I work at a place where seniority reigns supreme. The issue, at least to me, is it fosters a toxic and poor culture. It makes good work irrelevant. I have always tried my hardest to do a good job as I believed that hard work would pay off in the form of promotions, privileges, or advanced responsibilities. Which never happens in a seniority cultured workplace.
I have seen some pretty terrible co-works come in and do just enough to not get fired. Then once they have a high level of seniority apply for what we call “special duty positions” where they receive more opportunities, more privileges, more time off (guaranteed every weekend and holiday), and almost zero supervision. They will hide in this position for years until they retire doing almost nothing. When I asked why one of these “special positions” was able to just not do their job, and then cut out early every day I was told “they're an institution” Nobody cared.
This seniority mentality also effects promotions. I have seen fantastic candidates for supervisory positions get passed over for a more senior employee simply because that employee had been there longer. What message does that send to the motivated employees. “Do the bare minimum and wait it out, because you'll never be looked at for your merit” I mean I understand why administrator's like picking by seniority because they don't have to think or justify their decisions, but why put in effort when it won't matter. Just venting.