I've never been anywhere more than seven years. I reckon ten is very unusual nowadays. 

A m8 of mine from Uni trained at one firm and has been there ever since.  She qualified in 1999 FFS. How is this possible?

Do they at least allow sabbaticals?  I'm going to have to start hinting about wanting some extra time off around my tenth anniversary.

I've been at my current place for 10+ years and definitely experiencing a "familiarity breeds contempt" situation that causes me to be rather cynical about most things. Obviously not a healthy attitude which is why I don't think I can stay long. Someone with more career ambition would have forced himself or herself to drink the Kool Aid.

I have been at my humble country lawyers since 2007.  Have full control over work, I know everyone in the village and everyone knows me and I earn 2 x as much as I would in Edinburgh.

True it is same same on work and there's precisely zero support if you are absent but another 10-12 years will do me.

Also no one touches my crayons for conveyancing so thats good.

Not at a firm, but I've been in-house at the company I work for for 18 years.  I'm basically a lifer now.

We just had a leaving party for someone who had worked here for 42 years!  I took along and read out the CPS sentencing guidelines for whole life tarrifs to explain what she'd have to do to get locked up for that long.

Been here 12 years and will stay. Square peg in a square hole.

Heh at Face. 

I've been at my current place about 11 years and whilst I get fed up with doing the same thing over and over and sometimes think about a change of scene, the people I work with are nice and it is 10 mins from home and my kids' school which makes a big difference to quality of life. 

You reach an age where a good pension provision is a depressingly effective tie.

Over 15 years for me now. Really ought to get out but too much of a wimp to do it. Had the chance a few months back and bottled it. 

I really like the firm and my colleagues but need a bit more than that to really get motivated at times.  I've had a few calls from chinnies and to be fair those generally remind me that I've actually got a pretty good gig but that also doesn't stop me getting restless.

Suspect the decision may be made for me in the next few years as once I'm down to one aged parent I suspect I'll need to move to work closer to home so I'm not away part of every week.

Same as You Face. In-house and have been here over 16 years now. However, I'm currently in my 4th job since 2018 so not boring at all. I have asked for my first sabbatical ever and that will probably happen next spring/summer.  

Another in-houser. HR have just sent me a letter to give to one of my team recognising their long service and giving them a cash award and some extra holiday this year. It only feels like yesterday I recruited them to replace someone else I recruited.

To answer the question my role has evolved, my employer has evolved and the issues we face keep changing.

My employer has a fair amount of lifers which I suppose I am now. It also has its fair share of those who left and then returned. I think that speaks to it being a decent place to work. I hope that continues as it continues to evolve. 

- can you negotiate a sabbatical or extended leave?

- what would you like to do (practice related) and can it not be done at your current firm?  

In general if you have a comfortable berth it's worth thinking hard before rocking the boat - moving in the current climate might not be plain sailing, and you don't want to end up walking the plank... 

Christ 

Same here, Tricky, I’ve had 7 different jobs now in three different areas so decent variety.  Same job now for 5 years but have steadily got more senior and more people.  Would still rather join the circus than go back to a law firm.

Yup, 7 jobs in total, covering lots of different areas of law. 2 Countries. Small team, no team, big team, no budget, big budget. Seen a lot. Currently in HR (different area than you Face, no more exec rem for me thankfully, at least not for now). Lots of lifers, pretty much what Coracle said in terms of evolving so yeah, prolly gonna be a lifer too.

I've been at mine for 6 years. Better the devil you know for me in terms of work life balance and having established a reputation as being decent enough that I can take the piss a bit here and there. 

I could move for a bump in salary but I don't think it's worth it in terms of having to put the initial grind in at a new firm to establish myself. 

Trainee to Senior Partner, and retirement at 65+ not unusual in the provinces.

Jumping ship also not attractive given that if I get offed I can pay off my mortgage and never have to work in this kind of job again given severance and long-term incentive awards, versus resigning and walking away from that.  I choose the comedy oversided cheque, please.

I've never done longer than 7 or 8 years anywhere.  But as things stand I would quite like to see out my career at my current place.  We will see.

Appreciate this doesn’t answer the OP’s question- but I’ve never been anywhere longer than four years. I’m in year one of my current job and already thinking about a move, but will probably hold out until another year at least.

I know the sensible part of me says that this is definitely not a time to move and the ennui will pass in due course.  Will though definitely start investigating the possibility of even a little sabbatical so that I can have say a month off in one go.

My view is that you stay if you keep developing / learning / being given opportunities for furtherance - with the caveat that those opportunities have to be appealing

having navigated the jobs market recently I feel like I’d like to stay put as long as the job stays interesting and the opportunities promised actually happen

met someone recently who was my supervisor when i was a trainee.  He's been at the same place for 27 years.  I work on a 7 year cycle too.  Am feeling the pull again, as it's been 8...

A friend I shared an office with early in my career is still at the same firm 19 years after I left there and there are a few other people I know of who've been there all that time.

Maybe less common now but in the past it was common for people work at the same hospital for 30 years or more. Appointed a Consultant in their 30s and there until they finished up in their 60s. Same for some nursing staff and I saw on the newsletter about a cleaner who was retiring after 40 years or something silly. 

retiring from a 40+ year workplace must be surreal - perhaps like a bereavement or like the final act of Shawshank.