All business owners know that the most important concern they should be focused on is customer loyalty, but too many fail to foster employee loyalty. Your employees' dedication to you and your business is crucial to creating customer loyalty.
What is employee loyalty?
Employee loyalty is more than the desire for a paycheck outweighing the dread of working. Genuine employee loyalty should never and is never based in fear, temporary gimmicks, or anything removable or replaceable. One common measure of a loyal employee is that they completely buy into the values and culture of wherever they work, and truly want the business to succeed. They are interested in the work they're doing, the culture of the company, and they're committed.
Why is loyalty important?
It's important to take care of your employees because their attitudes directly impact your customers' attitudes. Your employees are likely to treat customers the same way they treat your business, be that with respect and care or otherwise. Customers also notice when employees leave a company. It's difficult to convert loyal customers when the experience changes every time you interact with a business, and employees are a huge part of the experience.
Aside from promoting a healthy company culture and fostering meaningful relationships, loyalty actually plays a role in turning profit. Belly noted research findings indicating businesses that spent 10 per cent of their revenue on capital improvements saw a 3.9 per cent productivity increase. Impressively, when that same 10 per cent was invested in employees, productivity went up 8.5%. Other factors which affect profits include reviews, which can be good or bad depending on a customer's experience with an employee and the costs of hiring new employees when old ones leave. Further to that point, loyal, happy and engaged employees contribute to 41 per cent less absenteeism, a 17 per cent increase in productivity, and 21 per cent more profit overall.
How to promote loyalty
Loyalty isn't something you can simply demand employees feel. You have to create a desire in them to be loyal to your business. You can do so in the following ways, and by keeping in mind that loyalty is a two way street.
Hire wisely
Don't hire employees arbitrarily. Take the time to get to know them and ensure they will do quality work before bringing them on. If your hiring habits become erratic, your firing rates are sure to rise, and no one wants to work at a place with a known history of employees getting fired.
Give respect to receive respect.
Be fair in how you treat employees in wages, benefits, discipline, rewards and all other aspects. Respect them as human beings before using them as assets.
Take care of your employees
Reward employees with increases in wages, promotions, or other tangible rewards help that loyal employee feel like the hard work they do is worth it. Not acknowledging excellent work and attitude can turn a loyal employee into a passive aggressive or disinterested one.
Check up on them, and keep up with how they're doing in the workplace and in general. Doing so will help you maintain an effective management style and workplace culture. Employees who take part activities like hobbies, sports, studies outside of their work which they feel committed to have trouble finding the right balance between their work life and private life. Get to know the individuals and their lives and interests to help make finding that balance a little easier.
If you expect and reward excellence in your employees and put the work into earning their loyalty, it will pay several times over for your business. For more information on methods for empowering and better engaging your teams, contact us today.