Getting employees who will not only add value to your company but would also work with the organisation for the long-term can be difficult. This is a rising concern because many employees are constantly switching jobs fast in a bid to earn a higher salary from their next employer, and in the process, causing the businesses they leave to suffer in many ways because of the unprepared absence of the value added from the role the employees unexpectedly leave.
Workers leave companies for many reasons ranging from poor compensations to terrible working conditions, disrespect by employers, pure incompetence of both employee & employer, and much more.
How then can organisations keep employees, especially the best of them, for the long-term without the fear of them suddenly leaving the company and you having to go through the hiring and training cycle again?
If you’re looking for ways to improve employee loyalty and commitment to your organisation, here are some things to do:
See Also: 5 Powerful Ways To Motivate And Groom Successful Employees
1). Hire Employees Who Have The Same Values & Beliefs As The Organisation:
The first step to make a relationship work is to only get on the ride with someone who shares the same values, beliefs and causes with you. When there’s a match there, they’d give more efforts than the average person to your organisation and would be less prone to suddenly leaving the company for whatever reasons without first talking to you and giving you enough time to find another great replacement.
2). Build A Great Organisation Culture:
The culture of the organisation sets the tone of behaviour by employees and their superiors. It determines how happy they’d be, how motivated they’d be to pursue your goals, how friendly they’d be with each other, and how loyal they’d be to the organisation.
When the culture of a company is great, employees will tell other people on the outside about it, and many people who have fallen in love with your organisation culture without ever stepping a foot into the building would also want to work for you.
3). Pay Your Employees Well:
While some people might be motivated to work for you even without a reasonable wage, their motivation would soon run dry if they realise you don’t want to pay them their worth or just don’t care about them.
When people are willing to go the extra mile for you, you should be willing to go the extra mile for them.
Pay your employees well and they’d take their passion for doing what they do for your organisation a notch further. Even better, they’d stick around for a very long time.
See Also: How To Protect Your Business From Employees Who Steal
4). Publicly Offer Awards And Recognitions:
We’re all humans, and no matter how emotionless a person might appear, everyone wants to be appreciated for their efforts.
When your employees see that you appreciate them yearly with various types of awards for high performers, financial incentives for meeting or exceeding targets, and even recognitions and encouragements for those who never quite made the cut but are still around, they’d be happy to come to work the next day.
When you do these things, you show them that you value them, and they’d be happy to go harder for you the next fiscal year.
5). Have No Favorites:
Favouritism divides homes, families, and workplaces. When your employees know that you have favourites they’d start to silently grumble and slowly disconnect emotionally from the company and what believe it stood for.
Their loyalty would continue to dwindle until they no longer find your workplace as a place for them to continue chasing their dreams.
To keep people motivated, loyal, and willing to go the extra mile for you, you must treat all employees equally.
See Also: 5 Mindset Changes That Will Take You From Employee To Employer
6). Only Permit One Language:
When in Rome, you act like a Roman. The same must be for your organisation.
No one must be allowed to speak any language asides a unified language.
Speaking different native languages divides people across tribal and racial lines. They start to form smaller factions of this group against that group, and over time, this would eat deeply into the fabric of the organisation’s culture and ruin the loyalty, freedom, and joy that employees have to work for you.
It gets even worse if your best talents are in the minority and eventually choose to leave because of gross racial and tribal divides.
To ensure this doesn’t happen, everyone must only be allowed to speak one language, hiring must be done based on competence and not tribal or nepotic affiliations, and all employees must act as a whole when they’re in the office environment and not as a part of different groups.
7). Offer Some A Stake In The Business:
The very best, most loyal, and highly efficient employees with great track records in your company should eventually be offered a small stake in the business. This will show them that you value their inputs, efforts, contributions and that you want them to be a part of your company’s long-term future.
When you do this, it would motivate other employees to go even harder for your organisation, and as for the employees that got the equity, they’d go even further because they’re now a core fabric of the organisation, would have 110% belief in your leadership, and would be willing to do everything to see the organisation and its founder succeed.
By giving your very best employees a small stake in the company, you’re not just guaranteeing their loyalty but also the long-term existence of your company and long term accelerated growth of the company.
Instead of clinging to 100% of a $1 million dollars company, share 10% amongst your very best, and in 10 years, you could own 90% of a $100 million dollars company that doesn’t even need you present in the office.
See Also: The Importance Of A Shareholders Agreement To Every Small Business
8). Train Them:
Employees, just like any other human, want opportunities to grow. If working for your organisation means they’d have more opportunities to learn new things, acquire more certifications, and also grow in the ranks, they’d be happy to come to work.
9). Don’t Overwork Them:
No one wants to be used as a slave, and if your employees have a sense that you’re overworking them, they’d start to feel less motivated to work for you, their reasons to come to work will change from what makes them passionate to just because you pay them, and eventually, they’ll walk out the door.
See Also: 5 Leadership Qualities Your Business Cannot Live Without
To Sum It Up
Hiring and keeping great workers can be a challenge. But when they’re treated right according to a set of humane rules like the points mentioned above in this article, they’d be willing to stay longer in your organisation and to give their all to your cause.
