Didn't it used to be tradition to get a gold watch at 25 years?
Personally I had 22 years with the same company, albeit the structure of the company changed somewhat over the latter 3-4 years.
There were times that I wanted to leave for various reasons, but then maybe the fact that I knew my gaffer quite well, and it started as a small, local firm and not a faceless large company had some bearing on why I served my time.
I worked my way up from apprentice electrician, to foreman, supervisor and contracts manager on £40k, pension, healthcare, company car etc. and had a fairly free role for the majority. If I turned up an hour late it went unquestioned and if I needed a random day off, likewise.
Who knows where my career would have ended up had I left at some point, but ultimately i'd have struggled to walk into a similar job with the same level of renumerations.
Towards the end, I could hardly recognise the company I'd spent the majority of my life working for and the stress of the job reached a climax, so I took redundancy a few months before they shut the doors anyway. That decision has so far turned out to be a massive success, but I wouldn't say staying at the same place so long did me any harm - the experience, climb up the ladder and salary exceeded many others I've known, or have indeed seen come and go from that particular company.
