwise talented and hard-working employee who is circulating her/his resume, then I would sit down with her/him and say, "<Name>, I believe you are a hard-working, talented employee here at <company_name> who contributes in valuable and important ways. We want to provide a working environment for you that would cause you to want to stay with us. I'm aware that you are circulating your resume. So, before you choose to leave us, I would like to know what things, within reason, we can do to encourage you to stay."
Listen intently to their concerns and suggestions, and you may discover interesting feedback. If their suggestions are managable within your budget/influence, and you are willing to implement the suggestions, then you can ask, "If we implement your suggestions of A, B, and C, by doing D, E, and F, then can we depend upon your staying?"
Even then, if s/he aggrees to stay, they are not your indentured servant, and failing a contract containing a end-of-contract date, you cannot compel an employee to stay.
Let us know how things turn out.
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Mufasa
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