Member-only story
I’ve written about employee loyalty before, and then overnight I got an Ed Zitron newsletter about the same topic, which has a couple of strong lines in it. This is potentially the best:
This is at the core of the problems I have with the great resignation conversation — it is treating capital’s access to labor as something they are owed versus something that they must actively solicit and pay for. The reason that this is happening is because the pandemic showed people exactly how disloyal companies were to their workers. It was a garishly public display of greed, and, ironically, a time when companies really could’ve shown how loyal they were, cutting executive compensation to retain jobs or agreeing contractually to bring people back — and instead, they chose to make massive profits and treat workers as a row in an excel spreadsheet.
We consistently make this loyalty discussion more complicated than it needs to be. In short essence, treat people like you would expect to be treated — help them grow and advance, even if you’re fearful they’re coming for your job. That engenders loyalty. Maybe they leave to another company and, four years later, because you were a rabbi/sherpa to them, you get piped in a downturn at your company and they come calling to save you. That’s how loyalty works. It’s earned. You earn it from your…
