EMPLOYEE LOYALTY- MYTH OR TRUTH

I was speaking to a start-up founder just last week about the dilemma most founders and most small business owners face- the problem of not just hiring the best staff but a staff that would be loyal to your organization through and through.

There is a high decline in staff or employee loyalty in Nigeria, and gone are the days when you see an employee who can boast of being in an organization for more than two years. The economic realities on the ground don’t make being loyal easy, especially when you have to deal with stuff’s that don’t answer to loyalty.

The general view is- who loyalty epp!

If you take a survey of most employee’s in Nigeria today, you would be marveled at the sense of loyal to their organization most employee’s have. Most of them see their jobs as modern day salary.

The truth is that everyone on the divide is responsible for this decline. Yes, both employees and employers.

Most employers believe that what makes an employee loyal is by loading them with the vision and mission of your organization.

Some employers even translate that an employee’s salary usually translates into staff loyalty.

Every employer must understand that just as building a consumer brand loyalty is important, you must also pay attention to building a very strong staff loyalty atmosphere. Richard Branson the CEO of Virgin group encapsulates this well “If you want your clients to be treated better you must treat your staff better”

As an employer, you must ensure that the environment of your organization fosters loyalty.This environment comes from the organizational culture that ensures the security of your employees. A culture that makes all employee’s feel part and parcel of the organization.

I once spoke to a staff of an organization who was about to resign from a very lucrative job. The number one reason given for resigning was that, the employee gave for resigning was because he could not work for a boss who didn’t have the back of his employees.

Do not ever treat your employee’s like a pawn in a chess game. When you keep doing that, the system will naturally revolt.

The following tips can be useful in developing a right staff loyalty system for your organization:

1. Show your staff that you value them and trust their opinion.

2. Trust: Let them trust you; people are not loyal to people they can not trust.

3. Find out what makes them tick: create a culture within your organization that ensures that your line managers know very personal details about everyone on their team, for instance; their family, where they grew up, what they like etc.

4. Most importantly let them see themselves in the future of your organization. Most organization make this mistake of growing and leaving behind their employee.

5. Organize regular training and workshops that are geared towards improving their capacity. Never be afraid to train your employees, just because you fear that even after your train them they would still leave your organization.

6. Never devalue your employee, especially if he or she is an important part of your company.

7. Be interested in their emotional intelligence. Don’t ever bully them or bruise their self-esteem in the name of correcting them.

8. Show them that you are interested in their development.

Remember that paying an employee a large salary does not mean that they would be loyal to you or your business.

You have to be intentional about developing a culture that reflects loyalty and rewards the presence of it.

Above all remember that employees don’t usually leave because a job is bad, they leave mostly because of bad bosses.