Today, I am sharing a guest post from Timothy Keiningham and Lerzan Aksoy, authors of Why Loyalty Matters: The Groundbreaking Approach to Rediscovering Happiness, Meaning and Lasting Fulfillment in Your Life and Work

Why Managers Should Care About Employee Loyalty
By Timothy Keiningham and Lerzan Aksoy

The landmark Ipsos Loyalty Study, the largest study of loyalty ever conducted, found less than 30 percent of US employees say they are loyal to their company. Only about 25 percent of US employees think their employer has earned their loyalty.

The long-term success of any company depends heavily upon the quality and loyalty of its people. Few corporate executives would disagree with this idea conceptually. But it is also true that most treat the economic value of employees in enhancing customer relationships and company profits as “soft” numbers, unlike the “hard” numbers they use to manage their operations, such as the cost of labor.

The problem with this is that when the going gets tough, managers focus on the hard numbers. And the reality is that at some point every company will go through tough times. That is the nature of business cycles.

The result is that today we are overwhelmed with downsizings and restructurings. Layoffs make the front pages of our newspapers regularly. And while Wall Street often rewards layoffs by treating them as a sign that management is serious about getting a company’s financial house in order, the reality is quite different. Most organizations that downsize fail to realize any long-term cost savings or efficiencies, which necessitates even more restructurings and layoffs.

Disloyalty Is a Two-Way Street

Although the cost benefits tend to be mirages, the corresponding pain to customers and employees is all too real. Research using the American Customer Satisfaction Index found that those firms that engaged in substantial downsizing experienced large declines in customer satisfaction. Unfortunately for those firms, the index has proven to be a good predictor of future earnings. The study’s authors note that “the current trend toward downsizing in US firms may increase productivity in the short term, but the downsized firms’ future financial performance will suffer if repeat business is dependent on labor-intensive customized service.”

The impact on the organization’s culture is also severe. Downsizings result in a rumor-filled paranoia. When Coca-Cola instituted a restructuring that resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs, the company became so awash in far-fetched stories that executives were forced to take the unusual step of intervening to quash them.

Worse still, employees that remain often find themselves jaded. It isn’t hard to find employees who feel exactly like Dan after his company’s layoffs in Mitchell Lee Marks’ Charging Back Up the Hill:

“There is no loyalty here; no one is going the extra mile after this. Two years ago, we worked sixty-five-hour weeks. People were willing to do it, because it was a great place to work and we were doing something that mattered. . . . From here on in, it’s just a job for me. I’ll put in my forty hours and that’s it.”

Let’s be clear. No CEO relishes the thought of layoffs. It means that their companies are floundering. Furthermore, history has shown us that the pain often outweighs any long-term financial gains.

If companies are going to grow their way out of difficult times (and excel in good times), they need two things: (1) for their customers to stick with them, and (2) to improve their productivity. But this only happens through an organization of committed, loyal employees.

Finding the Link between Employee Loyalty and Profitability

Benjamin Schneider, professor emeritus at the University of Maryland, has shown conclusively that the employee’s loyalty-related attitudes precede a firm’s financial and market performance. And there is a much greater payoff in working on improving the human factor than people think. Researchers at University of Pennsylvania found that spending 10 percent of a company’s revenue on capital improvements increased productivity by 3.9 percent. But investing that same amount in developing the employee capital more than doubles that amount, to a whopping 8.5 percent.

It is one thing to believe that employee loyalty results in positive financial outcomes, it is quite another to quantify those outcomes. But if we are going to be able to resist our natural inclinations to focus exclusively on the short-term in difficult times, then we need to get very good at understanding what the real implications to the long-term health of our business is of employee loyalty.

The place to begin at your company is by asking, “How loyal are our employees really?” Doing this requires that you meaningfully solicit feedback from all employees (management included). And you have to be willing to ask tough questions. For example:

* How do our managers’ relationship styles impact the organization’s service climate and employee loyalty?
* Does the company provide the necessary tools and training for employees to perform their jobs well?
* Is a commitment to serve customers rewarded and encouraged by the organization?
* Does the company demonstrate that it deserves the loyalty of its employees?

There will of course be other dimensions that are of concern for your particular organization or industry. The key is to identify those few, vital dimensions that are most essential for your success. Once you have identified these dimensions, you must measure them in a clear, objective, and rigorous manner.

Once you know where you stand vis-à-vis employee loyalty, next you need to tie this information to the performance drivers of your business. Typically, these come down to four things: productivity, employee turnover, customer loyalty, and revenue.

The ability to statistically link each of these measures to employee loyalty is relatively straightforward. The key is to aggregate employee data into groups that meaningfully link to turnover, customer loyalty, and revenue. For example, a retail chain might find store level analysis to be the most relevant unit, since customer loyalty and revenue are tracked at this level, and stores typically have semi-independent management.

The correlation between employee-loyalty-related attitudes and business outcomes is always meaningful from a practical, managerially relevant perspective, so it is worth the effort. In fact, a large-scale study conducted by researchers Harter, Schmidt, and Hayes presented compelling evidence that employee-loyalty-related attitudes were positively linked to each of these performance drivers. Furthermore, managers can learn a great deal by studying the performance of their most loyal business units, and how this is influenced by managers’ own relationship styles.

Despite the ability to pull this information together to gain invaluable managerial insight, most companies do nothing (or next to nothing) in this regard. The number one problem in making the link isn’t that this information doesn’t exist. It is simply a lack of management will to pull the data contained in various departments together.

Why? We don’t want to hear bad news. And without question, this kind of company internal examination always yields bad news. The reality is that employees are only as loyal to the company as they believe the company is loyal to them. This is true almost everywhere in the world! So in the end, building an organization of committed, loyalty employees ultimately comes down to demonstrating to employees that the company deserves their loyalty.

©2009 Timothy Keiningham and Lerzan Aksoy, authors of Why Loyalty Matters: The Groundbreaking Approach to Rediscovering Happiness, Meaning and Lasting Fulfillment in Your Life and Work

Author Bios
Timothy Keiningham is a world-renowned authority in the field of loyalty measurement and management, and Global Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President for Ipsos Loyalty, one of the world’s largest business research organizations. Lerzan Aksoy is an acclaimed expert in the science of loyal management, and Associate Professor of Marketing at Fordham University. They are coauthors of a new book, with Luke Williams, entitled Why Loyalty Matters (BenBella Books, 2009, www.whyloyaltymatters.com ), and creators of LoyaltyAdvisor (www.LoyaltyAdvisor.com), a web-based tool that analyzes your loyalty across multiple dimensions proven to link to your success. LoyaltyAdvisor is the product of a global effort, the most comprehensive study of loyalty ever conducted.

By Miriam Salpeter, GreatPlaceJobs Career Expert
www.keppiecareers.com

Is it just me, or do many movies for young people tend to have a career theme? I first noticed this back when I watched the Bee Movie. (I blogged about this HERE), and then again with Bedtime Stories -  a comedy about a hotel handyman (Adam Sandler) whose life changes when the outrageous bedtime stories he tells his niece and nephew start to actually come true. (Am I the only one who thought that movie was a career story?) Now, it’s Night At the Museum – Battle of the Smithsonian. Larry (Ben Stiller) realizes that running his own business isn’t half as much fun as hanging out with museum objects that come to life at night. Concluding that happiness is the most important thing in life, Larry makes a move.

What about you…Have you thought about the most important things in life? Given any thought to how happy (or unhappy) you are in your current job?

Alexander Kjerulf, author of Happy Hour is 9 to 5 – How to Love Your Job, Love Your Life and Kick Butt at Work, notes that studies show that people who pursue the career they like, rather than the career they think will make them rich, are more likely to become millionaires. However, when he studied U.S. workers, he found that “You get paid to do your job, not to like it,” seems to be the attitude of most US managers and workplaces. Further, he found that American employees “seem to be willing participants in this arrangement..When I ask Americans what makes them happy at work, they rarely talk about the work itself – many tend to see it as a means to an end, rather than as something to enjoy.”

He also reminds us that “happy companies make more cash.” This agrees with research that award-winning workplaces outperform and weather the recession better than their counterparts.

Alexander offers these questions to help evaluate your work happiness:

• What went really well for you at work?
• What did you do that you’re proud of?
• Who have you helped out?
• How have you grown and developed professionally?
• How have you grown and developed personally at work?
• Who has really appreciated your work?
• Who has helped you out and been there for you?
• Who have you admired at work?
• What have been some fun moments at work?
• Which 5 things from the last few months that you would you like to have more of?

Is it important for you to be happy at work? ARE you happy? Or, is it time to consider a change? Award-winning employers, such as the ones who post positions on GreatPlaceJobs, are less likely to experience lay-offs during a downturn. Now you can search our database for free and download a free toolbar to help you get started: http://greatplacejobs.ourtoolbar.com/

You deserve a job with a terrific company!

By Miriam Salpeter, GreatPlaceJobs Career Expert
www.keppiecareers.com

Are you the job seeker who, when asked what you’re good at, or what you want to do, who says, “I am really good at a lot of things. I have many skills, such as X, Y and Z, and I am a quick learner, so I can really do anything and I am open to just about any job.”

If that sounds familiar, it is time to re-work your pitch! As Shawn Graham, author of Courting Your Career, notes in the book, being willing to do anything is akin to saying you would date just about anyone, as long as they have teeth!

Shawn’s useful and informative book helps make the job search process more accessible to readers by comparing a job search to a search for a mate.

The first step for both processes? Figure out who you are and what you want! Look beyond physical appearance and cast a wide enough net to include a variety of types of companies to “romance.”

While some may believe that “fate” should play a big role in their love life and career paths, it’s a good idea to incorporate a good dose of planning in both areas for success.

Shawn weaves the dating analogy through the “meet market” – networking, and reminds readers that “Before you can date someone, you need to meet someone” (p. 33).  He offers three principles of effective networking:

• Assess – figure out who you know
• Expand – grow outside of your existing network
• Maintain – keep up your ongoing relationships

He reminds us that leveraging skills learned from past relationships is as useful for job seekers as it is for dating!

A tip I particularly enjoyed that also is perfectly aligned with both dating and job seeking is “it isn’t all about you.” Shawn asks, “Have you ever been on a date with someone who talked about him- or herself all night long?” (p. 111). You don’t want to be the self-centered job seeker! Remember that looking for a job is just as much about connecting to the employer’s needs as it is about what you have to offer!

There are some differences between job seeking and dating…For example, Shawn reminds readers that they should NOT send flowers to thank an interviewer!

Courting Your Career is a great (and fun) read for anyone in job search mode. The message is an optimistic and useful reminder – so much is in YOUR hands! Take advantage of it and move forward successfully!

YOU have a chance to win a copy of Courting Your Career! All you need to do is comment on any one of my blogs (comment on as many as you’d like to increase your chances). Share a story, ask a question…Let us know why you could use this book. I’ll pick one winner at random on Friday to receive a copy.

Did you know that you can search GreatPlaceJobs for FREE? You deserve a job with a terrific company! Download a free toolbar to help you get started: http://greatplacejobs.ourtoolbar.com/

Great news for job seekers looking for opportunities with award-winning employers. GreatPlaceJobs.com now offers two search options for anyone hoping to find a great job!

Job seekers will have FREE access to all job listings that are more than 3 days old or unlimited access to all job listings as soon as they are posted for only $27.95 for a 3-month membership! (Premium members will also receive a free copy of the ebook, Dig Your Job (a $9.99 value)!  Dig Your Job includes over 200 ideas to help you find a better job or keep the one you have.)

Because there is no charge for companies to post jobs, GreatPlaceJobs is the most comprehensive source of real jobs at the nation’s best employers. Each month, GreatPlaceJobs typically features tens of thousands of new open jobs at great companies.

Why should you take some of your precious time to search on GreatPlaceJobs?

Top-ranked employers have proven themselves to be much more recession-proof than the average company. Award winning companies are much more likely to survive the current recession without suffering layoffs or a bankruptcy. A recent study found that, in 2008, companies recognized as great workplaces conducted layoffs half as often as a general sample of other companies. In addition, excellent employers had a 27.4 percent higher revenue growth rate during the third quarter of 2008.

As a member of GreatPlaceJobs, you’ll save time in your job search because you’ll see only real, open jobs at certified great companies. Never again will you find yourself trolling through endless lists of low-quality job listings on other, less-targeted job boards!

GreatPlaceJobs can help make your job search easier, faster and smarter.

• 28,340 new jobs in the last 30 days.
• Only jobs at award-winning excellent employers are featured.
• More than 1,300 companies approved as great employers. All companies are individually qualified and approved before being added to GreatPlaceJobs.

Add the GreatPlaceJobs toolbar!

You deserve a job with a terrific company! Download a free toolbar to help you get started: http://greatplacejobs.ourtoolbar.com/

Yesterday’s post suggested that our current economy may be ripe for bullies in the workplace. As promised, some tips on handling a workplace bully from Dawn Rosenberg McKay, About.com:

• Seek the advice of a trusted mentor who may have dealt with this situation before.
• If you can, confront the bully in a professional manner, but only if your physical safety isn’t threatened. Don’t sink to his or her level. Stay as calm as possible. Don’t yell or threaten. Often bullies are looking for this type of confrontation and it will encourage them to come back for more. Don’t cry or show weakness either. That’s usually what the bully is after in the first place.
• Don’t try to win over other people to your side. The way in which you handle the situation will allow them to make their own judgements.
• Don’t allow the bully to intimidate you or make you feel bad about yourself. You know your true worth. Don’t forget what that is.
• Do your job and do it well. The workplace bully wants you to fail and when you don’t he or she will be defeated.
• Make sure your superiors are aware of your work. Workplace bullies often try to spread the word that your are not doing your job well and will even go as far as to report the smallest infractions to your boss. Your actions will carry more weight than his or her words.
• Don’t allow the bully to isolate you from your colleagues. Keep up your workplace friendships.

Have you been dealing with a bully at work? How do you handle it? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

Is it time to look for a job in an organization that supports and appreciates its workers? Join GreatPlaceJobs to find positions with award-winning organizations! Our members also receive a free copy of G.L. Hoffman’s ebook, Dig Your Job (a $9.99 value)!

The Workplace Bullying Institute’s recent newsletter reminds us of the old catch phrase, “lean and mean,” used to describe companies laying off workers due to tough times. They ask if it is a purposeful PR move that companies don’t tend to refer to themselves in that way today, when, as the newsletter points out, the liklihood is that many companies are “meaner” as fewer people are required to do the work of many.

The newsletter also notes:

Mistreatment by bullying is four times more prevalent than illegal forms of harassment that require discrimination on the basis of race, sex or gender. Illegal discrimination is a form of bullying. The newest statistics about discrimination complaints filed with the federal EEOC (for the year ending in Sept. 2008, a period before the huge economic collapse) shows that complaints rose by 15% over the previous year — a new record of 95,402 private sector claims. Tops on the list were 35.6% race discrimination claims (up 11% ), second at 34% were retaliation claims (up 22.6%), and third at 25% were age discrimination claims which rose the most (up 28.7%).

According to a nationwide poll by the Employment Law Alliance, close to 45 percent of American workers say they have worked for a bad boss or have experienced workplace abuse. And a recent Florida State University study proves what experts have believed for years: Employees don’t leave their job or company, they change careers to leave their boss. It turns out that a good working environment is often more important to job satisfaction than pay. In fact, eBossWatch, a service that allows you to rate your boss (and warn others of a boss who bullies), was founded to offer workers an opportunity to share information about being bullied.

The researchers also found that employees with an abusive boss experienced higher levels of exhaustion, job tension, nervousness and depressed moods.

You may be surprised, but the best companies still have job opportunities, even in a downturn. These companies have policies to protect workers and focus on their well being, which makes it less likely for a bullying boss to be successful.  Join GreatPlaceJobs to search for opportunities in award-winning organizations. When you join, you get a free copy of G.L. Hoffman’s ebook, Dig Your Job (a $9.99 value)! The book includes over 200 real-world tested ideas to help you find a better job or keep the one you have.

Stay tuned tomorrow for tips on handling a workplace bully!

“So, tell me about yourself?”

Is that not the most obvious interview question? The one that every job seeker should anticipate and prepare to answer? Unfortunately, it may seem so obvious, many don’t spend the time they should focusing on how to answer it.

In fact, most aspects of the job search rely on being able to tell your own story.

• Networking (the all important elevator pitch)
• Your resume – connecting your accomplishments with the employer’s needs
• Cover letter – another opportunity to sell your skills to a targeted employer
• Portfolios – online opportunities to connect with people
• Interviews – sealing the deal
• On the job – to connect and advance

I highly recommend that job seekers take a look at Katharine Hansen’s new book, Tell Me About Yourself: Storytelling to Get Jobs and Propel Your Career.

Her book is organized into several sections:

• Part I – Career propelling story basics
• Part II – Using storytelling in your job search
• Part III – Continuous storytelling

Katharine explains how stories can help you get a job by demonstrating your personality, helping to make you memorable and establishing trust. People who know how to tell good stories can communicate their value proposition, which is key for job seekers and careerists.

This book helps you with every aspect of telling your story – from figuring out what the story should be through tips for how to recall stories stored in your brain! (For example, give your stories names.) It is full of samples of stories and many, many ideas that are critically useful for job seekers and all professionals.

If you’re engaged in a job search – or maybe you should be – don’t miss this great resource!

Would you like to win a copy of Tell Me About Yourself? Share a comment – either tell a story about how a story helped your job search or explain why you could use this resource. Or, be creative! I’ll choose a winner from the comments on all of my blogs. Feel free to enter on each one:

Keppie Careers

Examiner

Secrets of the Job Hunt

If you want to find a job, stop wasting your time, money and sanity – I can help. Contact me about revising your resume and coaching you to land your target job!

I can’t seem to talk enough about networking. Maybe it’s because most jobs are found via networking and job seekers MUST empower themselves with good information and techniques (in addition to great job search materials) in order to successfully land a targeted position.

By Miriam Salpeter, GreatPlaceJobs Career Expert

Recently, ZenHabits published a guest post by Jerry Roberts of CareerJolt.net offering strategies for surviving a tough boss. I thought I’d share those tips with you. Commentary is my own…

Strategy 1: Prepare for engagement

Even if your boss is “impossible” to manage, if you are staying in your job, you will need to figure out how to approach and engage with him or her. Roberts suggests, “You’ll need to find something about him that allows you to tolerate his weaknesses and let the rest of it slide.” Another suggestion from Roberts: subjugate your ego and try to engage with your boss. Find a connection and run with it. Do you both have preschoolers? Love baseball? Enjoy a good glass of wine? Help your boss see you as a person, not just an employee. It could do you both good!

Strategy 2: Take a 5-minute meeting

When was the last time you sat down (face-to-face) with your boss? Maybe you spend most of your time trying to avoid the boss, not looking to sit down in the same room! Roberts suggests asking for a meeting with a handwritten note (not e-mail).

Your charge?

- See what your manager things about your work.
- Share why you are excited about your job.
- Make it clear that you have the willingness and capability to do more and better work.

This is the scenario that Roberts suggests:

1. “Thanks for giving me the time. In order to take my work to the next level I need your opinion on how I’m doing and if there’s something specific you think I can work on to improve.”

Why? This shows that you respect his opinion. Take notes so your boss will know you feel his time is important and don’t challenge his positions at this time. If he questions your productivity that may be his honest perception. You’ll change that in this sequence of strategies, but not by arguing. Just listen and write.

When he’s done giving his opinion, immediately request another 5-minute meeting a month out to judge progress. Don’t leave without setting a day and time.

2. “I’m excited about (current project or initiative), and the overall direction that we’re headed.”

Why? Most bosses think in stereotypes, just like most everybody else. It’s human nature. Unless you stand out and show an upbeat attitude, it’s easy to just see a body in front of you and not attach any particular value, or judge you as indifferent. If you’re not excited about anything you’re involved with at work, maybe the boss isn’t your basic problem.

3. “If I come up with a little free time can I come back and discuss a side project I’ve been thinking about?”

Why? Nothing is nearer and dearer to a supervisor’s heart than having a worker volunteer for an extra assignment. Every employer has orphaned projects that sit around in a neglected state. Ask admin staff what these are and pick one that will both benefit the organization and get you some widespread visibility. Then nail it.

What’s the worst that can happen? Your boss will be a jerk! More likely, though, the boss will be interested in seeing the next steps and will go along.

Strategy 3: Followup meetings must show progress

Keep in touch and make sure you stay top of mind. Keep requesting meetings. Hopefully things will go well and your boss will welcome touching base.

Strategy 4: Find a mentor

Much has been written about the importance of finding a mentor. You may be surprised that many people will welcome the opportunity to offer guidance and support. Think about what type of mentor you need. Keep in mind personality, professional issues and personal issues. Be clear about what you hope to gain and make a plan. Having a mentor to advise you may very well help make a difficult boss less of a problem.

Strategy 5: Food can be a great equalizer

Sharing a meal and conversation can help build a relationship that helps the work day better. Roberts doesn’t suggest going out for a drink…Keep it to food, and it’s less likely that anyone will regret anything that was said the next day!

None of these tips seem to help you build a better relationship with your boss? Consider joining GreatPlaceJobs. Join today, as we will be increasing our price on April 1st (no joke!) Plus, you receive a FREE copy of G.L. Hoffman’s ebook, Dig Your Job (a $9.99 value)! The book includes over 200 real-world tested ideas to help you find a better job or keep the one you have.

The Boston Consulting Group is listed on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.”  The Boston Consulting Group was founded in 1963 by Bruce D. Henderson with the expectation that the company would consult for banks. Over the years, BCG has been adapting their company to best serve their clients. BCG has grown from one office with two consultants in Boston to an international company with thousands of job opportunities.

The Boston Consulting Group is a company that partners with their clients to deliver customized solutions that resolve their most significant issues and create lasting competitive advantage. BCG looks beyond standard solutions to develop new insights, mobilize organizations, drive tangible results and to make companies more capable.

BCG prides their company on their values:

1.    Integrity
2.    Respect for the Individual
3.    Diversity
4.    Clients Come First
5.    The Strategic Perspective
6.    Value Delivered
7.    Partnership
8.    Expanding the Art of the Possible
9.    Social Impact

The BCG is looking to employ people of all personalities and people who desire to better themselves and others. BCG helps many companies all over the world succeed in the most challenging issues to date.

The BCG focuses on how to best utilize their employees:
1.    The project team works in collaboration with the client.
2.    The client impact team helps find competitive advantage for their clients and put them in the position to succeed.

BCG offers amazing flexibility. They devise work schedule options  to help meet each individual employee’s needs. At BCG, you not only teach and help companies but there is a strong focus on employee learning in a diverse and information rich environment.

If you would like to find jobs with the Boston Consulting Group and other award-winning employers, join GreatPlaceJobs.

Boston Consulting Group in the news:

USA Today reported that London Olympic organizers have signed BCG to advise them on ticketing and merchandising for the 2012 Games.