What is the key to a viable corporate structure, enhanced revenue, and a positive brand image? If you said “employees”, you are only half right: loyal employees are the foundation of the company. They support a positive company culture, are efficient in performing tasks, promote a positive brand image, and ensure low turnover—essentially, loyal employees help you make money, save money, and ensure that your business thrives. How can you ensure employee loyalty, regardless of your company’s size?
Get to Know Them
Businesses tend to focus on the recruitment process, and so they invest in creating a positive image of the enterprise for the candidate. However, what happens after the employee joins the team is as vital as that initial courtship. Managers who take the time to get to know their employees have a significant impact on the quality of the corporate culture and the individual employee. How well do you know your employees? How often do you ask them about themselves? Building a relationship with workers extends beyond a comprehension of their abilities and moves into the realm of personality. Getting to know your employee shows that you are invested in them as individuals; this insight can also help you construct useful incentives to drive performance.
Keep It Positive
Not every employee will be a good fit with your company culture, but if you are experiencing high turnover, it might be due to the workplace environment. A key component to employee loyalty lies in encouraging a positive workplace. Employees are more likely to stay when they feel like their input is heard, know they are positively contributing to the team, and feel respected.
Be Future-focused—and Fair
Goal-setting and evaluations are important in determining progress and priorities. Working together with each employee to set goals highlights your interest in their success at the company and communicates respect for their ideas. Regularly providing evaluations and useful feedback allows employees to contribute more to the company or make a change-up. Evaluations should include objective measures of success, and these measures should be consistently applied. Feedback is not only about what the employee can improve, but what they did well. Plus, it’s a good idea to remember that evaluations go both ways—are you willing to listen to your employees explain their ideas? Are you open to suggestions?
Invest
Offer training, educational opportunities, or volunteer opportunities. Companies that allow employees to be challenged and grow professionally enjoy productivity gains and suffer lower turnover. Mentoring programs where senior workers help junior workers can be particularly useful in building relationships and ensuring the transmission of important information. Investing in employee education is particularly vital for technology workers: tech solutions evolve at breakneck speed, meaning that skills can become quickly outdated. The ability to work with new technology is an important motivator for tech workers, so offering ongoing training not only helps your company stay current, it also indicates that you care about investing in your workers.
Be Great
What makes your company great? More importantly, what makes you great? Every leader aspires to greatness, but the path to success can take several challenging turns. Managing obstacles successfully not only includes overcoming business challenges, but comprises the values behind those decisions. Leaders who are honest, consistent, reliable, and have a clear vision are more likely to retain employees. Attracting and keeping loyal employees is within the reach of any committed business owner.
Engaging with your employees pays off in loyalty and productivity. It also pays dividends to the quality of life—for your team and yourself. Interested in attracting loyal employees? Please contact us for more insight.