In a day and age where only 34 percent of employees in the U.S. feel actively engaged or connected to their workplace, it is safe to say that employee loyalty is becoming a widespread concern for most corporations. With more and more businesses popping up in various sectors, it is quite tricky for any business owner to retain their employees – especially ones who tend to be the stars of their department. This can be judged by how employee turnover reached its 10-year high in 2018.
Loyalty Cannot Be Bought But Can Be Cultivated
When you look at this problem carefully, finding out that employee loyalty cannot be bought with increased compensation only makes the issue more challenging to deal with. While it’s true that 78 percent of U.S. employees live paycheck to paycheck, it cannot be ignored that money is not the only deciding factor that lets an employee stick with your organization. You need to offer more to your employees to earn their loyalty. The effort needs to be evident within your company culture than representing it through a few digits on your employees’ paycheck. That is why learning how to improve employee loyalty remains a pressing challenge for many businesses.
With that being said, employee loyalty isn’t just the panacea to everything related to employee turnover. It is also effective in improving your company’s image by letting you hire the right people through employee referrals. You also realize an increase in your company’s overall growth through the hardworking workforce. That’s why putting your time towards understanding what is employee loyalty and how it works is essential for your business’ success.
But even with various advice posts, workshops, and seminars, it can be quite tricky to understand how to improve employee loyalty and sustain it at a larger level in your business. Keeping this in mind, we are here to explain everything you need to know about the concept of employee loyalty. You can not only understand what the aspect asks from you, but also know how to fulfill its requirements easily.
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Understanding the Concept of Employee Loyalty
First thing first, it is essential to understand the larger concept of what is employee loyalty before you embark on a journey to instill that trait into your employees. Simply put, employee loyalty refers to the positive emotion that an employee feels towards their workplace. Employees who are loyal to their firm feel a sense of responsibility to it. They do anything they can in their power to contribute to the growth of the business. With it, the connection that they feel with the business also keeps them from leaving it in favor of another opportunity offering almost similar perks.
Due to these qualities, learning how to improve employee loyalty is a highly valuable skill for employers in all sectors. It is a no brainer. After all, who wouldn’t want dedicated employees and also those who go above and beyond to help achieve the business’ targets on an everyday basis?
Now that you have a definition of what is employee loyalty, you might be thinking about what makes an employee loyal to your business. Is it the amount of time they have spent with you? Perhaps it’s the paycheck they pick up every month? Maybe it’s the environment that your workplace offers to them? Or is it the company objectives that keep them tethered to you? Long story short, it is all of those aspects, and then some more thrown into the mix.
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How to Improve Employee Loyalty?
Learning how to improve employee loyalty is a complex process. From compensation to perks, and from company culture to meaningful work, everything contributes towards making an employee more loyal to your business. That is why establishing a business with employee loyalty being front and center is not about focusing on this trait itself. It is a question about improving the business’ operations from the ground up, and holistically building its functions that all work towards enhancing the loyalty of your employees.
No matter which sector of business you operate in, it is essential to keep the above point in mind and start by showing your loyalty towards employees. This way, you can follow this main idea with a few practices that will provide you with the results you are looking for in your employee behavior. To summarize, it is not just about understanding what employee loyalty is, but about implementing it through various methods.
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1. Improve engagement
If you are looking to learn how to improve employee loyalty, three’s no better place to start than understanding how to enhance employee engagement instead. Engaged employees are more likely to put their best foot forward. They take an active interest in the workplace’s day to day goals, and they exhibit a certain attachment to their work. This approach ultimately leads to cultivating employee loyalty on a long term basis. Employee engagement and loyalty often go hand in hand in explaining what is employee loyalty able to do for a business.
Implementing practices that encourage employees to take a more profound interest in the workplace is perhaps the best way to improve employee engagement. Holding regular meetings, feedback sessions, collaborative activities, and training sessions can all contribute towards employee engagement. Since better employee engagement is an excellent way to demonstrate how to improve employee loyalty, you can reap the benefits in more than one way.
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2. Offer more than just money
As described above, the modern employee wants more than just money out of their job. This is why any business that wants real, self-driven, and logically-cultivated employee loyalty would need to keep this point in mind.
Adding more figures to your employees’ paychecks doesn’t hurt. However, it doesn’t stop them from accepting another company’s offer with a higher amount. But if you tie that compensation with perks that they cannot find in every other workplace, you will be able to show the value of your business and generate real loyalty as a result. This is a very crucial point to understand while learning what employee loyalty is.
Here, you can offer the promise of shared goals by letting your employees perform the kind of work that they want. For instance, if a customer service employee shows interest in advancing in their career within the finance department of your business, do not keep them held back in their job. Give them opportunities to prove their mettle in the line of work they want to advance within. These chances would go a long way into building long term loyalty that reduces employee turnover.
Apart from paving the path to growth, invest in learning programs through targeted training sessions. The learning opportunities that a business offers to their employees work towards enhancing the value of the workplace and what it has to offer apart from paychecks. Developing training programs increases productivity, improves efficiency, and lets your employees know that you are actively investing in developing their skills. This remains an essential part of understanding how to improve employee loyalty.
Be sure to also read “Tools For Tracking Employee Performance at Your Cafe” for a guide on tracking the activity and tasks of your staff at work.
3. Implement social responsibility programs
You could also go down the route of contributing to issues that your employees hold dear to your heart. This is especially effective if your business works with younger team members, who are prone to prioritize purposeful work over hefty paychecks.
Learn about what kind of causes and charities are supported by a majority of your employees and make it a point to contribute to them through social, financial, and emotional support programs according to the best use of your organization’s resources.
While this might seem like a small step that might not do much for your business, giving back is a very beneficial strategy for your overall organization. It would contribute to your business image and let you establish your stature in your sector. Most of all, it would give your employees a sense of satisfaction for being associated with a company that gives back to causes that matter to them.
Learning how to improve employee loyalty through this aspect might seem challenging at first. But it is quite easy when you listen to your employees and know what they want out of a workplace that they see as a long term employer in the future. By understanding these nuances of employee loyalty, you cannot only boost your knowledge among your peers but also let it work towards improving your business’ operations and your employees’ lives.
Thank you for reading! Let us know in the comments below your techniques for retaining your employees at your shop or business. Check out “How to Schedule Employees at a Restaurant or Cafe” or “What Is Reprimanding & Does It Actually Work?” for more guides to managing your employees.
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