Cultivate employee safety

Loyalty seems like a quality that's becoming increasingly harder to find, whether it's employee loyalty to a company or consumer loyalty to a product.

{sidebar id=40}

In the past, employees believed when they were hired by a company that they would be with that company until they retired. Starting in the 1980s as companies sought to increase profits, workers' perceptions of lifetime employment were shattered by corporate downsizing, company relocations to other states or countries and static wages.

The perception of job security today has changed dramatically. In a survey by outplacement company Manchester Partners International, a majority of college graduates said they expect to be laid off at least once during their careers. Of the graduates who participated in the survey, 25 percent indicated they'd be laid off once, 22 percent said twice, 12 percent three times and 6 percent four or more times.

Surprisingly, even though these unstable employment conditions still exist, 72 percent of U.S. workers are satisfied with their jobs and 80 percent said they are more secure or as secure as they were a year ago, according to a recent Inc. magazine-Gallup survey.

With the national unemployment rate hovering around 5 percent, a 24-year low, employers have found themselves competing for competent workers in a dwindling labor pool. Many companies have been forced to rely more heavily on temporary or part-time employees. This summer's UPS strike helped draw attention to companies' increasing reliance on part-time employees.

In addition, the number of hours worked per week by these employees has also increased. Oklahoma City-based temporary-services company Express Personal Services said its employees average 33.6 hours per week, up from 32.9 hours in 1992.

What do employees want?

So how do you keep good employees around in a job market where the demand for reliable workers exceeds availability?

Job satisfaction is what employees want most from their jobs, reports Sirota Consulting. The New York-based consulting firm found that when job satisfaction was high, only 4 percent of employees indicated they would leave within a year. But when employees weren't happy, 27 percent said they'd be gone within a year.

J.W. "Bill" Marriott Jr., CEO of hotel giant Marriott International, told USA Today that to retain good employees, "you must establish yourself as a good place to work." Marriott says this has to come from the owner and top management on down.

The working climate has to reflect that the employer really cares about people. One way that Marriott has achieved this caring image is to be seen by his employees out in the trenches and interacting with them. "If they're not happy on the job, customers are not happy being with them," Marriott said. Marriott also conducts satisfaction surveys of its employees and customers. Survey responses are cross-checked to determine if the results jibe. One indication that employees are unhappy, Marriott said, is that they don't want to look you in the eye.

{sidebar id=1}

- David Kuack