All businesses are looking for success and growth, but an often-overlooked ingredient of accomplishing those goals is employee loyalty. Employee happiness is not just a feel-good thing that can draw good recruits — it goes directly to the bottom line as a sustainable competitive advantage. Sure, you should be discussing strategy, tech, marketing and advertising, but not at the expense of the team members who make it all possible.
Take the issue of employee turnover. If you interview a new recruit multiple times, have meetings about his or her potential, run a background check on him, train him, document him, run him through human resources, get him all set up and then — when he’s finally up to speed — he runs off to something better, what have you really gained, other than the chance to do it all over again?
Loyal Employees = Long-term Employees
Loyal employees feel a sense of ownership and therefore feel that they have a genuine stake in the product they produce or the service they provide.
Just as you look for signs that your ad strategy needs improvement, you should also be looking for indications of workplace dysfunction. Lack of trust, lack of commitment, fear of conflict, lack of accountability, and inattention to results can sink employee morale and send great employees packing for greener pastures.
Consider changes that build a foundation for the values that make good workers strive to be great. Passion, discipline, courage, responsibility, resiliency, respect, leadership, and selflessness can all get a boost from simple exercises, most of which deal with basic communication between managers and subordinates.
Modern technology giants such as Google have proved that being a great place to work is a profitable endeavor. Attracting — and keeping — the best and brightest minds requires more than just a competitive salary.
Creating a workplace where employees feel respected, appreciated, and hopeful that their hard work will pay off is a sure way to drive up profits.