How to Increase Employee Loyalty Going into the New Year

The impending new year is a time when your employees will take stock of their life. When thinking about their future, it includes their career and which employer they’ll work for. Because of this, it’s a good idea to pay special attention to what can be done for the team before they take their Christmas break.

Here are some ideas about how to increase employee loyalty ready for the coming year.

Christmas Bonus & Gifts

A Christmas bonus is seen as a reward for the work through the year and what each person has done for the company. After all, without them, there would be no company. Many people feel this way and would appreciate a bonus from the business to reflect their hard work.

It’s debatable whether any bonus should be calculated based on seniority and current salary or be the same for every employee. There are arguments on both sides of this one. On the basis that everyone works equally hard, bonuses could be equal for a festive holiday. However, many senior executives rely on substantial bonuses to put towards major purchases, planned vacations or investments for the future and would argue against an equal bonus for all.

Also, don’t forget to have a gift for each employee. Packed with Purpose, and similar companies offer great gift suggestions for your employees so they feel valued, as well as being able to enjoy the holidays as much as they can. The great news about gifts though is that you will never be short of ideas.

For instance, one of the options from Grey Fox can match the company’s branding and provide a delightful, practical mug for coffee breaks.

Create a Career Development Plan for Every Employee

Employees need to know what their career path is. The company can help with this by developing a career development plan with them.

A career development plan isn’t the same as a performance review. The idea is to discuss where they wish to be and how they want to develop. Ideas like further training for their current role or external training courses for readiness towards an expanding or future role are solid ideas here.

Empower employees and encourage them that their future with the company is a bright one. Then management must follow through on these plans through the following year via actionable items with specific timelines.

Give Annual Pay Increases

While in many industries there has been a stagflation effect on wages, that doesn’t mean costs aren’t going up. Inflation doesn’t stand still regardless of what the U.S. CPI calculation reports.

Housing costs especially – whether on the buy side or the rent side – have been rising in several major metropolitan cities. This is a growing problem for employees.

It’s important that staff see their wages increasing each year. In fairness, it’s been found that any pay rise below 5% doesn’t get noticed. This is because it doesn’t add up to enough to make much of a difference. So, the company should decide what’s best to do about annual increases and whether the top performers should be prioritized first.

Leaving employees with a confident feeling going into the New Year is important for businesses. The last thing the company needs to worry about is staff making a strategic decision to go elsewhere for career progression or more money. There’s a need to plan ahead to avoid this possibility.

Infographic created by Mowery & Schoenfeld