I read recently that employee loyalty is on the decline. One Wharton business school article, called Declining Employee Loyalty: A Casualty of the New Workplace, noted that according to MetLife’s 10th annual survey of employee benefits, trends and attitudes (released in March), employee loyalty is at a seven-year low. The survey revealed that one in three employees plans to leave his/her job by the end of the year. Other studies show, the average company loses 20% to 50% of its employee base each year.
On one hand, I thought “The economy is definitely improving if people are feeling secure enough to move.” On the other, I thought, “There’s something systemically wrong with those companies’ approach to employee satisfaction.”
At Clearfield, we take employee morale very seriously. In fact, our sixth core value is Celebrate. (Right after: Listen, Recognize, Understand, Collaborate and Deliver.) We believe in celebrating the successes of our employees by doing little things, like ringing the sales bell whenever a sizable sale is made, and in bigger ways, like incentive bonuses. But, it’s all the things in between that matter most.
Over the years, I’ve come to realize that employees cannot be motivated by external means to succeed. They have to feel the fire inside them. But, if they don’t feel challenged and respected every day, that fire dies.
What have you done to spark an employee or colleague today?
To see the Knowledge@Wharton article sited above, go to: (https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/declining-employee-loyalty-a-casualty-of-the-new-workplace/)