Methods for Building Employee Loyalty

The days of lifetime employment at a single company are long gone, so business leaders today need to make an extra effort to retain talent and foster employee loyalty.

Loyal employees are the heart of successful companies. When people feel fulfilled at their jobs, they go above and beyond to help the organization improve. They share expertise, resolve conflicts, suggest improvements, boost morale, help co-workers, conserve resources, and more. “Those behaviors make groups and organizations more effective — sales are better, production loss is lower, everything is better,” says Diane Bergeron, an assistant professor at Case Western’s Weatherhead School of Management in Cleveland.

To become one of those lucky companies, take time to understand what your employees need and provide it for them. “As in any relationship, if you get what you need, you’re more likely to stay,” Bergeron says.

Loyalty is largely inspired by flexibility and individual attention. These four techniques can help you offer that to every employee:

1. Invest more time in the hiring process. Hiring takes a lot of time, but a rigorous process pays off when you find the right person. “Person/organization fit is huge,” Bergeron says. “If you’re selective on the front end, you lose fewer people later.” Well-matched employees are naturally more loyal, so retaining them takes less effort.

As you hire, introduce the candidate to several people on your team, ask them to complete a project or share samples of past work, and screen for personality. “Make sure their values match the values of the organization,” Bergeron adds. A good match will blend naturally with the others on your team, rounding out their skills and fitting in with the overall culture.

2. Make your employees marketable. A good working relationship must be beneficial for both of you, meaning that employees need regular opportunities to enhance their professional skills. Many companies worry about investing too much in employees in case they leave, but you want to do just the opposite. “The more [employees] feel they can leave, the more likely they are to stay,” Bergeron says.

Managers are the most important source of growth and inspiration. “The relationship with the manager is the number one predictor of whether or not someone stays [at a job],” Bergeron says. Make sure your managers are trained to inspire their employees, share their expertise, and offer opportunities for growth.

3. Allow many paths to promotion. Your employees’ needs are ever evolving, so you can help them grow and inspire loyalty by offering opportunities for advancement tailored to their skills and goals. For example, many computer programmers want to move up without shifting into management, so tech companies often offer a choice between a technical or managerial career path.

Go one step further by helping an employee create a new job based on their skill set, or allowing them to rotate between different roles. “If people have the flexibility to tailor their job to their needs, they’re less likely to leave to find what they need,” Bergeron says.

4. Empower employees to make choices. Inspire loyalty by giving employees a sense of freedom and control. “When people feel that they’re trusted, they respond to that,” Bergeron says. You might let employees work from home when needed, make decisions autonomously, or adjust their work schedule to balance family. Those freedoms show confidence and help employees tailor the job to their needs.

“Trust is this basic component of society,” Bergeron says. “Without it, [organizations] cease to function.” Trusting companies have less rigid management, greater creativity, and higher employee satisfaction. They also inspire employees to go above and beyond, making the workplace better for everyone.

Fun Recycling Facts

Here are a number of fun and interesting recycling facts:

• It takes 80-100 years for an aluminum can to decompose (break down) in a landfill.
• Aluminum cans can be recycled into: soda cans, pie plates, license plates, thumbtacks, aluminum foil, and many other items.
• Recycling one aluminum can can save enough energy to power a tv for up to three hours.
• In the year 2000, 13,500 aluminum cans were recycled every minute in California.
• Glass takes over 1,000,000 (one million) years to decompose in a landfill.
• Glass can be recycled into jars, jewelry, bottles, dishes, drinking glasses, coffee mugs and many other items.
• It can take up to 700 years for plastic to decompose (break down) in a landfill.
• PET plastic can be recycled into: clothing, fiberfill for sleeping bags, toys, stuffed animals, rulers and more.

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MAKE YOUR WASTE ENERGY

Waste to energy means producing energy from burning trash, and is the least ideal option in our waste-management circle. If done intelligently, waste to energy plants can reduce the volume of garbage going into a landfill by 90% [1], and recoup some of the energy present in the trash. Irresponsible waste incineration, however, can make the toxins present in trash both more mobile and more lethal, further exacerbating the problem of what to do with what we throw away.

Waste to energy still sends some materials – usually ash – to a landfill, where most of our trash is still being buried. Landfills are fraught with environmental problems. These include household and industrial wastes leaking into the ground and contaminating our food and drinking water, the release of greenhouse gasses such as methane, and the permanent loss of valuable materials and nutrients – many of which were just recently dug up out of the ground. The limited and leaky nature of landfills only highlights the old adage – There is no such place as away.

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THINGS WE ALL CAN DO TO RECYCLE

RESUSE		Use both sides of your paper before recycling it. Purchase used items when possible instead of buying new ones. Have broken items repaired before buying a new item Sell or donate items instead of throwing them away. Encourage use of non-disposable plates, silverware, and glasses in your school or work cafeteria Send old shoes back to companies like Nike to be reused

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ENVIRONMENTAL RECYCLING BENEFITS

Recycling and composting diverted nearly 70 million tons of material away from landfills and incinerators in 2000, up from 34 million tons in 1990-doubling in just 10 years.
Every ton of paper that is recycled saves 17 trees.

The energy we save when we recycle one glass bottle is enough to light a light bulb for four hours.

Recycling benefits the air and water by creating a net reduction in ten major categories of air pollutants and eight major categories of water pollutants.

In the U.S., processing minerals contributes almost half of all reported toxic emissions from industry, sending 1.5 million tons of pollution into the air and water each year. Recycling can significantly reduce these emissions.

It is important to reduce our reliance on foreign oil. Recycling helps us do that by saving energy.

Manufacturing with recycled materials, with very few exceptions, saves energy and water and produces less air and water pollution than manufacturing with virgin materials.

It takes 95% less energy to recycle aluminum than it does to make it from raw materials. Making recycled steel saves 60%, recycled newspaper 40%, recycled plastics 70%, and recycled glass 40%. These savings far outweigh the energy created as by-products of incineration and landfilling.

In 2000, recycling resulted in an annual energy savings equal to the amount of energy used in 6 million homes (over 660 trillion BTUs). In 2005, recycling is conservatively projected to save the amount of energy used in 9 million homes (900 trillion BTUs).

A national recycling rate of 30% reduces greenhouse gas emissions as much as removing nearly 25 million cars from the road.

Recycling conserves natural resources, such as timber, water, and minerals.

Every bit of recycling makes a difference. For example, one year of recycling on just one college campus, Stanford University, saved the equivalent of 33,913 trees and the need for 636 tons of iron ore, coal, and limestone.

Recycled paper supplies more than 37% of the raw materials used to make new paper products in the U.S. Without recycling, this material would come from trees. Every ton of newsprint or mixed paper recycled is the equivalent of 12 trees. Every ton of office paper recycled is the equivalent of 24 trees.

When one ton of steel is recycled, 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone are conserved.

Brutal wars over natural resources, including timber and minerals, have killed or displaced more than 20 million people and are raising at least $12 billion a year for rebels, warlords, and repressive governments. Recycling eases the demand for the resources.

Mining is the world’s most deadly occupation. On average, 40 mine workers are killed on the job each day, and many more are injured. Recycling reduces the need for mining.

Tree farms and reclaimed mines are not ecologically equivalent to natural forests and ecosystems.

Recycling prevents habitat destruction, loss of biodiversity, and soil erosion associated with logging and mining.

GOING GREEN WITH RECYCLING

Well-run recycling programs cost less to operate than waste collection, landfilling, and incineration.

The more people recycle, the cheaper it gets.

Two years after calling recycling a $40 million drain on the city, New York City leaders realized that a redesigned, efficient recycling system could actually save the city $20 million and they have now signed a 20-year recycling contract.

Recycling helps families save money, especially in communities with pay-as-you-throw programs.

Well-designed programs save money. Communities have many options available to make their programs more cost-effective, including maximizing their recycling rates, implementing pay-as-you-throw programs, and including incentives in waste management contracts that encourage disposal companies to recycle more and dispose of less.

Recycling creates 1.1 million U.S. jobs, $236 billion in gross annual sales and $37 billion in annual payrolls.

Public sector investment in local recycling programs pays great dividends by creating private sector jobs. For every job collecting recyclables, there are 26 jobs in processing the materials and manufacturing them into new products.

Recycling creates four jobs for every one job created in the waste management and disposal industries.

Thousands of U.S. companies have saved millions of dollars through their voluntary recycling programs. They wouldn’t recycle if it didn’t make economic sense.