One of the things we hear often from employers experiencing issues with turnover is that they wish their employees would be more loyal. Loyalty, like trust, is something that is both reciprocal and earned. If you want to earn the trust of your employees, you must demonstrate that you trust them. The same is true for loyalty. If you want your employees to be loyal to you and to the company, you must demonstrate that you are also loyal to them. Here are five ways you can demonstrate your loyalty to your employees, including some from a recent article in Entrepreneur.
Have Frequent Performance Conversations
The annual performance review, while long-lived, is not the most effective way to monitor and improve employee performance. Having more frequent conversations, specifically focused on goals and performance outcomes is necessary if you really want your employees to understand that you are invested in their success.
Build Connections
People want to work with people they like and feel connected to. Take time to really get to know your employees. Include both who they inside of work and outside of work. This can be done in the one on one meetings mentioned above but should also be something you strive to do a bit more organically. Make an effort to have conversations with each of your employees that have nothing to do with work.
Get Your Hands Dirty
Get involved in the day-to-day work of your employees occasionally. This doesn’t mean micro-managing and holding the hands of your employee on a daily basis. You have other things to do. But employees want to see that leaders are willing to jump in and help, particularly when the workload is unusually high or times are particularly stressful.
Ask People Why They Leave and Why They Stay
Sometimes employees quit. That is normal and will happen no matter what efforts you make to retain them. When you do happen to lose an employee, take the opportunity to learn everything you can about why the employee is leaving. Often employees who are leaving will be more willing to share their true options on their way out the door. This can help you learn about and hopefully improve the experience for your remaining employees. You also don’t have to, and in our opinion shouldn’t, wait for employees to leave (or threaten leaving) to ask questions about their experience. A stay interview is a great way to ask employees what they like and what they would like to see improved in the workplace.
Inspire Accountability
Great leaders inspire others to be leaders as well. Encourage employees to be accountable for their success. Help employees develop goals that support the larger organizational goals so they can see how their efforts directly impact the success of the company.
Gaining the loyalty of your employees doesn’t have to be a mystery. Implementing these five ideas is a great way to get started. Share these with your leadership team and develop a plan of action for how you will tackle each one.