Posted on 09/07/2007 12:34:26 PM PDT by qam1
High-risk employees in the American workplace outnumber those who are truly loyal, according to Walker Information’s most recent national study of employee loyalty. Although the percentage of truly loyal employees – 34 percent – is unchanged from two years ago, the percentage of employees categorized as high risk now exceeds those who are loyal, creating a widening gap for employers struggling to improve retention. The Walker Loyalty Report for Loyalty in the Workplace, examining trends in both employee loyalty and business ethics, reveals 36 percent of employees are high risk – a spike of five percentage points from 2005. Based on Walker’s proprietary loyalty model, high-risk employees, unlike their truly loyal counterparts, are not committed to the organization and are likely to leave within two years.
“Employers are faced with a situation where the number of employees causing a negative drain on the organization outweighs those who are working to positively support it,” said Chris Woolard, senior consultant for Walker Information. “With more than a third of employees classified as high risk, the results of our study signal concern as to how the negative attitudes often characteristic of this group will affect organizations – and their ability to compete successfully – down the road.”
Loyalty affects employee behavior
This year’s study results indicate loyalty has significant impact on how employees behave and perform on the job day-to-day. For example, 81 percent of employees deemed loyal (those in the truly loyal and accessible categories) are likely to execute the company’s strategy in their daily work, while just 38 percent of those who are not loyal (high-risk and trapped categories) say they will do the same. Similarly, 92 percent of loyal employees indicate they work to make the company successful, compared to just 49 percent of disloyal employees. When it comes to helping colleagues with heavy workloads, 89 percent of loyal employees say they are willing to provide assistance, while just 60 percent of their counterparts will agree to pitch in when needed.
Harder to win loyalty with new employees According to the study, employee loyalty during the first 10 years on the job generally increases as employee tenure rises, but a large number are high risk. Employees with a company for less than one year were the least loyal at just 26 percent, while loyalty was highest (45 percent) for those with six to nine years on the job. After a decade on the job, however, loyalty diminishes. Just more than a third (36 percent) of workers with between 10-19 years of tenure are categorized as truly loyal with the percentage dropping to a mere 30 percent for employees with 20 or more years under their belts. Interestingly, the most-tenured categories (10-19 years and 20 years or more) register the highest percentages of trapped employees with 33 percent and 36 percent, respectively.
Employers show some improvement in factors driving loyalty
The news, however, isn’t all bad for employers, who made some strides, according to the study’s findings, in the experience areas most predominantly tied to loyalty. Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed said their employers show care and concern for them – one of the leading drivers of loyalty – compared to just 54 percent in 2005. Within this category, 55 percent agreed their employers were working to develop employees for the long term, up from 50 percent two years ago. In all, the top experience-based drivers of loyalty in ranking order are fairness at work, care and concern, trust in employees – emerging for the first time as a loyalty driver – feelings of accomplishment, and satisfaction day-to-day.
Loyalty among Generation Y workers shows dichotomous trend.
While Walker’s study reveals workers in their 20s – commonly referred to as “Generation Y” – as most loyal with 38 percent, as a group they are more dichotomous with 78 percent classified as either truly loyal or high risk. As the generation closest to retirement, “Baby Boomers” ranked lower in loyalty – with just 32 percent truly loyal – and followed Gen Y in the number of high-risk employees with 37 percent.
“With the lowest number of trapped employees and the highest percentage of those deemed high risk, the implication is Generation Y workers are confident better opportunities exist,” Woolard said. “Although there are any number of social and economic reasons for the loyalty dichotomy we see in this generation’s results, one possible explanation is their view that the imminent exit of the Baby Boomers will spell better positions for them, ultimately making employee loyalty less relevant.”
Employees want to have a role in company strategy
A series of questions in the 2007 employee loyalty survey points to employees’ overall willingness to be involved in company strategy. Having employees involved in strategy development is a key factor in employees embracing it, but only 44 percent indicated they were involved in the strategy. More than 60 percent (62 percent) agreed they are important to the company’s strategy which reinforces the need for employee’s opinions to be heard regarding the strategy. Senior leaders play a key role in the success of the strategy but only 50 percent of the employees felt senior leaders communicated the strategy well and make good decisions. Only four out of ten of the employees felt the senior leaders inspired them.
Employees’ view of company ethics levels off
While Walker’s past studies of business ethics have noted an upward trend in employee perception of company ethics, this year’s results remain virtually unchanged from 2005. Sixty-three percent of employees agree their company is highly ethical, and 57 percent believe their senior leaders are ethical. The study also shows a clear link between employees’ perceptions of company ethics and employee loyalty. Ninety-one percent of truly loyal employees believe their organization is highly ethical, compared to just 35 percent of employees in the high-risk category. Similarly, 89 percent of loyal employees feel their senior leaders have personal integrity, while just 31 percent of high-risk employees feel the same.
About The Walker Loyalty Report in the Workplace Data for The Walker Loyalty Report for Loyalty in the Workplace was received in July, 2007 from 2,950 people, 18 years and older, working in companies with at least 50 employees. Completing an on-line survey, the respondents were full- and part-time employees representing business, non-profit, and government organizations. The loyalty report results were weighted according to the June 2007 release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But if an employee gets a better offer, and his departure leaves the company in a lurch, he will get the sad puppy-dog look, and hand-wringing bs about the burden he's leaving the company with. Or worse yet, the "I thought we were a family" lecture.
Okay, Dad. If we're a family, let me use the credit card.
I was outsourced by a former employer to a large Global Services company. Basically, I changed employers and kept the same desk.
This large global services company is notoriously bad to work for. There was a stampede for the exits (I was one of the first 2 to go.....Out of roughly 200, I'd estimate that 150 left). It's been over three years, and those that have stayed have not gotten a raise in that time frame. Not a whole lot of loyalty there....
I can't speak for all of those that have left, but at least I, and a few I keep up with, seem to be doing pretty well. Fair pay may not equate to happiness, but unfair pay will certainly result in misery.
As an afterword, the company that originally got rid of all of us is screaming because it has lost its entire IT knowledgebase. They're looking to cut ties with the outsourcing firm, last I heard. That's smart, the few people that are left that have any legacy knowledge will go along with the cut.
Fools, all.
I would say 90% of American corporations have no concept of the importance of the IT knowledge base to their continued existence - to them it's just another service to be outsourced like janitorial and gardening. They only find out once it's too late, after they've already done something stupid. ;)
The few companies who really do get it are moving into dominant positions in their industries.
I know what you mean.
What I’d like to refer to is the overtasking that takes place. You tell your managers, these are your duties. Then you give them too little staff, too little time to do it in and assign special projects on top of that.
Then you come back by months or years later and remind the manager that corporate and state inspections will be taking place, and ask to see all the paperwork they’ve documented compliance with.
They know damned well you didn’t do it because you don’t even have time to meet the day to day requirements.
Then they replace you and start over with the next guy. After three replacements in consequitive quarters, you’d think the corporate folks might begin to get the picture. And then you realize, this is the picture.
They know all this. It’s the dynamic they want. Keep those wages low. Keep the staff in continual termoil. If we lose a few accounts, it’s okay. We’re making gazillions.
I hate to say it, but this is my observation.
My loyalty extends to my next pay check...
There’s no such think as unilateral loyalty — the word for that is subservience.
LOL! Congratulations! That’s a wonderful story.
(Way better than where I was headed, har.)
With a small company, we live or die together!
I am so damn proud of my company and everyone in it. They trusted me when I needed it the most, and today, the company is now ready to release a new product.
This is how is should be!
In today’s market, when many employees do not get a pension, have limited health benefits and only have a 401K offered for their retirement, it pays for the employee to constantly be seeking better employment... up the chain with better options. If this means they move from job to job seeking more financial security, instead of waiting for an elusive promotion, so be it.
A very wise fellow I knew from the pre war generation saw this coming and thought the boomers would fail at business. But he then realized that business would continue recruiting from the available pool, even if that pool had very poor qualities. this had disastrous consequences for many American businesses.
I’ve met too many managers, usually little wise asses, who brag about how much they enjoy firing people. They will beg to be the one to lay someone off. Who’s going to be loyal to that?
Yep, and don’t forget all those meetings on diversity and whatever else they can think up.
Corporations and multi-nationals are just legal entities create to avoid taxes and personal liability. They are cold-hearted amoral bureaucracies.
Free enterprise is supposed to be about companies owned by real people who care about their civic duties and doing right by both their customers and employees.
Yes, I’ve met a few of them myself.
Employee loyalty died in the 90s. I am surprised that 34% are truly loyal. They are probably underpaid.
Too true...
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