How do you promote employee loyalty?

These pillars of companies are approaching the issues of employee retention and recruitment in a different way: they have realised that a new approach to corporate management and sustainability automatically goes hand in hand with revolutionising the relationship between the people in the company. This includes a

• benevolent attitude,
• genuine interest,
• sincere sympathy for the motives and circumstances of the other person and
• a pronounced sense of loyalty.

The starting point for loyalty in the reciprocal principle lies in the mutual will to walk the professional path together, in good times and bad.

The prerequisite for someone to be prepared to live this loyalty is the inner security of being accepted and affirmed in their “way of being”. This also means allowing someone to come so close to your own values and standards that it becomes possible to open up and trust each other. With the attitude that both sides need each other, that managers and employees are stronger together than alone, work teams can develop that work hand in hand to maximise productivity and job satisfaction.

In my work, I experience that people with expertise and knowledge workers choose the company they want to work for. In the area of tension between demographic change and the changes in our economy, company managers must learn to become more flexible and communication must also clearly and strategically follow the path, the hierarchy of values of a new era. We cannot limit this to one generation, because the change relates to more than just working models. Corporate culture is taking on a whole new value for employees today and in the future. The culture and the values practised will become the yardstick for future company valuation. Employee loyalty will no longer be measured in terms of length of service, but in terms of loyalty.

In order to turn to a company with their loyalty and remain loyal to them, people want to be convinced to a much greater extent. Consequently, companies have to offer them something:

• an attractive environment,
• a decent salary,
• development opportunities so that they can keep up with the fast pace of life,
• creative freedom and
• and, above all, sincere cooperation.

The main difference between today’s employees lies in their personal affinity to the fundamental drivers of people: Recognition and belonging. The job they do is increasingly taking on the function of self-realisation, so that employers are forced to align their management and HR work with very individual life paths, diverse changes through exits and entries, interim commitments, temporary sedentariness and newly emerging dynamics.

The task of building a sustainable relationship with people grows out of employee loyalty

To avoid becoming a pawn in an ever-increasing wage spiral, companies need to shift their focus. On the one hand, it is essential to offer employees personal challenges and individual development – and to keep their promises. On the other hand, it is important to strengthen the bond between people within the “work family”. This bond requires trust. Loyalty is needed so that this bond can withstand the complex external influences.

Loyalty also plays an important role in another aspect: some companies quickly reach the limits of their capabilities due to their employees’ desire for further development. This factor makes it essential for companies to move closer together in order to retain valuable employees. By joining forces to form a competence network, several organisations can share their employees on a project-related or temporary basis – and retain them in this way. This gives employees the opportunity to change careers, contribute to a different field of work and learn something new. The companies retain their valuable manpower and the brainpower of their top performers.

Loyalty at an organisational and individual level

Loyalty is one of the most valuable characteristics in cooperation and one of the guarantors of a company’s success. I am referring in particular to the loyalty of employees. While many company endeavours aimed at employee retention suggest something forced, the feeling of loyalty is an unwritten contract based on ethical values. If this is broken, we speak of “internal dismissal”.

By employee loyalty, we mean a strong inner attitude with which employees are not only physically connected to their employer, but also in their hearts. They are more committed and productive and care about the well-being of the company and the team. To a great extent, they make the interests of the company their own and identify so strongly with their organisation that they talk about it a lot and with pleasure (in the sense of recommendations for customer and applicant groups).

This type of loyalty arises from trust and attraction and cannot be demanded. It is characterised by reliability, fairness, commitment and sincerity. It is therefore worth looking inwards:

• Who are your most loyal employees?
• What characterises them?
• How did they come together?
• Can similarities be recognised?

In a survey on the reasons for changing jobs, it emerged that top employees cited the working atmosphere, job satisfaction and the management behaviour of their direct superior as the most important factors. At employee level, lack of appreciation and lack of recognition were the main reasons for changing jobs.

The characteristics of loyalty

Loyalty has various forms:

Loyalty to the company

This form of loyalty is extremely important for companies. It means that employees stay with the company, even if they cannot identify with all aspects of the company’s mission statement or recent decisions. Even when personal values and/or personal interests conflict with those of the company, loyalty prevails in practice.

Loyalty to the manager

Managers who have already experienced the absence of loyalty know immediately what is meant. It is about the team supporting their own work, recognising and appreciating it. If even just one team member is not loyal, this can quickly jeopardise the entire construct.

Loyalty to the team

Whether departments, training courses or brainstorming sessions: loyalty to a team means subordinating oneself to the objectives of the group and contributing one’s own individual performance without expecting anything in return. The motivation for personal commitment comes from inner conviction.

Loyalty towards employees

Managers must also be loyal to the company and the team. If they lack one of these characteristics, we don’t even need to talk about loyalty towards employees. This is practically a prerequisite for effective cooperation.

A manager’s loyalty towards employees is particularly important when harmony is not (or no longer) right. This can be seen in the way managers deal with their employees when they make mistakes or fail to perform as required. It is only a matter of time before managers are confronted with such situations. It is then up to the manager to name and analyse the behaviour that is worthy of criticism and to make the employee believe in an appreciative manner that although their behaviour is undesirable in the specific case, they themselves (as a person) will be supported and helped on the path to correction.

Who are you most loyal to at work?

A few years ago, an online survey by the career portal Monster asked almost 25,000 European employees the question “Who are you most loyal to at work?” and the results were as follows:

• 33 % to myself
• 32 % to my team
• 19 % to my company
• 10 % my boss
• 6 % no one

There is a sixth category, loyalty to one’s own networks. However, this was not taken into account at the time of the survey and was not included in the results. Today, this rate would also be an important indication of the extent of loyal relationships beyond the immediate work situation.

In the available figures, German employees in particular showed a conspicuous lack of loyalty towards their superiors. At 7 per cent, they achieved the lowest value in Europe. This may be due to the prevalence of rapid management development and the correspondingly fixed changes of position on the one hand and, on the other, to insufficient leadership skills.

The advantages of high employee loyalty are obvious:

• There is a stable culture of trust.
• Team spirit, mutual helpfulness and empowerment grow.
• The willingness to perform and productivity increase.
• The willingness to learn and the readiness to take part in training programmes and personal development grow.
• More responsibility is taken on voluntarily.
• A mindful error culture allows more willingness to experiment.
• Suggestions for improvement and the courage to come up with new ideas inspire innovation management.
• The willingness to change jobs decreases and employees are not “seduced”.
• The employer brand is positively shaped and employee recommendation programmes have an impact on the increasing number of applications received.

As employee loyalty cannot be bought, the only way to achieve it is through a sustainable management and corporate culture with respectful behaviour.

Loyal employees are less likely to be disloyal. They are more willing to support the change processes demanded by the market. But loyalty is also noticeable without change: In project teams that mainly work together virtually, there needs to be an advance of trust and a loyalty-based team culture from the outset. In network structures, which are progressively eliminating the former organisational pyramid structures, there is also a need for personalities within the company who carry loyalty integrity within them and pass it on to colleagues in a missionary manner.

The influence of a loyal management style on the working atmosphere

Even today, the influence that leadership style has on the mood and atmosphere in a company is underestimated – or ignored. Although we all know that a good corporate culture and a positive working environment are important, I believe that too little is attributed to the management style.

1. Mindfulness in the composition of teams

If you want to build a sustainable corporate culture, you have to start with the composition of your team. The values of the team members should definitely overlap with the company values. Beliefs are very difficult to instil. Therefore, those who do not share the company’s values will unfortunately have to say goodbye.

2. Same values, different characters

Despite all efforts to find people with similar values and goals, a team must not be too homogeneous. In addition to the same values, different character traits and personality types should therefore come together in the team in order to generate the necessary friction for questioning ingrained processes, courageous disputes and creative new creations. Diversity is therefore an important topic for the corporate culture in every respect and should be promoted and strengthened.

3. Values mission statement before growth

A company’s culture needs to be carefully nurtured, especially during periods of change. Companies that want to win over their employees for change should first define the values and behaviours in order to prevent the team from drifting apart under the pressure of various influences. This is precisely when it is valuable to get everyone in the team “on board” and invest in team development measures.

4. Open, transparent communication

Maintaining the corporate culture goes hand in hand with an open flow of communication. Especially at management level, the focus of work should be on communication: Driving things forward, connecting the right people and clearly articulating plans and strategies.

5. Feedback culture instead of pressure of expectations

Expectations that are too high threaten the corporate culture. If expectations are also weighted and evaluated differently within the management team, this causes frustration. Who should the employee respond to? How should the employee please whom? A clear allocation of tasks and a feedback culture in which employees can regularly approach their manager with questions and suggestions for improvement in their current area of responsibility are better.

Takeaway

If you want loyalty, you would do well to ensure employee satisfaction. We all know that every single person has an influence on the success of a company. The fewer employees a company has, the greater the influence of the individual. In order to achieve a significant competitive advantage with loyal employees, the management and executives should live the defined values and act as role models within the company.

Loyalty as a perceived feeling and as an attitude is sensitive and grows through constant awareness and support. The most important factors that promote employee loyalty in the company are

1. Transparency

Open communication, informing employees in good time and obtaining their feedback create a culture of trust within the company. If there are decisions in the company that affect all levels, everyone involved should be involved at the earliest possible stage. If a management team makes decisions in a small circle that have consequences for the entire company, the new approach must be explained to all employees and the adjusted objectives must be presented transparently.

2. Trust

If managers trust their employees, the best way to show this is by involving them in close dialogue and giving them responsibility in such a way that the person is challenged but not overwhelmed. The recognition that goes hand in hand with this shows appreciation as well as perspectives.

3. Praise

Healthy and favourable cooperation is achieved when every team member feels that they are seen and heard. Frequently hearing words of appreciation shows the team member that they are recognised and supported.

4. Respect

In particular, dealing with mistakes shows whether a work team treats each other fairly and respectfully. When an error occurs, it is best for managers to focus on how the person who caused it dealt with it: Did they see the error coming? When did they stop the process? How do they assess what happened? Are there consequences from which lessons can be learnt? Can a promising solution perhaps even be found? Most people are frustrated themselves when they make a mistake. If they are treated with respect after a failed process, they can regain their motivation during the discussion and their learning character is strengthened.

Notes:

If you would like to promote loyalty in your company, please contact Miriam Engel. Loyalty is not only an attractive employee magnet, but also a long-term growth enabler! You can find more information here and arrange a virtual appointment with Ms Engel here.

We highly recommend the book Besser fuehren – Mit Haltung und Vertrauen zu Loyalitaet by Miriam Engel. With the help of the book, HR managers can recognise which leadership and social skills they have at their disposal in order to respond better to colleagues and employees, make good decisions and navigate safely into the future.

We are also happy to recommend the tips and tools for implementing loyal leadership, retaining employees and optimising employee communication that Miriam Engel describes in Royal führen – loyal handeln.

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Miriam Engel has published a series on the topic of loyalty in companies on the t2informatik Blog:

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