The Changing Face of Loyalty

Written by Liz Peace CBE, Holtby Turner

 

Liz Peace CBE explains what loyalty means today and why it is important in an extract from our insight report The Changing Face of Loyalty. As ex CEO of the British Property Federation and now Non-Executive Director at Holtby Turner Executive Search, she has an expert eye on real estate and the people in it. 

Does your heart sink when one of your employees comes sheepishly into the office and announces that they have been offered a new job and will be off once they have worked their notice? What goes through your mind – a sense of betrayal, feeling wounded over their lack of loyalty or, more pragmatically, an inward groan at all the effort you will now have to expend to and a replacement?

We have all been through this – and sometimes on the giving rather than receiving end. But we have probably not stopped to think very deeply about how employee loyalty is changing and the consequences of it for our business. And perhaps we are also too slow to appreciate the benefits that a more mobile workforce brings.

Once upon a time, if you had a good job then you expected it to be for life. But that is not how younger generations think – indeed the much talked about ‘millennials’ are increasingly restless and do not expect to stay in one place for more than 3 or 4 years. And can you blame them?

If they are going to have to work until they are 70 plus, then it is not surprising that they will want variety, increasing opportunities for self development, even complete career changes.

Secondly, leavers can provide a useful and perhaps sometimes painful audit of company culture and practice and how it is perceived both internally and by external stakeholders. So if you are keen to improve your business, it is vital to conduct a proper and thorough exit interview. If you don’t feel strong enough to be told the truth directly then get somebody from an outside consultancy to do it for you.

Lastly, employers need to make sure they have the right sort of internal support services and external advisors
to move swiftly to manage the hiring of new people – so that it is not a chore but rather an exciting way of adding
new dimensions to the business. I would suggest that it is important to have the right attitude to people movement.

As The Changing Face of Loyalty points out, departures should not be seen as a cause for despair but rather as an opportunity to re-think areas of the business, to redesign systems and structures and to offer different challenges to existing staff. People moving on should also be seen as an opportunity to create ambassadors for your product or service – provided of course that you have been able to offer a positive employment experience. Mobility is a new given so it is important we are all prepared to manage it, to embrace it and to create business advantage out of it.

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