Keeping staff loyal

Keeping staff loyal

 

Thomas Cook is going back to basics as new Chief Executive Harriet Green takes over. She says “You need to be really working on the psychology of the business, building belief, beginning to rebuild a culture, giving people a self, a sense of renewed self-esteem”.

Often employers can fall into the trap of taking staff for granted (especially temporary staff!) without really acknowledging the work they have put in. This can certainly occur in businesses whose management is tiered, as the lowest ranking workers will probably never meet the highest. 

Ms Green also noted that she had styled her approach to the company. She had recognised the culture and adapted her behaviour accordingly – an incredibly important aspect of achieving employee loyalty. A companies culture is something which should be nurtured – do you take this into consideration when taking on new staff? Is there a strong enough culture to be able to do this? 

A happy workforce is one that will be happy to go the extra mile for you, and will effortlessly shine for you in a crisis. A worker that is proud to be working for you will not be slandering your name across social media platforms, or taking short cuts in their duties as an act of rebellion against a company they hate working for. 

Also, staff that enjoy their work and respect their boss will be those who don’t find any excuse to stay off work. Simple, really – if you hate your job, and you had some kind of excuse to stay off, you’d take it right? Same situation in a job you love, you’d find a way around it. 

What can you do then, to make sure you’re keeping employees happy and motivated?

– ASK! Allow your staff to inform you what they’d really like.
– Treat – this can range from gifts (if you’ve made conversation and found out what they like, even better) to early finishes/days off. Depending on the type of company your run, could you give extra discounts on products?
– Have fun! Organise theme days, dress up, bake offs, betting systems – just something to allow staff a little fun, a laugh, and interaction with colleagues.
– Set regular, achievable goals and recognise when these are met. Include these in a staff newsletter, give a gift, or even just a circulatory email so that everyone can praise the worker. Not only will the sense of pride be a reward, it will improve worker productivity as they strive for this praise.

Maybe you have already began to generate ideas on how you can reward your staff. Let us know!

Source: BBC