Every company leader worth their salt will tell you that losing talent can be both costly and damaging to a company.

There have been studies done to try to tally the impact of a high turnover on your bottom line. Here’s an estimate from Forbes:

“Off-the-shelf estimates are available, which might set the cost of an entry-level position turning over at 50 percent of salary; mid-level at 125 percent of salary; and senior executive at over 200 percent of salary,” writes Bill Conerly.

So how do you create a work environment that inspires loyalty? Well, to get your team to prioritize your company, your company has to prioritize the team.

“People first” needs to be more than a phrase on your corporate website. It has got to be something that’s ingrained in your culture.

Here are some tips on how to get this right:

1. Flexibility works

If there is one truth that Covid-19 has brought home to global corporates, it’s that remote working is not only possible, but it can be as effective, if not more effective, than a nine-to-five office schedule. When employees are allowed to forego commutes, which cost time and money and make up the gap with technology, they tend to get the job done.

Flexible office hours can inspire loyalty, because they allow employees to produce their work without sacrificing things like family time or losing hours in a commute. If the kind of work your company does allows for team members to enjoy a flexible work structure, but you’re not encouraging it, ask yourself why you don’t think it would work.

If the answer revolves around trust, then it’s time to take a long, hard look at your company culture.

2. Transparency is a must

Giving your team an unvarnished look at how the company’s performing, the big picture financially, and how you see the future helps keep everyone on the same page.

It’s not always easy to share these details, but this kind of transparency encourages trust, and trust is essential for loyalty. Not only that, as this insightful piece in Forbes notes, transparency also allows for better decision-making, because your team has sight of the bigger picture, and for greater efficiency, because everyone is in the loop and it prevents disengagement.

3. Be inclusive

Inclusivity and diversity have become corporate buzzwords over the past few years, but it’s critical to get it right if you want to build and maintain a strong, resilient, and effective team.

Being inclusive simply means that all members of your team feel comfortable and accepted when they are at work, and feel they have as much of an opportunity to succeed as their teammates.

This is something that doesn’t just happen organically. It’s a deliberate effort on the part of leadership to confront inherent biases and take steps to address them. Maintaining this culture is a responsibility for the whole team.

We have simple, effective strategies that can help you achieve this. Find out more here.

4. Offer meaningful work

Studies have shown that helping employees derive meaning and purpose from their work leads to positive engagement. This isn’t always about volunteering or acts of charity (though it can be), it’s also about developing career plans for employees so that they see their actions and accomplishments as part of a bigger personal goal. If your company is doing good in the world, it can be a strong motivator for individual employees to be more committed and engaged.

5. Make sure there’s room to grow

Opportunities to develop new skills or to move up the ladder are also strong motivators, particularly to top-performing employees. Encourage that energy and drive by providing avenues for employees to grow beyond their current positions and to assume more responsibility.

This doesn’t always mean putting talented people on a path to management, it could also mean offering them the chance to study further or try their hand at another side of the business.

6. Create a collaborative company culture

Corporate America champions competition, and it’s true that we all want our company to come out on top. But an internal company culture that’s too competitive can quickly lead to resentment and toxicity as employees try to outdo (and inevitably undercut) each other. The result: a poorly functioning team that may have some star performers, but isn’t going to deliver the results you need.

Instead of championing individual achievement and focusing on winners and losers, reward collaboration, as this article in Inc. suggests.

7. Hire character; train skill

Finally, perhaps the best way to retain a strong, effective team is to recruit the right people, to begin with.

At Flexability, we know that finding a good hire goes beyond a résumé. Here’s how we go about executive searches, for instance. Appointing candidates who show integrity and good character, and who are aligned to your values, increases the chances that they will stay with your business through the good times and bad.

Flexability is a global leader in helping create and maintain diverse, resilient teams. Find out more about our work here.