Interesting conversation with a colleague

I had an interesting conversation with a colleague on the way to office this morning.

She (let's just call her MN) told me that few years back she was offerred a job by our biggest competitor. The job offered a better pay, but she said she did not take it. Initially she told me that she rejected the offer because she still remember that the boss of the current company she is working now has been treating her very good, and have guided her from the lowest rank to what she had at that moment.

The reason given surprised me, as it seems to against my believe that there is basically no true loyalty exist between employee and employer.

I was guessing that she was not swayed by the offer because she did NOT have confident on how the new boss will be treating her in the future. And she is not a risk taker, so she prefers a secure job. That was my analysis.

True enough, after further conversation, she revealed that beside that the good treatment that she got from her current boss, she canNOT be sure also on HOW the NEW boss will be treating her in the future when she is not able to perform up to the NEW boss expectation. She afraid that she might lose the job and she still has family to take care of.


From this conversation I learn that if we want to find such "loyal" employee, we must:
1. In the first place, find a person which is a risk averse (prefer a job security)
2. Build a trust by giving them chances when the do mistakes. This will show them that we are tolerance to their mistake. But be careful not to send a wrong signal that underperforming is fine
3. For such people we do NOT need to use money, in fact be cautious to increase their basic salary, the best is to use bonus. This type of people normally will not be a GREAT performer, but they are on the average and can be considered "loyal" (stay at least > 5 years)

Basically, my thinking that true loyalty (unselfish reason) does NOT exist still hold. However we (the company) can create an environment which give people more reasons to stay. Job security is one of the main reason why many people stay for a long period of time in a company.