Check out part one of this series for even more employee loyalty ideas to boost buy-in across your remote and hybrid workers!
Prioritize their well-being
Employees want work-life balance. That has to come from the example set by their employer and the company’s expectations of them.
If the company expects people to reply to emails outside of working hours, or work to tight deadlines, an employee is far more likely to have a worse work-life balance and burn out faster. This is an important factor when considering employee loyalty ideas.
When you prioritize employees’ well-being, they get more time to recharge their batteries.
To do this, you both need to draw clear boundaries around working hours and personal hours. It’s also important to provide employees with time back when they work overtime.
It’s not just about that, though.
Provide support
How can you support your employees?
Could you offer subsidized childcare, pension plans, or healthcare?
In some countries these things are legal requirements, but in others they’re not.
So it’s worth considering what’s a legal requirement in your country and what, morally, feels like the right way to support your employees.
It’s even more important to implement these types of employee loyalty ideas during challenging and stressful times.
Take away unnecessary uncertainty
When we live in uncertain times it causes stress and anxiety. This affects our moods and our ability to concentrate and deliver our best work. It can also seriously affect the success of any employee loyalty ideas.
We all remember how stressful Covid-19 was, and the impact it had. Many of us were left feeling more fatigued than usual despite doing less.
This was because it was the most uncertain time many of us have ever lived through. We had no idea what was going to happen from one day to the next. This extra worry subconsciously left us drained.
When employees work in unpredictable, uncertain environments, it recreates this stress.
The longer their situation is uncertain for, the more likely it is that that stress will mutate. It can show up as depression, anxiety, or even chronic pain like migraines or fibromyalgia.
So, how can you support your employees and remove unnecessary uncertainties?
Is it through better communication, even when times are tough?
Is it taking their opinions into account?
Getting more support yourself from someone else within the organization?
Practice what you preach
It’s all very well and good telling employees to do something, but if you’re not willing to do that thing yourself, asking them can come across as hypocritical. It can also be really frustrating for employees. Why should they have to do something that you’re not willing to do?
For example, if you want to grow your employer brand on social media, the best way to do it is through your employees sharing what life is like at your business from their own profiles.
But if they don’t see their leaders posting, they’re going to feel more apprehensive about doing so. Leading by example is one of the more straightforward employee loyalty ideas you can incorporate.
Strong leadership
If you show that you care about your business and colleagues, employees are much more likely to follow your lead. They’ll mirror your loyalty.
But that starts with you modeling the types of behavior you want to see and being a strong leader.
It means talking to your team even when things are hard. And it means being able to make the tough decisions.
Check in regularly
The only way you’re going to know what’s really going on with your employees is by checking in regularly. Knowing what’s going on should be the foundation of your employee loyalty ideas.
In large businesses it’s impossible for senior leadership to speak to everyone.
But you should make an effort to connect periodically with employees from all levels. That way, they don’t feel like you’re just a figurehead and decisions ripple down from you to them. They should feel able to communicate with you.
Team leaders and managers should also have regular catch-ups with their direct reports. This allows them to keep team members informed of what’s happening. Plus, it helps solve any problems before they cause more significant issues.
It also ensures that if employees have personal problems, don’t get along with their colleagues, or clients are causing a headache, they’re not dealing with those issues alone.
Encourage learning and development
Encouraging employees to grow their skills inside and outside of the business has huge benefits for everyone.
It’s great for our brains to learn new things. That could be a new language, a new skill we can use at work, or a different form of exercise. These new skills create new connections in our brains, which keeps them healthy and can improve our moods.
Businesses, meanwhile, get the benefits of employees’ improved health and mood, leading to greater productivity. But those aren’t the only ways businesses can benefit from employee learning and development.
When employees continue to upskill throughout their careers, it helps them stay competitive. And, as a result, so does your business. It’s one of the employee loyalty ideas that’s a true win-win.
That way, employees have the latest industry knowledge—and they may even have other peripheral skills that competitors’ employees don’t have—that can boost productivity, find new cost-saving measures, and discover more creative ways to solve problems.
The more knowledge and experience they can bring to the table, the greater the benefits to you.
Conclusion
Remote and hybrid workers need to know that you trust them. That means investing in everything from their office equipment to their well-being to their personal brand to their learning and development.
Sure, there’s the possibility that they’ll leave after you’ve spent all that money.
But if they leave on positive terms, they’re far more likely to come back. And they’re going to boost your employer brand either way by speaking so highly of you. This can help you tap into a new talent pool, attracting more great employees. In this way, your employee loyalty ideas can lead to an even more loyal workforce over the long-term.
No employee will stick around forever. But if you can foster a sense of loyalty, it will boost not only your employer brand, but your customer brand, too. And that can only lead to positive things for your business.
Ready to get started on implementing some of these employee loyalty ideas? Why not check out some tools that can make things easier?
Workrowd’s user-friendly platform gives employees one-stop shopping for everything that makes them love their employer. You can centralize events, groups, programs, information, and more, all in the same place where you collect employee feedback. It’s a no-brainer, and a great way to get quickly up-to-speed on using these employee loyalty ideas.
If this sounds interesting for your organization, visit us online to learn more or send us a quick note at hello@workrowd.com.
