Let’s Be Frank: Employee Loyalty Versus Employer Loyalty

The topic of employee/employer loyalty has seemed to be a larger focus in news and articles over the last couple of months. But it has been on my mind for a number of years because, similar to all of you who have been working for a while, I am sure you have seen changes occurring in this dynamic over time.

There is a lot of information on the topic once you start digging around a little and, shockingly, I have some of my own opinions. The first question that comes to my mind is: what does everyone mean when they refer to “loyalty”?

A summary of a variety of definitions online goes a little like this: employee loyalty refers to the dedication, commitment, and allegiance exhibited by employees toward their organization, resulting in long-term engagement, productivity, and a willingness to go above and beyond in their work.

According to “experts” in the science of loyalty management (mostly from reading articles written by management and brand consultants), there are many factors, but the reality is that employees are only as loyal to the company as they believe the company is loyal to them. They need to feel connected to the organization and valued in order to be loyal to the business.

This all makes sense, but I see a lot of companies complaining about how there is no employee loyalty anymore while at the same time not seeming to consider what they might have done – or be doing – that has and will continue to erode that bond.

I hear a common refrain from many of the companies and sites I work for: "This used to be a great place to work." I usually ask why or what has changed, and I hear a variety of answers. Within those answers are some common themes that I find interesting.

1. Management: The most common theme I hear is variations on management issues. One of the issues that seems prevalent is that mid and upper management are very out of touch with the day-to-day operations and problems being experienced in a facility. People find this frustrating, and it erodes those personal bonds that can form and help build a culture of loyalty. It also makes people in general start questioning broader company policies and goals. If they seem out of touch with your business unit, then are they out of touch with all business units?

2. Not being heard: This sort of rides along with point #1 but can also apply to your front-line management. I have found full-time employees at many of the places I work for say that their management chain is not listening to the front-line personnel. Sometimes it’s relativity small things that can tip people over the edge, so to speak. One facility I was in recently had front-line managers complaining that they were being asked to assist in preparing documentation for upper management to use in presentations while at the same time being put under pressure (by the same managers) to hurry up and finish the integrity planning for the next quarter. One of the frustrated individuals asked them to clarify which was priority, and they were told, “Both things are of utmost importance.”

Just remember, if you find yourself in a management role without being mentored or trained, even if you are not sure how to do all elements of your role, just try not to do the things that made you frustrated as an employee (Refer to the November/December 2019 Let's Be Frank article: “Be the Leader You Would Follow”).

As an aside, this reminds me of a QC Manager I worked for when I was running a metallurgical/failure analysis lab at an engineering consulting firm. He was running QC for a fabrication facility that made downhole oil tools, and I would help out with analysis and recommendations when they had welding/materials issues. One day I was talking with him about an out-of-spec material they had been supplied. While in his office chatting, the technical sales manager came in, threw down a stack of documentation, and said, “These tools for company XXX… they need to be out the door before noon, or they won’t be able to hot-shot them to the well site in time. Make it a high priority to close out the QC checks!” The QC manager looked at him and said, “You have come in three times in the last 20 minutes and told me three different jobs are a rush; which one is the biggest deal?” The technical sales manager responded: “All of them.”

The QC manager turned back to me and resumed our conversation when the sales manager said, “Aren’t you making this a priority?” The QC lead then pulled out a rush stamp, stamped “RUSH” on the paperwork, and returned to talking to me. The sales manager, now visibly frustrated, said, “They are all rushes, but this last one is the one that needs the most rush, but then you still need to rush those other jobs.”

The QC manager looked him dead in the eyes and stamped two more “RUSH” stamps on the paperwork.

“It’s a triple rush job now; it can’t go any faster than that.”

He returned to our conversation while I tried my best not to burst out laughing. I was not surprised when I heard months later that he had moved to a different manufacturing company.

3. Erosion/removal of benefits and perks: I worked at a place that really only had one perk above and beyond, a company-matched long-term savings plan that was up to a percentage of your base salary (on top of the pension and health benefits). But I watched them remove that while I was working there. Meanwhile, as they were taking that perk away, the VP of the business unit was proudly telling us in meetings that “the company has invested a lot in its fixed assets. Now it’s time to invest in our people.”

Really?! Do you think I, and the actual highly intelligent people you have working for you, are all idiots who won’t see through that obvious lie of a tagline? People first? Really? Then they also started restricting budgets for technical training and attending conferences. But I digress. They did give us a (small) annual allowance for gym memberships or massages as part of “investing in their people” though. But I still felt betrayed when I got that $500 every year compared to what was taken away.

4. Work freedom: Earlier in my career and life, this wasn’t a possibility or something that even came up (excluding working away from remote sites or facilities or sometimes flexible hours). But between the Covid pandemic forcing people to work from home in many situations and the generation of employees coming up now, I think this is playing more and more of a role in how employees feel that their company treats them. From what I have seen, many employees now look at the ability to at least have some flexible work options as a necessity. I don’t want to open up a whole can of worms here, but again, running remote workers (whether at home or having a department that is broken up across multiple, remote from each other facilities) requires strong and competent management. A lot of managers seem to think managing is looking in someone’s door two to three times a day to make sure they are doing something.

Granted, it does make mentoring and training more difficult regardless of the quality of the managers involved.

Work freedom, however, can also mean flexible hours. I really enjoyed many of the aspects of running that metallurgical/failure lab mentioned above, but one of the things I really liked was they allowed me complete flexibility in my working hours. I had small children at the time, and they were quite okay with me coming in at 4 am. I would write reports and work on getting jobs set up for when everyone else came in around 8 am and unless I needed to meet with a client or travel to a remote worksite to gather field evidence, I would be out the door by 1 pm. I would get home just as my kids were getting up from their naps. This allowed me to work and see more of my kids. However, I also had oversight from people who didn’t need to micromanage me or “see” me to know I was doing my job. They could see the output and client billing going out and be secure, knowing I was building good relationships and making our customers happy.

Surprise, surprise, but I am back to management in an article once again. I really sincerely hope you work at one of the few places that do a good job of preparing, training, and mentoring new managers.

At the end of the day, it comes down to the same old problem: poor management (with a few other factors thrown in, like shareholders demanding unrealistic quarter-over-quarter profit growth, which often means cutting costs where it won’t immediately make profits suffer—like in programs that make your employees really want to stay).

The net result is the feeling that most employees seem to have these days: that their company is not really going to take care of them and that they aren’t important. It’s hard to believe slogans like “we put people first” when companies cut spending by downgrading or removing all the programs that show they will take care of their employees.

It really won’t change until companies understand that there is a massive misalignment between what companies think will create loyalty (if they are even really thinking about it) versus what makes employees feel like they work for a great company and want to stay.

To end this gloom with a bit of sunshine: I have seen this sense of betrayal overcome by strong managers with good connections to their employees that make up for corporate deficiencies.  It does make me wonder if the managers themselves have company loyalty, or if it’s rather a loyalty to their employees and a sense that they need to take care of them.

Good direct management is worth a lot. If you have bad management and a company cutting all the things that demonstrated they would take care of you, maybe it’s time to move along and give them back the same loyalty they actively show you.

“There is one element that is worth its weight in gold and that is loyalty. It will cover a multitude of weaknesses.” – Philip Armour – American Meat Packing Industrialist (1832-1901) (Who also famously said, “I make use of everything but the squeal.”)