Employee Loyalty

Some would say that the days of loyal employees and employers are gone. There used to be an almost family-like relationship in employment, where employees and employers looked out for one another. Now, employees are forced to look out for themselves as employers no longer promise a lifetime career.

People, especially younger people, do not remain in jobs as long as they used to. They change jobs to get new skills, more money, and more responsibility. This lack of permanency is one reason that the leased worker and temporary worker industries are booming.

Inspiring loyalty. This trend doesn't have to apply to your business. You can work to engender feelings of mutual interest and concern between your business and your employees. Before employees will feel loyal to you, they have to know they can trust you to be fair, and to consider their interests as well as your own.

• How do you gain an employee's loyalty?
• How personal should your relationship be?