Is employee loyalty dead?

Reading time: 10 minutes

A couple of organizational leaders and I met for drinks a few days ago. Our discussion meandered gently towards one of us expressing frustration around employee loyalty, or rather, the lack thereof. We talked through the evolution of employee loyalty and had a heated debate soon after around what are realistic expectations as leaders when it comes to employee loyalty.

As someone who loves to focus on what I can control, in my opinion, employee engagement is a gauge of loyalty as it can be measured and experienced. My hope is hence to provide some perspective on employee loyalty vs. employee engagement and how leaders can enable improved employee engagement. Also, I strongly feel that Loyalty is a long-term by-product of deeper engagement achieved between the individual and their work environment and its leaders/team members and the overall organization's vision.

The dictionary meaning of loyalty led me down a bit of a rathole.

The definition of loyalty is unswerving in allegiance. The examples called out all focus on one word; Faithful. My favorites; "firm in adherence to promises or in observance of duty" and "given with strong assurance". It felt very dutiful, authoritative, and somewhat top-down and hierarchical in its definition. It felt heavy on imposed expectations.

Simplistically, I believe loyalty equates to our circumstantial expectation of someone or something. Human beings expect loyalty from peers, our spouse, friends, pets, etc. When you translate that to the professional realm, organizations, and leaders define loyalty as allegiance depicted to a company, team or a manager against all odds; a heavy expectation to burden employees with.

Employee loyalty is achieved when there is a balance between the organization's goals and its success and the employee's career aspirations and their best interests. 

So how do we as leaders lighten the load? How do we promote a sense of loyalty to the organization, team or our leadership?

By focusing on engagement versus loyalty.

When posed with options, employees choose to either leave or stay with the same team, organization or company based on how deep their engagement is with their leadership and organization. Always remember the 5 C's of why someone is drawn to a new job: Compensation, Culture, Career options and progression, Cost of living and Commute time. 

Below are 7 key guidelines for leaders to improve employee engagement.

1. Manage your mindset.

Loyalty is easy to expect. Trust, respect, and consistency are key for us to reciprocate with our loyalty. If you are looking for loyalty from your employees, embody what you would like them to reciprocate. This will lead to active engagement and involvement with positive drive and energy; a sense of "let's get $hit done...together!". Loyalty is attained by doing the right thing consistently. People enjoy working for leaders who truly care and in turn, connect with them. 

2. Lead vs Rule

Do you lead or do you want to rule? Employees are energized and hence more engaged if they are led. Hierarchy is where loyalty and its expectations sit. Equality is where engagement blossoms and leads to long-term loyalty. Respect, a key driver for loyalty is also almost always earned with better engagement. As leaders, your loyalty to your team and its members will translate to their loyalty in return. The team and the organization will mirror you. Lead by example, practice what you preach. Visual, verbal and character incongruencies do not promote a sense of "he or she can be trusted". Without trust, expecting loyalty is a pipe dream.

3. Continuous investment

Invest in your team with minimal expectation for retention. Inspire your team to do better every day by showing them a path to success. Help them understand the need to focus on growth and its balance with milestones and goals. Inculcate a can-do attitude that will energize individuals and teams to focus on collective outcomes.

4. Understand the tradeoffs

Focus on the intersection between organizational and personal growth. If your employee's growth is stalling under your tutelage and the team environment, make the tough yet right call. Do what is right for the employee and business by finding the team where the intersection between personal aspiration and organizational needs are larger. Ensure you have an open conversation with your employee to ensure they are aligned on the challenge and the potential solutions.

5. Listen with humility

Listening is one of the key leadership traits of great leaders. Ask more open-ended questions. Build a platform for transparency and openness on your team where your team can feel comfortable voicing their concerns in a healthy, respectful manner.

6. Reward performance

It is ok to ask an employee "what constitutes a tangible reward?" for them. Benefits such as free food and other perks can easily camouflage a toxic culture or environment. Not everyone is motivated by the money, visibility, open recognition in a team or organizational setting, promotions, titles, etc. Its usually a mix of those and we are all unique. Asking for clarity from your individual team members helps all. This helps the leaders reward the employee with what they want and not what the organization can give.

7. Life > Loyalty

An employees choice to exit or move on does not equate to disloyalty. There are multiple drivers behind why an employee would consider other options. Loyalty towards you and the organization does not supersede an individual contributor doing the right thing for themselves and their families.

To close out on loyalty versus engagement, a humble ask of all leaders; focus on what you can control. What you can control is how you show up, how you care and how you lead.

As leaders, we can only control our actions and their underlying intent to grow engagement and invest in our teams. Remember, this does not equate to the members on the team being receptive to the process. There are times we as leaders will do all we can and it will still not be enough. At that point, remember to always do what's right for the organization and the employee by helping them align with a new role and transition to using their strengths.

All good things then follow and usually begin with energized employee engagement which might translate to their loyalties towards you, your leadership, the team or the organization and its leadership.

In all cases, focus on growing your team. Trust, respect and eventually, loyalty follows.