LETTER: The business environment and changes require managers in organisations to be aware of and understand the concept of loyalty among employees.
Loyal employees are individuals who carry out their tasks wholeheartedly, support the efforts and goals of an organisation and develop their career within the organisation. Loyalty is often associated with the feeling of love an employee has for his or her workplace.
A loyal employee will continue to work with the organisation without thinking of changing jobs even though the organisation faces financial and management issues. Highly committed employees have a high level of loyalty. The difference is that the concept of commitment is wider and loyalty is one of the components.
The concept of loyalty in an organisation must be seen from various dimensions, as well as factors that influence employees' loyalty. In theory, loyalty towards an organisation is based on two dimensions: internal dimension (emotion) and external dimension (behaviour).
Loyalty towards the organisation based on the internal dimension refers to the psychological ties, whereby employees are proud to work in the organisation they love and wish to stay on.
The external dimension explains the loyalty shown towards an organsation based on the behaviour and environment of the employees until they make the decision to leave.
Employees' loyalty needs to be given due attention by the organisation in maintaining the best workers. The increasingly challenging environmental dynamics this year gives a new perspective to the organisation so that employees' loyalty can be embedded in the empowerment of career skills and development.
A low level of loyalty can weaken organisational strategies to the point that it increases costs and affects productivity. Studies have shown that employees' level of loyalty can become weak. Thus, strategies need to be taken by the organisation to maintain the level of loyalty.
Studies show that loyalty has a strong and positive relationship with reward, job promotion and employee involvement. Other than that, there is a direct relationship between loyalty, working tenure and work experience, apart from age factor, salary and gender.
But education factor has the strongest relationship with loyalty. The findings show that individuals with the highest level of education have the lower sense of loyalty compared with those with low and moderate levels of education.
Efforts can be made by the organisation in creating and increasing employees' loyalty, including giving sufficient and fair incentives, creating a comfortable working environment, continuing training programmes and career development, and ensuring that the rights of the workers are upheld by nurturing social integration.
Loyalty is the psychological bond between employees and their organisation to achieve common goals. This bonding will make an organisation more competitive and sustainable in facing challenges.
Organisations also need to instil a sense of loyalty among their employees. For employees, the loyalty shown to the organisation should not be the reason for stress or mental pressure.
Blind loyalty must be avoided. Find a point of balance between loyalty and responsibility in career life. It can improve mental health and increase productivity in the organisation and the country.
DR. ZAFIR KHAN MOHAMED MAKHBUL
Professor of HRM and Organisational Management, Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times