How to Maximize Your Employee Loyalty

Is employee loyalty on the wane? With regional job markets tight, the race for top talent at fever pitch and cross-border labour mobility facilitated by the internet age with its online job boards that offer information about latest job opportunities on a real-time basis, never has there been a greater need to hire right and to retain key personnel. So what is the key to employee loyalty and how is it that some employers are veterans at the business of winning their employee's loyalty relative to others? From the career experts at the Middle East's #1 job site bayt.com survey found that opportunities for long term career progression were significantly more important than compensation as a factor incentivizing employees to stay on with a particular organization. Companies that offer their employees opportunities for growth and advancement are well on the way to winning their loyalty and support. The existing workforce many leading employers realize should be the first recourse for any hiring activity and these employers are always ready to assess their existing talent in a creative and flexible light evaluating their skills and propensity to be deployed productively in other functions. The same applies to any outsourced functions - often existing employees when consulted have both the interest, skills and capacity to assume responsibility for many tasks that would otherwise be outsourced and involving them in this way may be optimal from a career management perspective as well as from the company's cost and resource management perspective.

Invest in training and development

Employers increasingly recognize the importance of fostering an environment of growth and learning to bring out the best in everyone and truly advance the stars. Companies can develop in-house training departments, ally themselves with special training houses and universities, send employees to relevant external training programs identified by themselves in conjunction with their supervisors, offer internal rotational programs and overseas assignments as a key career development opportunity and commit to their employees learning and development in a multitude of other creative and meaningful ways. Besides the company's training activities, career plans and professional development opportunities are routinely discussed and formalized. Employees that feel the company has invested in them in this manner are far more likely to uphold the company's best interests and keep an eye to furthering the company's goals and enhancing its welfare.

Respect employee's needs for work/life balance

The days of clocking in 24 hour days to pay your dues and earn your company stripes have thankfully given way to a nicer, gentler culture at most of today's organizations as more and more employees have made it clear that achieving work/life balance is an overriding priority for them. Today's top employers are cutting no corners in ensuring they nurture and retain top talent and that includes taking a more holistic approach to their employees' welfare. Work arrangements increasingly available at leading corporations include flexible hours, part-time, job-sharing and telecommuting and no longer uncommon are sabbaticals for long-serving personnel or those pursuing special outside interests and extended leave periods for new parents. To cater to the latter specifically, more and more companies are also offering on-site crèches, lactation rooms as well as vital family support hotlines and more comprehensive family benefits. Companies are going overboard to ensure they respect and cater to their employees priorities outside of the office and take into consideration the full circumstances of their employees' lives and the outside demands on those lives.

Create favorable work conditions

Employers are increasingly employing creative measures to invest in their employees well-being and this extends to providing workplaces and work conditions that are pleasant and conducive to innovation, hard work and productivity. Besides generous vacation schemes which employees are actively encourage to take and frequent offsites to get away from the grind, wellbeing during office hours is also nurtured with onsite recreation areas, gyms, office sports teams and friendly company cafeterias that offer wholesome, healthy foods. Meetings, communication flow, company activities, office and communal area layouts are all designed to promote a sense of inclusion and well-being and to maximize employees' level of satisfaction and encourage their active participation. Employers are realizing that employees who feel the company is caring for them and respects them are in turn far more committed and more likely to contribute positively to the company's bottom line.

Maintain open channels of communication

The most effective organisations allow for a smooth and unhampered flow of information and communications across layers and functions. Employees are encouraged to articulate their ideas, aspirations and concerns and are kept up to date, through regular communications, with regards to the company's direction, vision, mission, objectives, performance and new initiatives. Employee appraisals are conducted regularly and allow for 360 degree feedback where employees are also permitted to voice their concerns with and expectations of the organisation and their immediate management. Employees are routinely asked during these appraisals and in other forums what extra responsibilities they would like to assume and their goals, aspirations and short and long-term objectives are discussed and factored into the unit's planning activities. Listening to employees, even when their requests cannot be met, is a vital ingredient in enhancing employee loyalty. Successful employee engagement also requires honest and constructive feedback on a routine basis. This feedback is vital both as a motivational tool and in channeling talent in the right direction, building on strengths and addressing weaknesses.

Create an environment of diversity and inclusion

Employees who feel valued, respected and included are more likely to contribute positively to the company's bottom line and display loyalty and commitment to the company. Many companies have taken concrete steps to foster an atmosphere where employees of every rank are included in the decision-making process and their input on all matters big and small is valued and appreciated. Diversity programs, cross-cultural hiring practices and culture committees that promote emotional well-being across the organisation through social and team-building events are all increasingly important tools in the human resources lexicon of today's progressive organisations.

Formalize reward and recognition programs

Studies have shown time and time gain that employees who feel valued, recognized and appreciated are the most loyal. Formal mechanisms for evaluating and rewarding employees need to be in place and these need to be competitive and in sync with industry norms. Outstanding performance needs to be recognized and rewarded on a periodic basis and regular special initiatives should be in place to identify, celebrate, motivate and incentivize star employees and promote their loyalty and retention. A meritocratic environment where driven, career-minded professionals earn the rewards and recognition they deserve for their special efforts is one that will be most successful in retaining key personnel over the long-term.

Participate in community outreach programs

Corporate philanthropy is show to increase employee loyalty and many companies are adopting CSR programs not just as a means to give back and to participate in their larger communities but also as a measure to win the support and respect of their employees. Employees feel a greater sense of pride and purpose working with a company that is publicly committed to altruism, particularly when the causes the company is committed to are in line with theirs and benefit the greater community in a tangible manner.