Loyalty Part 3 - The Company

Thanks to Taren for calling today and getting me on topic. Loyalty to a company often means two things. One, getting employees "engaged", which is more of a marriage reference than we realize and Two, making employees feel the company has a stake in them. These two items constitute a major focus of HR efforts. We don't just hire someone; we select, onboard and orient them. All of this intended to make the newbie feel part of the group and focused on company goals. We strive to provide initial job training that helps them feel successful from the start and then provide growth training that gets them to their next desired step. This is motivating for those capable of the current job and with potential to be capable of the next job. Supposedly good hiring makes this so for all employees (really...). We construct feedback processes for good work, bad work and even average work, so everyone knows where they stand and how to impact their compensation and career future. HR even takes the effort and expense to survey the employees and ask what they feel about the job, work relationships and management. Then we build leadership and soft skills training into the management learning programs to make the managers better at retaining our employees. What was that word I just used? Retaining? Yes, every program, entitlement, perq and feedback process exists for one purpose. They all serve the bottom line function of keeping knowledgeable people at the company’s beck and call to please customers and encourage more business. All of this without the cost of hiring and training new people and managing dysfunctional employee relationships like lawsuits and regulatory complaints. Loyalty to the employer is a function of hitting the job satisfaction sweet spot for the right employees. Now we are back to my discussion on moving targets. Good luck!