Loyal workers are invaluable but seemingly scarcer than ever these days. Gaining employees' loyalty involves walking a fine line between building a relationship based on mutual respect and concern without getting too personal.
In the not-so-distant past, loyal employees were the norm rather than the exception. There used to be an almost family-like relationship in employment, where employees and employers looked out for one another. The world and business along with it has changed though, and now employees look out more for themselves as employers no longer promise a lifetime career. People do not remain in jobs as long as they used to and will readily change jobs to get new skills, more money, and more responsibility.
Because high employee turnover can negatively affect the success of a business, what can an employer do about this new norm? You can work to engender feelings of mutual interest and concern between your business and your employees. Before employees will feel loyal to you, they have to know they can trust you to be fair, and to consider their interests as well as your own.
There's no foolproof method for gaining someone's loyalty, but many of the same things that hold true in a personal relationship apply in an employment relationship as well. The keys to a positive relationship are trust and respect. When employees feel respected, they will generally respect you and the business in return.
The following are some hints for gaining an employee's respect and trust:
On the other hand, the following is what you should avoid doing:
Once employees feel that you will treat them fairly and sense that you care about them as people, you will be more likely to inspire in them a concern for the well-being of the business and the quality of their work. But keep it professional. Make sure that you don't cross any lines or make the employer-employee relationship too personal.
It's tough to walk the fine line between trying to develop a relationship of mutual trust and respect and getting personally involved with your employees. No matter what happens, you are still in a professional relationship with your employees that requires a certain amount of distance.
While there's no law that says you can't get personally involved in your employees' lives, doing so can trigger complaints that you have violated harassment or privacy laws. It's easy to see that employer/employee boundaries are necessary to protect you and your business. Getting too personal is not a good idea.
Some of the problems that can crop up if your relationship with an employee is too close for comfort include:
The bottom line? Be a concerned employer, but make sure that there's a professional distance between you and your employees at all times.