Every leader wants his subordinates to begin their official duties with zeal. Indeed, I want them to come to work with joy, and move mountains during the working day. Therefore, it makes sense to ask what loyalty is. They should work solely for the idea and without worries about increasing wages.

What is the concept of loyalty?

Many managers, dreaming of a loyal employee, mean a trustworthy person. But these concepts are significantly different. Integrity is about following the norms, laws and rules that are accepted in the organization. But such actions may simply be a formality. Loyalty is based on the goals and desires of employees, which must completely coincide with the aspirations of the company.

What is employee loyalty? This is a situation where each employee strives to achieve the company's goals in his activities. This becomes possible if the aspirations coincide with his own vision of the future of the organization. Such a person is ready to put up with the current requirements of the company, as well as accept a number of others. If a company plans to operate in the market for a long time, then it must take care of the loyalty of its staff. This point in the work should be one of the leading ones. It is very important to be able to motivate employees. After all, the success of the company depends to the greatest extent on how deeply the manager understands what the loyalty of his subordinates is. This is a very important quality. And in the absence of one, it needs to be developed.

Undoubted benefits of loyal employees

Why is employee loyalty so important for a company? It is necessary to increase the success of the organization. Loyal employees are people who are highly valued for a number of qualities. They have the following characteristics:

1. The company is experiencing temporary difficulties.
2. Accept all organizational changes that occur in the organization.
3. They value a job in a particular company.
4. They try to perform their official duties as best as possible.
5. They use a creative approach in their activities.
6. Demonstrate responsibility.
7. They make every effort to improve the company's performance.

The importance of trust in work

The basis of all interpersonal relationships is trust. First you should take care of him, and then figure out what loyalty is. In the workplace, trust is demonstrated between a boss and an employee. Once this quality is lost, loyalty also decreases. Therefore, maintaining trusting relationships between immediate supervisors, top managers and employees is of no small importance.

Nowadays, almost every person who enters the labor market chooses an employer. He independently searches for a suitable vacancy. In this case, a considerable number of criteria apply. As if the applicant should interest the employer with his candidacy. But this is not the only factor. The employer must also be interesting to the applicant. This becomes possible through building mutual trusting relationships. The company's loyalty program is built specifically on them. Moreover, this process cannot occur instantly. It is characterized by long-termism.

In the absence of trust, loyalty actually decreases. Information is also essential in getting dedication from a person. The loyalty program of a successful company should give employees a clear idea of ​​the purpose of their work. A person experiences a desire to stop an action that he finds purposeless. When an employee lacks a sense of the company's goals, the quality of his work is greatly reduced.

In addition, with high rates of staff turnover and lack of initiative among employees, the atmosphere in the team deteriorates significantly. This leads to a decrease in the level of loyalty among colleagues. But if in a company there is external agreement among employees with all existing norms, then this is a signal. It is worth considering that such behavior does not actually indicate a complete consonance of interests. Most likely, such an attitude indicates indifference to what is happening in the office.

Mutual interests of the organization and employees

The management of any company must be, first of all, attentive to its subordinates. In this case, employees see that their opinions are noticed. That is, management values ​​each employee’s vision of the situation. In this case, team members become bolder, think better, and express their point of view. There is no need to accept their wishes completely. It is enough to listen to all opinions and tell what exactly will be implemented. If there is a divergence of interests, you need to voice the reasons and make sure that employees understand everything correctly. Thus, the loyalty system creates in people a sense of involvement in what is happening. As a result, the level of trust increases. And a place to work in an organization where the staff is treated humanely is valued quite highly.

The Importance of Personal Interests

Don't forget about the interests of your employees. They usually work not for an idea, but for the sake of earning money, career growth, a good entry in the work book, and gaining experience. The option of performing familiar duties in a “warm” place also has a right to exist. Therefore, an employer interested in the success of the company must take into account the personal wishes of its employees. Trust in the organization will undoubtedly increase if the manager uses an individual approach to each person. Increasing loyalty fails if cliché techniques are used. Employees see themselves treated as a faceless crowd. They quickly identify the behavior patterns of the company's top managers. And in their behavior they simply adapt to their superiors. There is nothing more behind this.

Employee Relations

When working, you should pay attention to relationships between colleagues. The more united the team is, the better the performance of the department or the entire company as a result. In any organization there are problem employees, as well as employees who are role models. But in this case, there is no need to identify the “axis of evil” and engage in its obvious elimination. This approach usually does not produce the expected result. You need to understand the situation by communicating with people. They must understand that a leader is not an overseer. A good boss is one who knows about the company's goals and how to implement them. Using the professional skills of each employee, a good manager will ensure that the company truly becomes successful. Employees see this approach and trust the organization more. They begin to take an interest in what is happening, reflect and introduce quite original ideas.

Incentive system

If a company has an incentive system, that's just great. Unless it should be monitored to ensure that all promises are actually fulfilled. Otherwise, the manager must go to the people who fulfilled the plan and say that there will be no increase in salary. He needs to explain the reason for what is happening. The immediate supervisor cannot say that the central office decided not to pay this bonus. He must explain the situation, for example, by the harsh machinations of competitors. This moment is very unpleasant. And usually such topics lead to a sharp decrease in employee trust in the company. If everything that the manager promises actually comes true, then employees work better. They trust the organization. Of course, they try harder to earn as many bonuses as possible.

That is, inducing employee loyalty is a very real task for every company. To do this, you need to show only a little attention to each subordinate in order to identify his personal expectations from this company. And based on this information, build relationships between this employee and the organization.

In short, loyalty is the customer’s positive attitude towards the image of the brand, its activities, the product being promoted, the company’s personnel and many other factors. As a rule, customer loyalty is determined by the fact that a person uses the company’s services (or purchases its goods) for a long time without leaving for competitors.

A similar term defines the attitude of staff towards the employer. Moreover, employee loyalty should be the goal of any manager, because this factor can significantly increase labor productivity, improve the environment in the team and bring many other benefits.

Let's take a closer look at both of these phenomena in our article today.

Customer loyalty

Speaking about what customer loyalty is, it is immediately worth noting the key importance of a positive user experience. If a person, along with the product, has a positive impression of working with you, then he is more likely to contact the company again.

A number of studies confirm that a person who is satisfied with a purchase is more likely to have a positive attitude towards other offers from the same brand. Moreover, including your audience in “privileged” loyalty programs, membership in which allows you to cooperate with you on exclusive terms, significantly strengthens the “loyalty” of your already most valuable users.

But you should not perceive the commodity-money aspect as the only way to leave a good impression. Remember that there are many companies on the market that provide similar services to yours - often at better prices. But this is not the only important thing for clients. If the brand image, the company’s mission, its social activity or attitude towards its business coincide with the user’s worldview, if you managed to create an emotional attachment of the audience to the brand, then people will agree to pay a little more - just to support you, or to feel involved.

Remember the huge queues in front of stores on the day that new Apple products went on sale. Do people who freeze for hours in these lines really crave profit? Not at all.

Further proof of how important it is to stimulate and build loyalty will be the following arguments:

• 20% of your customer base generates 80% of your revenue - the Pareto principle applies here too;
• a satisfied customer tells an average of three people about his experience, while a dissatisfied customer shares his negative experience with ten acquaintances;
• the funds spent on strengthening the loyalty of one client will pay off within a year of working with him.
• If you think that this is expensive, then what about the following figure? The costs of attracting a new customer are, as a rule, five times higher than retaining them;
• among other things, an increase in the number of satisfied customers by only 5% can increase your income by 50%.

From all of the above, it follows that audience loyalty is one of the most important factors in the development of your business. Now, having analyzed what customer loyalty is, let's talk about another aspect - no less important. Next we will talk about staff loyalty.

Employee loyalty

According to a number of studies, the basis for the rapid and stable development of an organization is precisely the loyalty of its staff. After all, the people, the team, are your everything. But many mistakenly consider ordinary trustworthiness to be loyalty - that is, formal adherence to internal regulations (public and private), as well as basic politeness. These concepts should not be confused. So, let’s look at what employee loyalty is and how to achieve it.

Loyalty is not a formal quality, but deep trust and respect, pride in one’s company. Ideally, if the global goals of the company and its mission coincide with the employee’s plans for the future, as well as with his worldview as a whole, then such loyalty is almost unbreakable. It is worth remembering that the basis of any relationship between people is trust. Not carrots and sticks, not a good social package and a coffee machine in the office, but simple human trust in one’s neighbor.

Therefore, for example, if you do not believe that your employees are able to work effectively with the ability to access social networks, and therefore block them, then you need to change something. Either the thinking, or the employees, or the procedure for selecting personnel. Although, of course, all cases are individual - much depends on the field of business and the specifics of the position.

But generally speaking, try to do the following. Your employees must perfectly understand the company's goals, share them and welcome them. Therefore, special attention should be paid to addressing the brand strategy and its mission. It's worth mentioning these things quite often. Next, give employees the opportunity to express their opinions, influence what is happening within the company, and actually grow in career and salary. An organization where employees have no voice and no prospects resembles a swamp - the natural solution is to either escape from there or adapt to the environment. That is, sit quietly in your place, creating only the appearance of work.

But what loyalty to a company really is - you will understand only after a long activity in this direction. Give people the opportunity to feel respect from managers and top managers, encourage employee initiatives, strengthen the corporate culture over time - and then, of course, you will form a real team of loyal professionals.

Each person, guided by intuition, can distinguish the loyal behavior of someone from the opposite. In general, it manifests itself in devotion to someone or something. If we talk about the loyalty of personnel in an organization, then here we are talking about devotion to the company, management and colleagues. A normal level of loyalty indicates that employees strive to conform to the organizational culture of the company, accept its policies and are ready to follow the principles defined by management to achieve common goals.

However, it is not always possible for the management of an enterprise to achieve the required level of loyalty of its own personnel, which entails a lot of problems. This article will help you understand what it is, how to determine the level, and will also tell you about ways to build staff loyalty within the company.

What it is?

Staff loyalty is a positive attitude of an employee or employee towards management, the organization’s policies and the team in which he works. Professional HR managers note that the basis is the desire of the company's employees to benefit it and avoid actions that could harm.

Differences from trustworthiness

It is worth noting that concepts such as staff loyalty and reliability are often confused. Integrity is following generally accepted norms in the organization, doing work appropriately to achieve common goals.

A trustworthy employee can do his job effectively, but at the same time he may be disloyal to management, the culture of the organization, and its principles. In general, an employee's trustworthiness indicates the degree of normativity of his behavior in relation to the company, and loyalty is the degree of tolerance and acceptance of the company.

Essence

From a psychological point of view, staff loyalty is a certain attitude that develops in employees a commitment and a sense of pride for working in a particular company. It should be remembered that such an employee is ready to put up with some requirements and deeply accept others. From this we can conclude that staff loyalty is correct, friendly behavior and respectful attitude towards management and colleagues.

Increasing loyalty in work teams always leads to the fact that employees begin to seek all internal and external resources and reserves to achieve the required, and sometimes maximum, performance. The loyalty of company personnel often helps in crisis situations and allows employees to constantly develop, improve their knowledge and find innovative ways to solve any work problems.

Required attributes

Every company that wants to develop and operate in the long term is obliged to take care of the appropriate level and development of staff loyalty. This is due to the fact that in general it is a key factor in the formation of professional motivation. Motivated, loyal employees value their jobs and strive to develop; they take all issues very seriously and are ready to make every effort to achieve the goals that their superiors have set for them.

Based on the above, it is important to remember that loyalty has its own mandatory attributes, namely:

• the employee’s sense of pride in being part of a team or company;
• undisguised, sincere demonstration of a friendly and respectful attitude towards management and colleagues;
• readiness to prevent dangers that could negatively affect the company;
• sincere concern for the success of the company and team;
• honesty towards the company, management and colleagues;
• desire to perform one's duties in the best possible way;
• willingness in certain situations to make small sacrifices for the sake of the company.

If an employee owns most of these attributes, then in this case we can say that he is absolutely loyal to the company and management.

Factors of occurrence

The process of managing staff loyalty is unthinkable without knowledge of what factors can influence its occurrence among employees of the organization. The following factors are identified:

• the employee’s existing experience (model of previous business relationships at previous places of work);
• personal values;
• providing due attention to the employee;
• feeling of pride.

It is worthwhile to dwell on each factor in more detail. Speaking about existing experience, they mean the degree of trust in the company that a person had at his previous place of work. In order to understand how difficult it will be to instill a sense of loyalty in a person, it is necessary to clarify with him during the interview how well he got along with colleagues and management at his previous place of work, what suited him and what outraged him, as well as what kind of relationship should be between colleagues and leadership. Based on the answers, you can determine how well a person will fit into the existing level of loyalty and how difficult it will be to instill this feeling in him.

The formation of personal values ​​is directly related to existing experience. A person’s beliefs about certain phenomena are extremely difficult to change. If a person is confident that professionalism does not affect career advancement, and that it is possible to get a highly paid position only by having personal connections, then it is difficult to expect behavior from him that indicates the opposite.

An extremely important factor in the formation of staff loyalty is the attention given to each employee by the enterprise. In this way, the importance of a person for the company can be noted. Perhaps this factor can also be called human, since when working with people it is important to emphasize that he is not just an employee, but part of one whole mechanism, and that he deserves the trust of the company. Here it is extremely important to remember that each person evaluates attention differently, since for one, congratulations on holidays will be enough, while for another there will be nothing better than financial encouragement, and for a third, determining an individual work schedule. But in any case, it must be remembered that the company’s attention to its employees must at the same time be comprehensive, adequate and not harm general discipline.

The next factor influencing the formation of loyalty is pride in belonging to the company and team. When a company achieves success, each employee experiences certain feelings, and if at the right time you point out to the staff that this is the merit of each of them, then you can increase the feeling of joy for the goals achieved and make employees proud of the team, themselves and the company as a whole.

Levels

The higher the level of staff loyalty, the more reliable the employee is for the company. The following levels are distinguished:

1. The first level, which consists of external attributes indicating belonging to the company. Wearing branded clothing, using branded ashtrays, cups or stationery is where any company should begin to work to increase staff loyalty. At this level, it is difficult to talk about complete trust in the enterprise, but there is a high probability that the employee will be able to feel part of it.
2. At the level of behavior, which involves following rules and complying with norms. At this level, loyalty manifests itself in the form of discussing business events in the company, collective congratulations to the management team, or sharing a snack at lunchtime.
3. At the level of abilities, it is expressed in accordance with the abilities of each employee to the requirements of the company. The right employee, when performing his daily work, adheres to the principles that his position requires, thereby reproducing the expected behavior. The formation of this level of loyalty should occur during the selection and hiring of personnel, taking into account the personal qualities of each candidate.
4. At the level of beliefs, it is expressed in full acceptance of the principles and beliefs of the company. This level is one of the highest, and achieving it is an extremely difficult task for management.
5. At the level of identity is the highest degree, since here every employee must believe in himself, the company and his colleagues. This level is expressed in the full acceptance of all beliefs, performing their work in the best possible way, and, most importantly, employees are ready to constantly improve themselves in order to comply with the company’s ideology.

Staff loyalty assessment

When studying loyalty in an enterprise, it should be remembered that research must be scientifically sound and necessarily comprehensive. When assessing the level of staff loyalty, it is best to resort to indirect methods.

At the time of study, it is necessary to take into account that it is directly related to the feeling of satisfaction, which subsequently has a connection with motivation. Thus, these indicators need to be assessed first. Even if an employee is loyal and decent, if he experiences any discomfort in the workplace, sooner or later he will leave it.

Just like motivation, loyalty has emotional and rational components, where the first includes faith in the idea, attachment to the team and management, and the second includes payment for work, conditions, professional development and social package. Therefore, it is first of all necessary to study these indicators in order to understand where staff may experience discomfort. Owning this data, any manager can eradicate the problem and thereby increase the level of loyalty on the part of the staff.

Determination of staff loyalty

As a rule, in order to determine the level available at an enterprise, various methods are used, but the most popular and effective is the method of O. E. Koroleva and L. G. Pochebut.

Its essence lies in the fact that employees are given cards with affirmative judgments, where they must indicate their agreement or disagreement with them, using a gradation of answers expressed in a numerical range from 1 (disagree) to 11 (completely agree). It is extremely important that out of 36 questions proposed in this methodology, only 18 are assessed.

Loyalty development programs

Having determined the level, it is important to answer the questions whether it sufficiently satisfies the company today, whether it is worth raising it, and if so, how to do it.

For most organizations, the first two levels are sufficient, since there is no point in increasing loyalty among those employees whose activities are strictly regulated and all processes are controlled. In this case, even with zero loyalty, the company will not suffer. But if we are talking about middle and senior managers, then it should be taken into account that they must have a high level of commitment and faith in the company.

Each company independently chooses ways to increase loyalty based on its capabilities. However, in order to expect a level increase, it is important to satisfy the following three components:

• increase the level of trust in superiors;
• increase job satisfaction;
• build fair relationships within the enterprise.

The main conditions for increasing loyalty

Increasing loyalty is a complex event, so it is important to remember about special moments and conditions. In this process, you should remember the following conditions:

1. All company managers should be interested in promotion.
2. Increasing loyalty is only profitable if the company is committed to long-term employment relationships with staff.
3. The owner must be prepared for additional material costs.
4. The person responsible for increasing loyalty must have the authority that will allow him to coordinate and manage this process.

It is best to assign this responsibility to the head of the personnel department or first deputies. In this way, all the above conditions will be met.

Impact on staff turnover

If a company has set a course for long-term work, then increasing loyalty is one of the first activities that it must implement. Therefore, managers at all levels should remember this factor and make efforts to prevent a conscious decrease in the level of loyalty.

Dissatisfied, unmotivated and disloyal employees will leave the workplace at the first opportunity, finding a more suitable one for them, which will bring certain losses to the company (temporary, financial). And, conversely, employees who have a good attitude towards management, the team and the company will not simply leave it.

Conclusion

To summarize, it is worth noting that staff loyalty is the key to the success of any company. Therefore, it is extremely important to remember that by paying due attention to this issue, you can create a highly professional team that can solve any problem and achieve the necessary goals for the benefit of your company.

At the very beginning, it is worth saying that in general, staff loyalty is the loyalty and devotion between an employer and an employee during the period of their employment relationship.

What exactly is the loyalty of an organization's staff?

The term "loyal" comes from the Old French word loyal (its source is the Latin word lex), and also from the Latin legalis - meaning "law-abiding, honest and fair in dealings with people and organizations." Loyalty is evidence of employee trust in the company's leaders, mission, and goals. This is a state where there is a sense of common interests, a common destiny and relationship between employees and company management. When loyalty is widespread, we are dealing with self-motivation of employees, a sense of responsibility for the results and fate of the company.

Along with the growing sense of responsibility, involvement also grows, which makes it possible to loosen control over the employee. A loyal employee is willing to work for the company and its success is seen as personal success. Loyalty is formed mainly due to the manager’s personality, characteristics or knowledge.

Loyalty is a kind of ethical value. The following factors are important for a faithful employee:

• high self-esteem is associated with positive impact of the work process;
• positive experience related to the functions performed;
• satisfaction with pay;
• the presence of bonuses not related to functional responsibilities (lunch payment, free travel).

The Labor Code, as the main source regulating the rights and obligations of both parties in labor relations, does not relate loyalty to the obligations of the employer or employee. However, “loss of trust in the employee” may be one of the reasons for dismissal.

The role of the degree of employee loyalty in the work of the organization

Employee loyalty is a variable value and changes over time as the relationship between employees and the organization develops. Assessing staff loyalty can help determine its degree, because commitment can be a valuable resource in an organization’s strategy because:

• affects the stability of employment, and thereby economic sustainability;
• contributes to strengthening customer satisfaction and loyalty;
• the ability to work and the return on training increases;
• costs associated with searching, hiring and training new employees are reduced;
• a large proportion of loyal employees allows for more effective planning in the organization, and therefore ensures the achievement of economic goals.

Driving motives

Managing the loyalty of an organization's personnel is possible, but first it is necessary to identify the motives. What motivates a loyal employee? This is a very important question.

Motives may depend on external reasons, as well as on the character and personality traits of a person.

They can be divided into rational-functional and emotional-symbolic.

The formation of rational-functional motives is a direct consequence of staying in the organization (availability of wages as a result of long years of service, easier access to leadership positions, possession of organizational knowledge).

Emotional-symbolic - affective motives arising from feelings and emotions (relationships with other employees of the organization, satisfaction with cooperation with them).

The motives of a loyal employee may differ from those listed. For example, the internal desire for obedience, submission and flawless execution of instructions. Employee loyalty is a complex concept, and internal mechanisms have a major influence on its intensity and nature. Let's look at their types:

• trust is a relationship between two parties, which is based on the confidence that the assigned tasks will be carried out with full responsibility;
• habit - means a skill, a kind of automatism;
• Commitment to the organization is understood as identifying one’s goals with the goals and values ​​of the company, perceiving the goals of the organization as one’s own.

Based on the above internal mechanisms, it is possible to create a typology of such a complex phenomenon as loyalty. We can distinguish the following types:

• conscious - the employee consciously chose the organization and work in it, he is used to it, but his commitment to the organization is low;
• rational - the employee is used to working in the organization and trusting the employer, but his commitment to the organization is not high;
• involved - great trust and participation in the affairs of the organization, taking into account the level of wages and the remuneration system;
• partnership is a very high level of commitment to the organization, trust and habit;
• routine - lack of commitment and trust, it is just a habit;
• forced - no opportunity to change employer, lack of trust and commitment;
• permissive - limited participation with existing trust and habit.

Formation and increase of loyalty

With monetary motivation, a certain level of loyalty is developed, but it cannot be called true. Therefore, non-financial methods are used to increase staff loyalty, which, depending on the industry, can take different forms. Let's consider their options:

• allocated parking space;
• thirteenth salary, payment for lunches;
• sick leave without sick leave;
• massage therapist in the office;
• lack of dress code;
• training at company expense;
• motivating hours;
• personal psychologist or coach;
• interesting original projects;
• overseas business trips.

Using the above can increase employee commitment.

Loyalty— unconditional: a positive attitude and emotional attachment, which are the determining factors in making any decisions regarding the object of loyalty.
(TCG definition)

When we say that the client is loyal to the company, we mean exactly that: his attitude and affection determine his decisions regarding the company.
(instead of “company” you can substitute “product”, “brand”, etc.)
A loyal customer prefers your company, despite the fact that someone else offers him better prices, location, assortment, quality, time, continue the list yourself.

In order for the Client to become loyal to your company, the company must become loyal to the client.
In our experience, this idea is the most difficult for many people in business to understand.
We encounter this difficulty at seminars and trainings, but most of all during consulting, when we help build loyalty systems.

Although it's actually quite simple.
Long-term loyalty, like Love, can only be mutual.
How long does unrequited Love last? As a rule, not very much.
It's the same with loyalty.

What is “Company Loyalty to the Client”?
Let's look at the beginning of the text, at the definition.
...
Exactly!
A company's relationship and commitment to a customer determines its decisions regarding that customer.
Many now remember how they or they (it doesn’t matter) were told: “Well, we’ll do this and that for the client, but how can the client not buy even more from us in return? It won’t take long to go broke!” and refused to introduce any improvement.
Firstly, if it is " let's do it” refers to discounts, bonuses, etc., then yes, we agree, this is indeed the path to both the loss of customers and losses. (for more details, see text)
Secondly, please remember any “client case” that friends or acquaintances enthusiastically told you about. Let me guess, this was due to the fact that an employee of some company made a decision in their favor, and, as a rule, unexpectedly for them.
Go back to the definition and re-read it again.
Thirdly, for contrast, remember how your friends told you about a situation when they were dissatisfied with some store or service. There, the decision was made in the interests of the company, not the client, right?

And when you come to the understanding that customer loyalty is essentially secondary, and is derived from the company’s loyalty to him, you inevitably have a question “But how can we achieve this very loyalty of the company to the client?”
We know how to do this for you.
We know how to do this.
And we will definitely talk about this.
But next time.