Employee loyalty is a tried-and-true method for bettering your workplace. From increased productivity and boosted engagement to an improved reputation and lower turnover, there are many benefits associated with getting your workers’ loyalty.
On our Team Building Saves the World podcast episode, Social Capital: Building a Workplace Community, we sat down with Dr. Froswa Booker—President and CEO of Soulstice Consultancy—to talk about social capital and the role of loyalty in the workplace.
Dr. Booker made numerous insightful points about the importance of loyalty, how social capital is an underutilized asset, and how businesses can use social capital to build thriving, cohesive communities in the workplace.
Benefits of Employee Loyalty
It’s easy to overlook loyal employees, but knowing the benefits can make the process easier. Here are four of the main benefits associated with employee loyalty:
Increased Productivity
Employees work harder and are more productive when they feel like they are part of a greater whole. Without that, it can feel like pointless busywork. This is a point Dr. Booker brought up during our discussion, highlighting the motivation boost and increase in productivity associated with loyalty. She said:
“People are going to be more loyal to a company where they feel invested in, and feel like they’re seen and heard and matter. Then they’re willing to stay another hour for work because they know that there’s a commitment to them.”
Boosted Engagement
Tying into the last point, loyalty can also be a good way to keep employees engaged. People are more engaged in their work when they feel like they are a valued member of the organization. They feel like the company deserves their best, so they give it their all.
This makes sense intuitively. Humans are most engaged and do their best when they are part of a team they are loyal to. They are working towards a greater good, and that keeps them engaged and motivated.
Better Company Reputation
People typically talk about their work to family and friends, and word gets out – whether it’s good or bad. If employees enjoy their workplace and are loyal, they will speak positively about it to others.
A good reputation can make attracting and retaining top talent easier. Many consumers also care about a company’s reputation, giving you a leg up over competitors that may not have a loyal employee base.
Lower Employee Turnover
This one shouldn’t come as a surprise, but employee loyalty is directly tied to lower turnover. When employees feel like they are important members of the organization and are loyal in return, they are much less likely to leave.
We’ll cover why employees quit in just a moment, but getting employees’ loyalty helps counteract many of the reasons why employees leave. At the end of the day, your employees will stay if their needs are met.
Why Employees Quit
Many claim that company loyalty is dead and wonder how loyalty died in the American workplace. Though that may seem true to some, that isn’t the case.
Employees today are more cognizant of their needs, and they are often unwilling to be loyal if those needs aren’t met. And of course, those needs not being met are a driving force behind many employees who quit. Here is a list of some of the most common reasons employees leave:
- Low salary.
- The job is not challenging enough.
- Not feeling passionate about the job.
- Poor relationship with management.
- Fewer opportunities for career advancement.
- No work-life balance.
- Lack of clear vision for the company or project.
- Feeling demotivated due to little employee recognition.
Most of those reasons are directly tied to needs not being met, such as financial needs, room for growth/advancement, personal needs (like work-life balance), etc.
Another big part of this is community. Employees need to feel like they belong and are a part of a community. They want to work together, learn from each other, and build strong bonds. Dr. Booker pointed this out during our talk, saying:
“If you want productivity and morale to increase, you got to think about ways that you bring people together and that they learn from one another—so that they can appreciate each other, and work well together.“
8 Tips to Boost Company Loyalty
Now that we’ve covered the background, here are eight effective tips for boosting company loyalty.
Create an Incentive Program
Employee incentives encourage employees to do their best by providing various benefits and or bonuses. These incentives can come in all shapes and sizes. Financial incentives like bonuses, career advancement opportunities, health and wellness programs, and experiential rewards like trips can all serve as incentives for employees.
Recognize and Reward Employees
As humans, we want to be acknowledged for our efforts and success. It makes us feel like our work is worth something and like we are an integral part of something greater. Going out of your way to make sure employees get the recognition they deserve can have a big impact on loyalty. It shows employees that you care about their efforts and value their achievements, no matter how big or small.
Provide Additional Benefits
Benefits are increasingly more important to employees, especially as the cost of things like healthcare, education, and retirement increase. Offering these benefits to employees—whether it’s opportunities to upskill, retirement benefits, or childcare subsidies—shows employees that you are loyal and dedicated to them, resulting in employee loyalty in return. Loyalty is earned, not given; this is an example of that.
Renegotiate with Employees
Opening up a dialogue about what your employees need or want is a good way to show you appreciate them and want to keep them satisfied. This doesn’t have to just mean money either. Benefits, increased flexibility, vacation days, training, or reassignment can all be part of these negotiations. The end goal though is showing employees that you care and want to meet their needs.
Share Your Goals
Employees want to feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves, and that can’t happen without sharing your goals and company core values. A mission statement can serve as something to bring employees together, uniting them around a common cause that helps create a better sense of purpose and encourages loyalty.
Strengthen Team Bonds
Bonds are incredibly important in the workplace, and they are a key factor in loyalty. Dr. Booker made this clear when she said:
“It’s about relationships. It is about the ability to use those relationships for the greater good. There are all these different types of social capital that I don’t think people recognize. I don’t think we realize that every single day we are using and exchanging social capital. Our relationships move the needle. I see it as this wonderful tool that we don’t call out and don’t leverage as well.”
Relationships are a powerful tool, and team bonding is an incredibly effective way to prioritize them. Events like the Do Good Bus, Charity Bike Build, or Summer Camp Throwback can help unite teams and develop loyalty through teamwork and collaboration.
Focus on Leadership and Career Advancement Opportunities
Another good strategy is focusing on leadership while providing opportunities for employee development. Good leaders can bring employees closer through their position via communication, teamwork, listening skills, and more. They can also utilize the power internal mobility to ensure employees have the ability grow professionally, encouraging them to be loyal to the company and stay instead of leaving to go elsewhere.
Foster a Positive Work Environment
People don’t want to stay in toxic workplaces, and they certainly aren’t going to be loyal to a workplace that they don’t enjoy being in. So work to create a healthy, positive, and inclusive work environment. Make sure employees can communicate freely, voice their struggles or concerns, and are recognized for their efforts. A positive environment is one of the most important aspects of building loyalty.
Build Loyalty in the Workplace with TeamBonding
Though loyalty seems dead and gone to many, it is alive as ever in the businesses that work to ensure it remains. Through meeting employees’ needs, offering them benefits/opportunities, and working to create a tight-knit community, businesses can foster loyalty in the workplace.
The benefits of employee loyalty are seemingly endless, and businesses should capitalize on these benefits by working to create loyalty in their own workplaces. If you’re ready to start building loyalty in the workplace and create a stronger, more cohesive, and loyal workforce, consider working with TeamBonding. We are ready to help facilitate your team building events, and we have years of experience helping develop employee loyalty.
So check out our events and get in touch with us today.
