Grappling with staff loyalty

Grappling with staff loyalty

By June Bennett

JAKARTA (JP): It has been reported that some organizations
choose loyalty over skills when recruiting staff. These
organizations should consider the ramifications this could have
on their operations.

Loyalty has several interpretations. It is obedience,
faithfulness or being firm in one's belief in something.

Even if employers think they know what they want in terms of
loyalty, how do they measure it in an interview, and likewise,
how do they assess whether an individual has the aptitude to be
trained to be a proficient worker?

Psychometric and aptitude tests are available but they may not
be reliable or suitable for your purpose. It is a well-documented
fact that decisions on whether we engage an individual are often
made within the first few minutes of an interview, when it is
impossible to have had the opportunity to fully explore an
individual's abilities.

Employers should engage in professional recruitment and
selection practices if they want an effective and efficient
workforce.

For organizations to be successful, Belbin suggests they
require workers who have between them a variety of personal
characteristics, including conservativeness, discipline,
reliability, maturity, confidence, trust, outgoingness, dynamism,
imagination, cleverness, unorthodox, extroversion, enthusiasm,
curiosity, soberness, intelligence, objectivity, and the ability
to communicate.

The team of workers also needs to be social, accommodating and
perceptive.

The ramifications of this need to be considered. For example,
a team can become more loyal to itself than to the organization.
Employees who are "company workers" may be loyal to the
organization, but an organization that is mainly resourced by
such employees will not have all the ingredients to enable it to
move; it will stagnate. There will be individuals who will try to
organize and those who use unorthodox methods to solve problems.
It cannot be guaranteed then that every worker will take the
company line.

Some employers say they want employees who will do as they
say. They wish to control them, which is shortsighted. On the
other hand, employers across the world say they need people who
have initiative, are creative and entrepreneurial. These
individuals are not going to do as they are told. Employers have
to accept that they cannot have it both ways and they do need
these people in today's rapidly changing work environment.

These situations may feel uncomfortable or undesirable but
they are a necessity if the organization wants to be successful.
It is exactly these challenges to the status quo which, if
managed professionally, can help both the individual and the
organization to grow.

What people want from work changes as economic and employment
situations change. If individuals feel threatened, where will
their loyalty lie? When there is high unemployment, workers look
for job security. This should not be interpreted as loyalty to
the company. Individuals could be loyal to themselves and their
family. In times of full employment, workers look for
appreciation and recognition of work done and a feeling of being
involved. Loyalty comes way down the list.

Companies must move forward and integrate new techniques and
technology if they are to be competitive in the marketplace, and
even more so as globalization increases. If this requires change,
and it is mismanaged, then people will feel insecure. Some people
may lose their job or be redeployed. What price loyalty then?

If loyalty comes from fear, then it is not so desirable. There
is a saying in the west "the worm eventually turns". This could
result in your employees working to rule, being unhelpful,
withdrawing their goodwill, taking long spells in the restroom
and on the company telephone, an increase in absences, poor
quality work, theft and sabotage, to name but a few practices.

The employment of such tactics is likely to be the result of
some long term grievance. The employees consider the
psychological contract has not been met. The consequences for
your company could be dire and this is well documented. If you
want employees to be loyal to you then you must be loyal to them.

Employers may hope that control in the workplace will avoid
conflict and that employees will not challenge the way things are
done. Many people cannot handle criticism but we should remember
it is usually specific and not personal.

Conflict handled badly can lead to the negative practices
identified earlier. Employers who cannot manage conflict will
look upon it negatively from the beginning and will "go for" the
employees who they think will not challenge the status quo. These
employers should consider the consequences of such decisions.

Employers must learn to manage conflict and criticism
constructively. It must be identified as a positive force in the
workplace as it is an important factor in an organization's
development.

Employers have every right to be concerned if they invest in
training individuals who then leave and take their skills to
another company. Surely, it is unethical and immoral to keep
someone "tied" if they are dissatisfied. To be considered, also,
is that the quality of their work will be poor and that training
goes on all through our lives. In our rapidly changing
environment today's training could be out of date tomorrow!

Retraining unsatisfactory employees, or holding on to staff
when there is no work for them, because of this "loyalty thing",
could be about saving face. It certainly is not an effective use
of a resource, nor is it loyal to anyone.

How does loyalty manifest itself in the workplace? I was
always taught that loyalty in the workplace works two ways, both
up and down. It is not just about the employer being benevolent,
paternalistic and keeping someone in employment. It is about both
parties fulfilling a contract objectively set at engagement. It
is about the psychological contract and the fulfilling of
promises.

Organizations that support this philosophy suggest it
engenders loyalty. They recruit individuals with the appropriate
skills, abilities, attributes and experience to enable them to
undertake their duties efficiently and effectively. Individuals
obtain job satisfaction. This, and praise, engenders loyalty. You
have a team that is self motivated, productive and controls
itself. There is no need for control or coercion.

If the psychological contract is not fulfilled employees will
feel, rightly or wrongly, that the organization has been disloyal
to them, resulting in their energies, motivation and enthusiasm
being focused outside their place of employment.

Employers should recognize the fact that loyalty is engendered
by the fulfillment of the psychological contract, and that
loyalty works both ways and is only one of many attributes being
sought at recruitment. If there are to be changes, inform your
employees. This is being loyal. Not informing people is disloyal
and cowardly and is the domain of those who have not learned to
manage conflict. There is a need to realize that people who ask
questions are beneficial to an organization and that they should
not be shut out. These individuals are actually demonstrating
loyalty.

It should be accepted that it will not always be possible to
get a return on their investment in training. If employees wish
to leave, then a release fee could be negotiated, but, it is also
necessary to identify why individuals wish to leave your
organization. Usually this has nothing to do with money but about
promises unfulfilled. Individuals may wish to leave because their
talents are not being used.

In conclusion, we should not employ someone just because it is
thought they will be loyal. We do not want an organization of
clones as there would be no dynamism.

Organizations may not get a return to their training
investment and if an employee can be more gainfully employed
elsewhere, we should not stand in their way. We must avoid making
promises we cannot keep. We want individuals to be faithful but
as situations and environments change, so will the needs of the
workplace. If this causes conflict, then it must be managed
constructively. Organizations can benefit from strong minded
individuals but they need to be managed and their energies
channeled for the benefit of the organization.

Organizations that make too much of this loyalty concept at
recruitment stage are creating problems for themselves in the
future. A professional approach to the recruitment and selection
process is recommended.

The writer is a management consultant based in Jakarta.

WIndow: Loyalty in the workplace works two ways... It is about
both parties fulfilling a contract objectively set at engagement.
It is about the psychological contract and the fulfilling of
promises.