Loyalty is a Give and Take Process

Loyalty. A word that sounds very beautiful when spoken. Not only in building a startup, but also in our personal relationships with the people we care about. We want the best people we love, to love us back and be loyal to the relationships we build.

Many of us think that ‘loyalty’ is a must, in fact ‘loyalty’ is an option. And as we understand it, we can’t completely control someone’s choices. Realistically, we can minimize the fact that someone we love, for the case startup is an employee, to remain loyal to us. Ultimately, making someone loyal to us requires an appropriate level of give-and-take. What you give is supposedly be balanced with what you take to keep your person around.

So, how do you do it?

1. First, understand what employee loyalty means.

Increase positive emotions from employees. If they have positive emotions, they will be more loyal to your startup. Understand that you have to understand root emotions and not just specific behavior.

2. Understand what matters for your work.

Everyone has a different purpose. What do they hope to get from your startup? There are those who want to expand the network, some want high salaries, some want to gain experience. They are all different, your job is to understand them all. If we give them what they expect and fulfill it, the chance of loyalty will be higher for sure.

3. Give employees more control.

By giving greater control to employees, we directly empower employees to become better versions of themselves. This shows that you are giving trust that should not be wasted. For example, let them set their own working time, and get the job done their way.

4. Cut employees who gave bad vibes to others.

A toxic trait of someone inside of a company is bad for a company. If there are people who are annoying and hindering the work of other employees, it is a good idea to re-think whether they should be kept or just let go.

5. Highlight your employees’ achievements.

People want to be proud of what they do. The more your employee feels appreciated, the higher their loyalty. Give them a stage to show their talents, and what they have. Be proud of the people who are in your company.

6. Offer competitive and fair compensation.

Employees have the expectation to get paid in proportion or even more in other places with the work they are currently doing. They also hope that others will receive the same compensation.

The best way is to publish publicly to all employees the compensation provided.

In the end, loyalty will occur if there is a give-and-take that satisfies both parties or more. If there is a problem with loyalty, we should not suddenly become critical and angry but try to understand why it happened. Feeling defensive is very normal, but then again ask yourself, is your employee getting enough of what you’re taking out of them? Don’t ask people to be loyal to you, make them loyal to you.