EMPLOTEE LOYALTY, COMMITMENT, AND ENGAGMENT; MEANING AND MEASURES OVER THE YEARS.

05/29/2012

INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH PAPER

BY: TENEAL IVERY

STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGMENT

GB520

ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………… 3

EMPLOYEE LOYALTY…………………………………………………………..4

IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYEE LOYALTY………………………………….4

TRENDS OF EMPLOYEE LOYALTY…………………………………………..6

LOYALTY IN AMERICA VS OTHER COUNTRIES…………………………..7

INCREASING ORGANIZATIONAL MORALE…………………………………8

RECCOMENDATIONS…………………………………………………………….9

CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………9

REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………10

ABSTRACT

Employee loyalty, commitment, and engagement: Meaning and measures over the years. Has employee loyalty and commitment left America? Analyzing the dedication of the employees in the U.S.

For my research paper I have chosen a topic that will enlighten my readers as well as myself on the fluctuations of employee loyalty, causes, and effects in America. To learn more about this topic I will first research and define employee loyalty. I will find statistics and data to provide information pertaining to how employee loyalty, commitment, and engagement have changed over the years. I will compare and contract employee loyalty in America to other countries. In the paper I will include graphs and or charts to help convey the findings to the reader. This research paper will be coupled by a minimum of 8 academic references.

I will accomplish this paper by conducting thorough research on a daily basis. I plan to examine how the level of employee loyalty has changed over time. I will explore environmental changes that may affect loyalty levels. I will research methods of increasing employee moral. I will also research methods that appear to have an adverse effect on employee loyalty, commitment, and engagement. From the findings I will determine if Employee loyalty has left America. I will dedicate a portion this research paper to recommendations for HR and management where I will explain the significance of my findings. My plan to get this done will be to follow the guidelines of what is due in class weekly. I will complete the paper in time to proofread and make any changes necessary. I will make weekly progress so that I do not fall behind and create an overbearing working environment.

EMPLOYEE LOYALTY

What is employee loyalty and has it really left America? Employee loyalty is essential to any successful organization. Employee loyalty has several components and can be defined as commitment to the overall success of the company; feeling or believing that the organization is the best fit for their life and career. Bering loyal to an organization includes being satisfied with your job and not looking for other employment opportunities.

IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYEE LOYALTY

Companies with loyal employees have a significant competitive edge over their competitors. Companies with longer-term success have dedicated methods of developing and retaining loyal employees. Losing workers can be a costly part of business but coincides with employees who are not content or disloyal. Setting performance goals and closely managing reviews is important when attempting to develop productive and loyal workers. Employees are the thread holding the fabric together in an organization, which explains why it is imperative to have loyal employees. Having the ability to maintain a high level of employee loyalty is directly correlated with levels of profit, loss, and growth within an organization. Loyalty is the hallmark of a great organization and the stamp of great leadership. It is extremely difficult to find and retain committed employees if they are disengaged or the environment isn’t right. To fully grasp the idea of loyal customers and employees one must understand work motivation. The motivation of the employee is far more significant than is often realized and cannot be taken for granted. An excerpt taken from a book co-authored by Ken Carrig and Patrick Wright-

First, motivation is about far more than money. Economists, with their

view of “rational economic man,” tend to focus on monetary compensation

as the major employee motivator. Although people possess

rationality, they also possess heart and emotion ( Carrig, K., & Wright, P.M., 2006). Motivations are fueled by emotions. In adherence to the loyal employees you must remember to consider employee well-being to fully engage and retain loyal workers. Finding ways to keep employees motivated and actively engaged is becoming more essential to the overall success of a company. The engagement of workers correlates with their feeling of being needed along with the feeling of belonging. What is employee engagement?

“Engagement is characterized by employees being committed to the

organization, believing in what it stands for and being prepared to go

above and beyond what is expected of them to deliver outstanding service

to the customer”(Cook, S.. 2008)

There are several methods to actively engage employees. The former CEO of General Electric weighed in on the subject of employee engagement, he stated the following:

“ I think any company. . . has got to find a way to engage the mind of every single employee. . . . If you’re not thinking all the time about making every person more valuable, you don’t have a chance. What’s the alternative? Wasted minds? Uninvolved people? A labor force that’s angry or bored? That doesn’t make sense.” ( Thomas, K.W., 2009).

By simply failing to engage workers and in turn discovering alternatives to make each worker more valuable you can make an organization vulnerable to performance risk that organizations with loyal employees will not incur. In recent years there have been more trends associated with changes in the loyalty of employees.

TRENDS OF EMPLOYEE LOYALTY

Employee loyalty is a controversial topic centered around effective business offices and workplaces across the United States and globally. Is employee loyalty in America on the rise or is it on the down slope? Has employee loyalty really left America? A statistic retrieved from a 2011 Careerbuilder.com report states,

“76% of full-time workers, while not actively looking for a new job, would leave their current workplace if the right opportunity came along” (rton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2995).

It is an uneasy feeling to know that if another opportunity along that your employees would be walking through your office door and handing you a two weeks notice. We all know that two weeks is simply not much of a notice but if you don’t have loyal workers then you are at high risk of losing some employees in this fashion. This poll gives an ideas of what the employment loyalty trends are actually doing. The United States economy has a lot to do with loyalty. Ramped layoffs, reduced salary, and hiring freezes over the past few years have some employees reluctant to trust the companies they work for. In a report done with CNN it states;

“Even with unemployment persisting at around 10%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in eight of the past 10 months, more workers have voluntarily quit than have been laid off. The trend is likely to accelerate as the recovery (slowly) picks up steam.” (tune.cnn.com/2011/01/27/to-keep-employees-loyal-try-asking-what-they-want/ ).

The chart below is a poll done in 2007. The chart shows as overall job satifaction decreases loyalty decreases as well.

Retrived (workworld.com/salary/2007/092407-loyalty-job-satisfaction.html).

The stalling economy in America has a lot to do with the declining loyalty of the American employee. Is there any correlation between the decrease in employee loyalty in America vs other countries?

LOYALTY IN AMERICA VS OTHER COUNTRIES

In the past several countries from the western world America included would look to Japan for advice on loyalty. As times change quickly the ideas of employee loyalty in Japan fade also. According to an article on Japanese- style loyalty,

“Carlos Ghosn, the Renault executive sent in to save Nissan, undermined what remained of Japanese-style loyalty when he announced in 1999 that 21,000 of the car maker's employees would have to go and five domestic factories would be shut for good. Other large Japanese companies followed his example and they are now painfully (if belatedly) also downsizing (nomist.com/node/750430)

Once large companies began to shut down employee loyalty began to follow. As economic woes took its toll on the Japanese the tradition style of loyalty became outdated a ineffective. With noticeable decrease in employee loyalty from America to Japan it is evident that new method of employee management should be implemented in order to reboot stagnant organizations. In terms of rebooting increasing the overall moral of the company can help immensely.

INCREASING ORGANIZATIONAL MORAL

When company morale is down and employee loyalty is on the downside, increasing organizational morale is a good idea. Meeting workers expectations can be very rewarding. Increasing company moral dose not always meal an increase in pay. It means you have to make the job more appealing or exciting. Example of cost effective methods are the following:

“ Here are some ideas: post a thank-you note on an

employee’s office door, have a day when managers wash their

employees’ cars, answer someone’s telephone for a day, hold moralebuilding

meetings to celebrate successes, leave a card for a lunch

date at the employee’s discretion, walk around with dinner gift certificates

that can be handed out on the spot, assign a parking spot for

an entire month, give two consecutive Fridays off, buy someone flowers,

make a contribution to someone’s favorite charity.” ( Bruce, A. 2003)

People want to feel like they make a difference and that there presence is needed. Making efforts to empower employees creates a positive working environment, engages employees, and increases loyalty.

RECCOMENDATIONS

Making recommendations for maintaining and developing loyal employees comes with slight ease. Organizations must first realize the importance of good workers and the overall importance of not letting them go to their competition. I would recommend making employees and customers the top priorities of the business. Building a strong foundation of loyal employees ensures longevity in the business world.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, recognizing that importance of loyalty is first. Noticing environmental changes such as economic downturns effects loyalty is second. Employee loyalty decreased in Japan as well as America when the economy when down hill. Knowing ahead of time the methods to help counter act declining loyalty, engagement, and morale will help the organization survive turbulent times. So has employee loyalty left America? The answer is not completely but in wake of the economic instability it has decreased.

REFERENCES

Bruce, A. (2003). How to Motivate Every Employee: 24 Proven Tactics to Spark Productivity in the Workplace. McGraw-Hill.

Carrig, K., & Wright, P.M. (2006). Building Profit Through Building People: Making Your Workforce the Strongest Link in the Value-Profit Chain. Society for Human Resource Management.

Cook, S. (2008). Essential Guide to Employee Engagement: Better Buisness Performance Through Staff Satisfaction. Krogan Page

Thomas, K. (2009). Intrinsic Motivation at Work: What Really Drives Employee Engagment. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

bes.com/sites/susanadams/2011/11/10/employee-loyalty-dropping-worldwide/

rton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2995

nomist.c o m/node/750430

Ventrice, C. (2009). Make Their Day!: Employee Recognition That Works: Proven Ways to Boost Morale, Productivity, and Profits. Berrett-Koehler.

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