Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on March 15, 2020, 5:11 am

Many men in leadership positions want to see two things from their reports:

1. Their employees recognize their power and authority
2. Their employees are loyal to him

How do they asses it?
With loyalty tets.

Loyalty tests are tasks that require effort, courage, or personal inconvenience, and are not about efficiency.
Sometimes, they can even require the willingness to go through embarrassment -think of initiation jokes or tasks-.

Says career coach Pat Heim:

By nature, loyalty tests must be outlandish—if they made perfect sense, they wouldn’t verify your loyalty.

Some loyalty tests include:

• Taking the blame for the boss
• Firing employees on the boss' behalf
• Staying long hours
• Showing up early

This is what all those people who complain about the nonsense of commuting every day or staying long hours don't understand. They are right when it comes to getting things done: one can be as effective from home, and in less time. But they are failing to assess the political nature of business -or, shall we say, the "human" nature of business-. And Much of corporate behavior is not about being as efficient as possible, it's about showing allegiance to the team and to the boss.

Some loyalty tests can be subtle.
If you’re unaware of their existence and if you’re not actively looking for them, you can miss them.

For example, imagine your boss is complaining that everyone is requesting holidays during Christmas. You think it makes no sense since there has never been anything to do during the holiday.
But if you voice your concern, you are not being the voice of reason, you are taking a stand against your boss, and he will remember.
The reason he is asking is to see who is willing to go the extra mile to prove his loyalty. The person who will step up to the plate will prove his loyalty and win big brownie points. The boss will remember when it's promotion time.

Loyalty tests are mostly part of the male culture, which is why women are more likely to miss them.

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Source:

• Hardball for Women: Winning at the Game of Business