The best way to fast-track your company’s success is by having employees who are engaged and loyal. They are the secret weapon you need to leave competitors behind, because these employees feel invested in the success of your company and will take proactive measures to ensure better performance.
Loyal employees can transform the work culture while also saving the company a lot of money. After all, it takes anywhere between 16% to 213% of an employee’s annual salary (depending on the position) to find, hire, and train a replacement. While zero churn is probably a pipe dream, even reducing churn by 5% can increase a company’s profits by 25% to 95%!
So, what can you do to improve loyalty and help employees be more engaged?
As is turns out, plenty! Here are just 5 ways to get started:
- Listen to your employees
- Offer competitive Employee Value Propositions (EVPs)
- Focus on the solution with design thinking
- Address burnout at the company level
- Invest in employee comfort
Let’s dive deeper into each of these aspects so you know just how to get started with creating a culture of loyalty:
1. Listen to what your employees are saying
And we don’t just mean asking for feedback. We are talking about really reaching out, hearing the voice of the employee, and acting on it.
Not only does this process make employees feel heard, but they feel like their voice matters. What they say can impact change, and as a result, they also feel more invested in your company’s journey and culture.
After all, they are a big part of it!
Pro Tip: Use eNPS to understand overarching sentiments, and send our regular pulse surveys (you can even make it anonymous) with open-text questions to make it easier for employees to speak up.
2. Offer a competitive EVP
Despite ongoing economic uncertainty, there’s a constant dearth of skilled employees. Even more so if you limit yourself to employees who truly know your company and your product well.
So, it’s safe to say that it’s very important to focus on improving retention, and one of the best ways to do this is to offer a competitive Employee Value Proposition (EVP).
After all, it’s not just enough to value your employees—you also need to demonstrate it. The best way to show your appreciation: offer them a competitive reason to stay with you.
3. Apply design thinking
Design thinking shifts the focus from the problem to the solution. It’s about thinking from the perspective of what employees really want. In order to solve future problems, measure the effectiveness of various solutions.
This way, you can implement and incorporate changes that make a difference in the long run, fine-tuning solutions that focus on enhancing employee engagement. Focus on putting yourself in the employees’ shoes and experimenting with solutions to see what truly has an impact. After all, in the same way that customers occasionally don’t know what they really want, sometimes employees don’t either. At times like this, sending out some short, quick surveys and polls can really help point you in the right direction for creating solutions that work for your organization!
4. Addressing the culture of burnout
In a work culture that prioritizes output over balance, it has become surprisingly hard to simply take time off. Just offering plenty of vacation time isn’t enough. Companies need to actively encourage their employees to take a break, go on holidays, and really start relaxing.
Not only does this help employees “switch it off” and come back to work more motivated, but it also empowers them to avoid burnout.
Work martyrs, or employees who push themselves far beyond their limit, are often rewarded for going above and beyond. But these are also the people who are more likely to be irritable and frustrated, often affecting the work culture.
So instead, companies need to stop rewarding overwork, ensure and encourage paid time off, while also (if possible) offering incentives like vacation stipends!
5. Invest in employee comfort
When you prioritize employees’ comfort and convenience beyond what they can do for you, you will be rewarded with employees who think about your business and prioritize productive output beyond the work you assign them. It will help you nurture a team of highly engaged people who each take ownership of their work, focusing on company success.
So, how can you do this? By starting programs that benefit your employees, implementing policies focused on their convenience, and ensuring they have a balanced workload. Some ways to go about this:
- Strike partnerships with local brands so employees can get a discount when they go shopping (this could be the nearby coffee shop, or perhaps even a grocery store).
- Implement hybrid working options so employees can always put their best foot forward. With the pandemic, working from an office is often seen as an inconvenience. By ensuring that your employees have the option to work from home and visit the office when they like, you will have people who really want to be there!
- Provide commute services to make it easier for employees to come in to work, or even a stipend to ensure it doesn’t cause them additional inconvenience.
- Ensure a balanced workload so teams aren’t overburdened. By strategically hiring new employees, you will ensure that your most experienced talent isn’t overburdened, but better poised to take on critical tasks, while newer talent is well trained to ensure the ball just doesn’t drop!
Understanding the current state of employee loyalty
These are just some of the ways in which companies can support their employees, increase engagement, and foster a loyal, cohesive workforce. However, every organization is different, as are the needs of their employees.
To implement an approach that truly resonates with your employees, begin by first asking them what they want. Provide options and focus on identifying engagement drivers to tailor a unique approach that has a powerful impact. Want to know where to start? SogoEX helps you identify employee sentiment in order to create an engagement strategy that works.
Want to learn more? Schedule your free demo with our experts and get started!
