Employee loyalty is declining – but not on your watch. Here’s 10+ strategies you need to know for winning hearts and retaining talent.
Employee loyalty refers to the commitment people feel to you as their employer. It’s not about how loyal your employees are. It’s about how well you inspire loyalty from your workers – by being a great company to work for.
Employee loyalty is in decline globally – with remote workers particularly at risk – and that’s a problem for businesses. Higher employee loyalty means more stability, lower turnover costs, stronger customer relationships, and better business performance overall. And the opposite means, well, the opposite.
If you’re interested in building employee loyalty in your services organization or department, we’ve got 10+ proven strategies – using data and people-centric practices to inspire employee loyalty, boost retention, and better your business.
Employee loyalty is the commitment your workforce feels towards your organization – both individually and collectively. Higher employee loyalty is reflected in longer individual tenures and lower turnover rates, as happy staff stick around.
Loyal employees mean:
When employees are loyal, they invest their time, energy, and passion into their work, driving long-term growth and stability. Prioritizing loyalty isn’t just about retention - it’s about building genuine relationships that empower individuals and strengthen the company as a whole. Fostering employee loyalty also results in:
To measure employee loyalty, you can track various indicators.
These can provide a snapshot of current employee sentiment. But are most useful tracked over time, to reveal any trends in employee loyalty.
Reducing loyalty is a red flag that you need to address, if you want to dodge avoidable turnover costs and reputational damage.
According to employment statistics – specifically US labor statistics measuring average tenures – employee loyalty is declining. The average job tenure in the US used to be 4.2 years in 2012 but that reduced to just 3.7 years in 2022. As reported by the World Economic Forum, people are getting less loyal to their employers.
A deeper dive into the stats also shows a difference in employee loyalty across different demographics, with baby boomers showing the highest level of loyalty and millennials the lowest. But – before we start millennial bashing – that could be because younger demographics actively seek career progression, whereas older demographics have reached their zenith and are now happy to stay put.
Whatever the reason, knowing that there are loyalty differences within your workforce can help shape your strategies.
Lower employee loyalty can result from a wide range of factors. Some sectors are simply more prone to more transient employees – such as the quick service restaurant industry. But if your employee loyalty levels are below your industry average, you could have a problem.
Some common causes of lower employee loyalty include:
Now, not all of those are in your control. But some are. So let’s take a closer look.
A key indicator of employee loyalty is feeling personally connected with the organization’s mission and values. So one way to increase employee loyalty is to recruit value-aligned staff from the get-go. The first step is to actually have values, so reflect on whether your organization has suitably defined its mission and reason for being.
With your values clearly defined, make sure they’re embedded and promoted in everything you do – especially the employee experience. And add value-based questions and assessments to your recruitment process.
Meaningful work engages employees at a personal level – something that matters to them, makes them feel like they’re having an impact, and aligns with their values. It taps into people’s intrinsic motivation, boosts engagement, and increases their commitment to your cause. And that means more loyal employees.
To create more meaningful work, look for opportunities to align these three factors: what people are interested in, what they’re good at, and what the organization needs. Learn more about meaningful work and how to create it.
Employee autonomy is all about trusting and empowering people to do their best work, without being micromanaged or subjected to excessive bureaucracy.
Autonomous employees enjoy more freedom, accountability, control, and choice in their working lives – and this unlocks higher engagement, innovation, and employee satisfaction.
Satisfaction is the key here. Academic papers have shown:
Read more about creating employee autonomy at work.
Commitment is a two-way street. If you expect loyalty and commitment from your employees, you need to show it back to them. And that means making your employees feel valued.
This could take lots of different forms – from meaningful workforce-wide initiatives like flexitime and professional development, to individual interactions that say ‘I see you’.
When 79% of employees who quit cite ‘lack of appreciation’ as a reason managers should take the time to recognize and reward employee efforts – whether that’s in a one-to-one situation, during team meetings, or even nominating people for annual staff awards.
Of course, awards and rewards don’t mean much if your employees are overworked and unhappy. Valuing your employees starts with the foundation of people-centered practices around working conditions, hours, and culture. For more loyal employees, nail those basics first.
Employee wellbeing is about keeping your workforce physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy. It’s about providing an environment where people aren’t just surviving in life, they’re thriving.
This isn’t just an ethical imperative, it makes good business sense too. If someone is happy and at one with the world, they’re free of worries and distractions, and more able to focus at work.
Plus, if they feel their employer cares about them – not just their output – it can increase feelings of loyalty too.
There’s a lot nestled under the employee wellbeing umbrella. Does your business offer the following?
Have you ever heard the saying that ‘Money is a poor motivator’? While people are motivated to work for an employer for more than just financial reasons – such as value alignment and sense of purpose – it doesn’t mean you can skrim on pay and benefits.
Everyone has bills to pay and mouths to feed. If you fail to compensate people fairly, they may have no choice but to look for alternative employment. And whether that’s abandoning ship entirely – or supplementing your work with another job or side hustle – it leads to lower engagement.
Plus, in sectors where there is high competition for top talent, failure to pay the going rate or above can seriously undermine recruitment and retention goals. So take that into account when creating your employee value proposition.
One of the reasons people leave their job is lack of professional growth opportunities. People want to know they have a future with their employer and that they’ll have equal access to progression opportunities.
One way of fostering employee loyalty is to map out clear career paths for people to aspire to and publish transparent criteria for them to work towards. What skills do they need to develop? How much experience do they need to have? How will suitability be assessed?
If there aren’t a lot of progression opportunities in your organization, consider whether internal mobility and professional development could serve the same employee loyalty goals. Could people move horizontally within the business to gain more experience, challenge, and satisfaction?
No, we’re not talking about the office tea round and who takes milk or sugar. Employee preferences refer to what your employees actually want to do at work – not just what gets assigned to them.
The stuff that excites them because it aligns with their values and interests, or that supports their professional development goals.
Providing people with opportunities that reflect their preferences unlocks their intrinsic motivation – because there’s more in it for them – and this can lead to higher engagement, innovation, and productivity.
But – much like prioritizing employee wellbeing – it also shows your people that you value and respect them, which can lead to higher employee loyalty.
You can achieve this by capturing information about individuals’ interests and aspirations as part of your resource management processes, adding this as a field in your resource records, and referencing it during resource scheduling.
The employee experience is concerned with how people experience your organization as an employer – from recruitment and onboarding, to their day-to-day work, and finally departure from the business.
Organizations that intentionally craft a positive work environment and company culture can expect higher loyalty because employee sentiment isn’t left to chance or happenstance. It’s proactively shaped to retain your biggest asset – your employees.
This article is packed with ideas for boosting the employee experience – from improving well-being and work-life balance to giving employees more autonomy and career clarity. To prioritize employee experience in your business, consider:
Recent Gallup research shows that remote employees ‘have an eroding connection to the mission or purpose of their employing organization’. And that ‘as employees’ relationships with their employers are becoming increasingly “gig-like” and less loyal’ there are ‘possible implications on customer and employee retention, productivity, and quality of work’.
Put simply, the remote employee experience is less likely to foster employee engagement and loyalty – and that’s a problem for employers.
Remote work often lacks the ties that bind people to a business and company culture – such as relationships with coworkers, and the feeling of being visible and valued. This can all undermine employee loyalty.
To help engender stronger bonds – and therefore loyalty – for remote employees, consider:
Detecting disengaged employees early can help you intervene, prevent unplanned employee turnover, and boost employee loyalty. And thanks to AI, predictive analytics are increasingly accessible to do this.
Analyze your people data to spot trends that indicate potential turnover risks – such as declining engagement and productivity, increased late arrivals, etc. Then consider the most appropriate way to tackle the situation – such as reviewing policies and procedures, addressing workload issues, and offering additional resources.
But, remember, always consider individual contexts when looking at data. Certain metrics – such as sickness-related absence – may be related to disabilities or discrimination in the workplace. All managers should be trained in inclusivity practices and data should always be used as a conversation starter, not a decision-maker.
When you identify risk of churn, talk to people. Gallup research into turnover found thirty-six percent of voluntary leavers report that they did not talk to anyone before they decided to resign. And 42% of those employees say their manager or organization could have done something to prevent them from leaving. So check in before people check out!
The benefits of employee loyalty are obvious. But – remember – it’s not about looking for loyal employees. It’s about creating employee loyalty by giving people meaningful work, balancing their workload for better health, and helping them progress in their career. Plus lots more.
A resource management platform – like Runn – can help professional service businesses improve employee loyalty by monitoring and managing their workloads more effectively. For example:
