Employee loyalty: Reality or just a dream?

PROBABLY no business topic has been more researched, more discussed and more thoroughly examined than that of employee loyalty. Does it still exist? If so, what factors have the most impact? Does external motivation create loyalty or does it have to come from within the person?In the interest of full disclosure (as politicians and lawyers are so fond of saying), I am not a psychologist, demographer or statistician. However I have worked in the field of incentive program design (not just travel) for almost 30 years, managed staff , written two management guides (“The New Supervisor: Skills for Success” and “Delegation Skills”, published by McGraw Hill) and earned an MBA degree along the way.If you’re reading this article, you probably work in travel or tourism. For that reason, I’ll keep the focus on our own industry. Is there still such a thing as a loyal employee?The short answer is, yes! However the rightenvironment for creating employee loyalty is greatly affected by two factors: the culture where you live and your age.There is an important third factor: individual preferences. Demographers have created a number of generational and cultural descriptions to categorise people and explain their behaviour however you can always find exceptions to all of them.The one universal factor in having loyal employees is a positive and supportive work environment. The problem is defining what that means.If you work in a culture where group consensus and teamwork take priority over individual initiative and action, a supportive environment would recognize group accomplishments and avoid internal competition. Conversely, in an individual - oriented environment, the reverse would be true.Many studies cite higher loyalty among older workers than younger ones as they tend to have fewer jobs during their career. However younger workers have come of age at a time where change in the workplace is more rapid and people tend to change positions more frequently. That doesn’t necessarily make them less loyal on any particular job.Individuals within the same culture and age group may well respond differently to the same stimuli. Which brings us back to the tourism and travel industry and another often asked question.Does external motivation work in creating loyalty or does it have to be internal?The answer to this one is easy – What difference does it make as long as you get results? As an incentive industry professional, I’m concerned with performance, loyalty and results and how best to achieve them. It’s irrelevant whether loyalty comes from external influence or internal drive. In any group of people you’ll like find both answers to be true.Some people are loyal and work hard to earn an incentive trip because they want the recognition for being a top performer. Others do it because they love the prize and think it’s worth the effort. As an employer, does the reason for this to work really make any difference to you?It will always come back to a positive nurturing environment where employees feel wanted, career paths can be established, training is provided and people work well together. What’s the best motivator to create loyalty?The answer to that question depends on who is responding. Many studies have been done on the subject and the answers seem to vary widely depending on the individual. It could be job security, perks, compensation, the work itself, the culture and environment of the business, etc.With studies dating back some 20 years, we’ve learned that money is important, however it’s rarely the number one motivator for any employee. A study done in the US and Canada some 15 to 20 years ago asked managers to rank what they thought was most important to their employees and asked the employees of the same companies to rank what they personally felt was most important to them in their job.The managers ranked “salary or compensation” as the number one factor for their employees. The employees on average, ranked that in fifth place. More important to employees were respect, recognition for doing good work, a comfortable friendly work environment, etc. It was a real eye opener for businesses that always assumed more money was all that mattered. Thank goodness! If the results had been different, we might not have an incentive travel industry.