Loyalty - what loyalty?
The changing world of work and the importance of ONE word
Drawing by Tineke Tammes
‘I hear you’ve got a new job!’, she said. ‘Congratulations!’
The others were quick to congratulate me too.
Questions flew backwards and forwards: Where are you going? What are you going to do? Are you happy? What is your new organisation?
And yes, I WAS happy! I was going to work AND live where I wanted to live. It was exciting, new, a change (I LOVE change, did I mention that?).
Then, in came the booming voice of the senior manager. ‘Hmmph! What happened to loyalty!?’
Silence.
The meeting was started.
I haven’t thought about this for years.
(Even though, in the first few weeks AFTER the meeting, I invented MULTIPLE very cutting, what one tutor once would have called ‘potentially career-limiting’, responses I COULD have come back with. Oh, the things one could have said if one wasn’t so d*mn polite!)
Except then I read this article about job-hopping, I wrote this LinkedIn post (the poll in it is still open, come and play!) and it all came back to me.
You see, I have a very ambivalent relationship with the word loyalty. Especially when it comes to loyalty to your employer.
So, yes, before I descend into a mini-rant, let’s tackle this subject methodically.
The definition of loyalty
Because, what does it actually mean: loyalty?
Here’s a dictionary definition:
1. uncountable noun
Loyalty is the quality of staying firm in your friendship or support for someone or something.
Synonyms: faithfulness, commitment, devotion, allegiance
2. countable noun [usually plural]
Loyalties are feelings of friendship, support, or duty towards someone or something.
The way I look at loyalty is like this:
Imagine you starting a new job. In the beginning you don’t know anyone. You’re in (what a course leader once called) ‘animal mode’. You need to know where the toilets are, the fire escape and where you can get a coffee. You want to log into your computer and meet your new work colleagues.
After a few weeks you get more comfortable. You’ve met most people you’ll be working closely with. You’re forming bonds and friendships. You’re starting to trust people, and people start to trust you.
Over time, you’re finding your place in the organisation. You know what they’re about, what they’re trying to achieve. You learn about the stories of the organisation, their collective history. You learn about where they’re going. You support their mission and vision, you feel comfortable with their values. You work hard and make your contribution to the organisation’s success.
You - in other words - commit.
Benefits of employee loyalty to an organisation
You can easily see what the benefits of employee loyalty are for an employer.
Loyal employees are happy, work harder, are less likely to leave, will go the extra mile when needed, are more productive.
MANY articles have been written about how organisations should foster employee loyalty to unlock those benefits (and make employees stay).
And yes, of COURSE, feeling recognised, having a manager who knows how to manage and lead people and/or has been trained to do so (a topic for a whole different newsletter article 🙄), getting paid fairly, being able to grow and learn, feeling involved, and being in an open and honest culture where people talk openly about the challenges and vision of the organisation. It’s all important.
But the word I keep coming back to is this: Trust.
The changed relationship between employer and employee
Is it still the 50s?
Small detour: I read this article. It was about an Australian mining company boss, who wanted his employees to stay on site at all times. Productivity figures had shown him that going off-site for a coffee was costing the company money. So he did everything in his power to ensure that people didn’t go off-site, including coffee shops and nurseries.
I don’t know about you, but in a world where we are connected to the ‘outside world’ with the click of a button, where people are working remotely, where not everything happens in one location, where people want to spread their wings and FLY this sounded quite old-fashioned to me.
After very careful consideration I’ve concluded that - no - it’s no longer the fifties.
The relationship between employer and employee has changed. No longer does an employer look after his employees for life, (not even in Australia).
A fast-changing economy and technical changes creates a changing business landscape for companies. They need to make business decisions that are uncomfortable and potentially have a huge impact on their employees’ future.
Leading to people being very aware of the possibility of them not being secure in their jobs.
There’s your number one trust issue.
The role of power
Remember 2022? Yeah, here in the UK it was a buyers’ market. The job market was booming. There were lots of jobs and a labour shortage.
And then the economic and cost of living crisis happened, interest rates shot up, war everywhere, enormous job cuts in (tech) companies.
We’re only slowly recovering from that, if at all.
So yes, let’s talk about who’s got the power in a relationship.
The power to order you not to go offsite. The power to order you back to the office. The power to … well, you get my drift.
I think that the relationship between employer and employee is changing/has changed. A move from a command and control environment to one where employers have to actively work on engaging their employees and creating a culture and compelling vision that engages employees to want to contribute to that.
I’d argue that with an imbalance in power, employees wanting to be treated with respect and as human beings (not as <shiver> resources), a lack of employee engagement and a lack of training of managers (did I mention that?) trust pretty much goes out the window.
Your responsibility
You see, I believe we all want to do well. That we all want to do a good job, work with nice colleagues, have a sense of achievement, create great results and be properly compensated for that.
I also believe that - during the course of our lives - we change.
When we first start working we need to find out who we actually are. What we’re good at, what working in organisations is like, what kind of work we’d like to do.
During our working life we want to grow and learn. Which may mean that our job requirements change. Also, our life circumstances change around us. That organisation we once loved working for changes. Our family circumstances change. WE change.
Which is why I believe - like your organisation makes business decisions - you will want to make decisions that are right for YOU.
Here are some things to consider whilst doing this:
How you feel and why
Isn’t that where it all starts? Your emotions give you the best indication that something isn’t right. Listen to them. Understand why you’re feeling this way.
Check your values
Do you know what your values are? How do they align with the values of the organisation - or the culture that you’re encountering on a day-to-day basis?
Knowing WHAT has changed and what YOU need to feel safe and trusted to do your best work is SO important.
What you can do right now
Chances are you’re going to have to work your notice period, at the very least. Or you can decide that - for now - you’d like to stay where you are.
So, what can you do to start building more trust? Have a conversation with your manager? Tell people about your ambitions? Show YOUR commitment in words and deeds? Get involved more with your colleagues or in projects?
When you leave
The decision to leave is YOUR business decision. One you’ve thought about long and hard, and prepared for. You’ve weighed up the pros and cons. You’ve considered what you want out of your next career move, how it moves you closer to the vision you have for your life and work. And then you execute that.
Just like the organisation you work for makes THEIR business decisions and executes on that.
A decision you’re more than in your right to make.
A decision that literally NO ONE should make you feel guilty about.
And it’s this last thing, my friends, to conclude a rambling journey through my brain, is what I would have liked to have told that senior manager.
Because it’s not when you actually leave that employee loyalty has gone. No, THAT has happened a long time before you actually quit.
So trying to guilt people into staying? Pointless. Doing it in front of a group of team members? Bad leadership and detrimental to your culture. Just saying.
So yeah, I’m curious. What do YOU think of employee loyalty? I’d love for you to comment.
Tineke x
Positive Intelligence programme
Find your calm. Unblock your creativity. Build your confidence
This summer I’ve worked with FOUR amazing women in the Positive Intelligence programme - a programme to help you access YOUR inner wisdom and creativity, and quieten YOUR Saboteurs.
This is what they said:
The NEXT Positive Intelligence GROUP programme starts on 23 September and I’m looking for 3 to 5 women who want to:
Quieten their Saboteurs (inner critics)
Improve their self-command
Strengthen their Sage (inner wisdom and creativity) powers
Helping you to increase your resilience and your emotional intelligence, improve your performance, lower your stress and increase your happiness.
Want to know more and be eligible for a great big £200 discount? Book YOUR Saboteur Discovery Call by 11 September!
Listen: Podcast on Creativity & Your Career (Change)
This summer I recorded this passionate and energetic podcast with Emma O’Brien: on her Lemons & Pineapples podcast.
We talked about:
* What CREATIVITY means
* How you NEED your creativity to solve problems (including the problem of 'what shall I do next in my career?')
* How to stop yourself drifting through life, but taking control based on what matters - to YOU
* What gets in the way of accessing your inner self and your creativity
* How there's no change without action and how - in the definition of creativity - it's all about using your imagination to make new ideas a reality
* And about what you can do to - right now - to activate YOUR creative brain
Because what you want matters. So let's go and find out what that is AND make it happen!
Listen to this episode, and enjoy! You can find it here:
You can also listen to it here:
Apple:
Spotify:
Want to find out what matters - to YOU?
Let’s chat!
And finally …
Pssst! I’m doing a thing! I’m gradually replacing ALL my stock photographs that have adorned my newsletter with genuinely original drawings-slash-doodles by yours truly!
I’m not quite there yet, but go and have a look here ⬇️ and tell me what you think!
🔴🟡🟠
Tineke Tammes is a Career & Creativity Coach and supports professional women in making successful transitions to careers of Freedom, Flexibility and Fulfilment! Besides that she is also a lifelong feminist, part-time portrait artist, never-only-read-one-book-at-any-time reader, and obsessive doodler.
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