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Employee loyalty supports work very effectively (production support) !
Loyalty for loyalty. Fairness for fairness. Be loyal and fair to your staff, and they will reciprocate, even if you cannot offer them highest pay in the sector.
Actually, just recently I have written a piece on that topic on linkedin, hope you don't mind me c/ping:
"Employee satisfaction is a really simple thing. It goes along the lines of how happy we are with the three areas of our corporate life:
1) WORK (the actual "like my job" and "love doin' it" and "not bored to grave yet" or generally not yiked by job in any other way)
2) STUFF (pay, bonus, perks, their amount, regularity and sporadic or regular increase of either as recognition of ability / achievement + sexiness of office, company car, laptop, mobile phone, flashy business card provided by the company)
3) PEOPLE (colleagues, the boss, boss's boss, the head honcho and in the background the overall aura of the company, its corporate culture, the way we all "live" with or amongst each other)
1) is sine qua non. We wouldn't even be here (wherever here is for each one of us) if we did not like the idea of doing what we were hired to do. Now, if 1) starts to suck, but 2) and 3) are okay(ish), we will most likely stay, and moreover, reprimand ourselves during internal dialogues we sometimes have with ourselves. Something along the lines of "you ingrate, what are you complaining about? you work for a great company, with great colleagues, boss, pay, perks.. and you are bored / unhappy / whathaveyou with the work? what the heck is wrong with you, 98% of all adults on the planet would give up their left nut (or equivalent) for your job.." yadda yadda, I am sure you can relate.
If 2) is OK, it will compensate for sucky 1) and 3) for quite a while. Sometimes years and years and years, until we start feeling stuck (and eventually leave) or retire. If 2) sucks, while 1) and 3) are okay, we will tend to stay and bust our butts to show we deserve a better 2) so we can stay in a company that gives us opportunity to do a great job with great people.
But if 3) sucks.. and the sucky bit can range from a mismatch between your values and company values to management you cannot look up to colleagues who are product of the whole setup (company values + management that can relate to those values).. well, if 3) sucks, we are likely to get the heck out, as soon as possible or after a period deemed decently long or just long enough not to mess up the resume.. and we will do it no matter the perks, no matter the job or stuff.. we run thinking "there are perks and jobs out there, but my soul / health / life is one and I wanna keep it".
Agree so far?
What if I told you all I just said was actually really really good because it puts managers in control? Well it does.
Being the lowly sort of middle management I am blessed (LOL) by wearing both the shoes of an employee and those of a manager. Which puts me (and all the middle managers in the world) into a unique position to see / smell / feel both worlds. Now, that position can be utilized to transfer the grief onto the employees and make them feel it tenfold (not recommended, at least not by me!) or to utilize the understanding of simple mechanics behind the employee satisfaction to everyone's benefit.
When we eliminate factors we have no influence over in all three categories, we come to the main ingredient of employee satisfaction - US, as someone's first line managers. First line manager is one single most important job satisfaction (to avoid the term happiness, but to some degree that, too) factor for any employee. If first line manager is a decent human being, he / she will treat the team fairly, show respect and gratitude, foster positive climate, enable team work, loyalty to the boss, the man in the next trench, and ultimately, the company.
Employees, after all, no not expect to be treated equally - each employee is at least partially aware of his / her strengths / weaknesses / position / expertise / contribution in any team. But they do feel passionately about being treated courteously, fairly, with respect and regard to their individual humanness.
And there it is! The holy grail of employee satisfaction. The Boss. YOU."
fist published on LinkedIN
