We always talk about building a brand and building customer loyalty, but rarely, do we speak of building employee loyalty. It is a really important factor in running any kind of business because it can mean the difference between saving money and spending money. The post on Turnover talks about how you can keep employees happy, without spending a lot of money, but building their loyalty to your company is a whole different discussion.
I have found, if your employees are loyal to your company, then it is easier to influence your customers to be loyal to your company and products as well. For example, a company that doesn't have loyal employees, will probably see higher turnover, which means regular customers will deal with new people more often than not. This shows that the company cannot retain a regular employee base, so how can the customer put faith forward and believe that you have a regular customer base. This is only scratching the surface, the assumptions in customers minds are truly infinite. They start thinking into things much deeper and sometimes even go elsewhere due to speculation they have.
Employee's who are loyal to your company will also represent your company in a better manner, on and off the clock. When they are with their friends and family, everyone will probably end up talking about how much they hate their employer, but if your employee talks about how much they like working for you, that will be a positive form of marketing.
Building the loyalty of an employee takes a period of time, but it arises from various things. For example, I have not laid off anyone due to the economy, so all of my employees don't have to worry about losing their jobs on a daily basis. Instead they can focus on the upbringing of the business they are running and making it more profitable. The less worried employees are, the better off the employer is. But back to the point of not laying off any employee, this shows that their employer stood by them in tough times, where another employer might have let them go. So even indirectly, they will think about the next time they want to leave your company to pursue a career elsewhere, but the job security might not be there. Experiences count and the more positive ones you can put out for your employees, the more chances of them staying with you for a long time.
Now, just because I don't lay off people due to the economy, it doesn't mean that I won't fire anyone for their poor quality work. In essence, I am not giving people a free ride and do as you please, type of job. You have to keep a balance between being a nice employer and being too nice of an employer where it affects the work output leading to your company's failure in some cases.
Making employees proud of your brand and loyal to your company is the first and most basic step in company reputation, marketing, and branding. Your company can only be as good as the people who represent it!
