Employee loyalty is when an employee remains with a company for a lengthy period because they feel valued, appreciated and believe in the company’s overall mission. Boosting employee loyalty can help decrease employee turnover, increase worker satisfaction, and even fuel productivity. But while most companies want to prioritize morale and keep their current workforce engaged, finding ways to accomplish those tasks on a day-to-day basis can feel daunting.

Use these ideas to help meet your employees’ needs and offer them a happier, more fulfilling place to work.

1. Promote Better Work-Life Balance

In one survey, 75% of employees surveyed say they’ve experienced burnout in their current jobs. Almost the same number of workers said they consider work-life balance to be a critical factor when seeking new employment.

Employees need to strike a balance between their professional and personal obligations in order to meet work expectations and still have time for self-care, family, and friends. Management can help facilitate that balance in a number of ways:

  • Establish a wellness program that makes it easy for employees to tend to their mental, physical, and emotional well-being. This might include both on-and off-premises initiatives such as a discounted membership to a local gym, free Monday morning yoga classes, and workshops on nutrition and mindfulness.
  • Allow flexible scheduling that lets employees choose between working in the office full-time or in a hybrid model. Other flexible scheduling ideas include experimenting with non-traditional work weeks (e.g., 4 10-hour days instead of 5 8-hour shifts) and offering mental health days employees can use without question if they need to step away from their desk.
  • Respect personal time by restricting all work-related calls, emails, and app communication to the designated workday. If you do message employees after hours, make it clear that recipients aren’t expected to act on the information or respond until the next day.
  • Encourage employees to have outside pursuits. Connect your team with facilities that offer workshops or classes on topics ranging from hobbies to athletics. You might subsidize certain interests, for instance securing an employee discount to a craft store or music school, or even bringing in instructors to teach a series of classes during the workday.

2. Actively Listen to Employee Concerns

One survey of millennial workers found respondents were 22x more likely to work for an organization that had a culture of trust and transparency. That applies to communication that comes from employers, such as being clear about expectations and honest about any changes that might come up, but it also shapes how employers should accept and act on communication from employees.

Be open to feedback from your team. Think of critiques as an opportunity to identify pain points and find solutions. Those solutions could in turn vastly improve employee satisfaction and make valuable talent more likely to stay put instead of exploring other jobs.

To ensure employees are being heard, you can:

  • Host leadership office hours, during which anyone can come by and share their thoughts and concerns
  • Have regular one-on-one sit downs with employees to see how they’re doing and how they feel about the company, their coworkers, and the management team
  • Treat feedback the same regardless of the level of the employee it came from

3. Provide Your Employees with Free Meals

73% of our corporate clients surveyed feel that providing meal perks has increased their employee’s satisfaction with their benefits package, which will help organizations retain and attract talent. Free meals boost employee morale and increase productivity but those are just a few of the perks.

When you have breakfast delivered once a week or turn an afternoon lecture into a lunch and learn, you’re providing employees with an opportunity to nourish their bodies and get to know their colleagues at the same time. Instead of having a culture where employees scatter at lunch time and rush to eat before they’re due back at their desks, your team can enjoy complimentary dishes and forge relationships with people from other departments.

As for employers, free food is an investment in the people who make your company great. Even something as simple as bagels, cream cheese, and a coffee cart can give employees an extra reason to smile. The resulting rise in morale could be the ticket to improved employee retention, and you can use food benefits as an incentive and an example of company culture when you do need to recruit.

4. Host Employee Appreciation Events

Employee appreciation events are fun and memorable ways to give thanks to the team members who have been integral to your organization’s success. It’s important to create an event that’s inclusive of office, remote, and hybrid employees, and feels like a genuine acknowledgement of your staff’s contributions. Some ideas include:

In this increasingly competitive corporate climate, attracting and retaining top talent could be just what your organization needs to reach its goals. By making employee appreciation a part of everyday operations and taking steps to boost morale, you’re creating a company culture that every employee can be proud of.

Interested in incorporating food into your employee appreciation plans? Feed team meetings and events with ease using a Grubhub Corporate Account. Contact us to learn more.