October 26th, 2010 | 6 comments | Unfiltered

Loyalty is changing. If you haven’t read Todd Defren’s post from last week – do it.

Todd’s overarching concern is this: “If the shitty policies of the Employer naturally led to poor loyalty by Staff, we must acknowledge that this, in turn, has de-motivated Employers to ever re-think their practices to engender the loyalty of Staff. It’s a Vicious Cycle, now. Can we turn the flywheel in the other direction?”

Here’s the thing. I can’t tell you how to hire. I have no experience in that. I can’t tell you what best practices are for retention, and I’m not about to get all Millennial on your ass and tell you that “we, as a generation, need X, Y and Z if you want us to stick around.”

What I can tell you, however, is that it’s part of my professional mantra to always be loyal to whomever I’m working with. That starts the moment you walk in the door and it continues until the day you leave. Here are three suggestions for how to totally rock at being loyal, while you’re there. Because let’s face it, we’re not going to be at the same place forever. So you might as well make a name for yourself and be classy on the way out.

1. Think of opportunities for the employer to grow. Sure, in an agency world, we’re always looking out for Number One – our clients. But, take some time to think outside of that state of mind and expand to how you can make the agency better. Example: when Karen from Mashable reached out to us (Weber Shandwick) earlier this summer about sponsorship opportunities for SummerMash, my gut reaction was “holy crap this would be awesome for INSERT CLIENT HERE!” but then I took a second and thought, “holy crap, we might find some awesome candidates here, too.” So instead of XYZ client sponsoring SummerMash, Weber sponsored SummerMash. Yay! Why you’re loyal: You’re not just looking out for yourself, you’re trying to improve your work conditions, and you’re opening up doors for your employer to help you with the changes that you need (in our case, more hires in a digital capacity).
2. If you love your job, shout it from the rooftops. There was a point in time in my career at WS where my boss, I think jokingly, said that I should get the logo tattooed on my body. Why? Because on every platform I knew of, I was screaming to anyone who would listen about how much I loved my job. Example: Massive WS shout-outs during the SXGenY panel at SXSW in March. Why you’re loyal: I might have gotten a bit excessive at times, but it sure doesn’t hurt to let people know you’re happy where you’re at – it’s a great way to show loyalty to your employer, and that, in turn, will likely lead to hires – everyone wants to be where everyone is happy, right?
3. When you decide you’re leaving, make sure your responsibilities are buttoned up. If you’ve been in your current position for more than a couple months, you’ve likely seen one of your colleagues or teammates leave. How did they exit? Did they transition their work appropriately? Did they just say “screw it” and half-ass everything on their way out? Think of how you might have been affected, positively or negatively, by a colleague leaving, and then factor that in to how you leave with grace. Example: I suppose it depends on your situation, your role on the team, and the kind of back up support you have, but on my way out I wrote a massive “reference” email for whoever would be doing my job next. Here are the passwords, policies, procedures and a cajillion documents you might want to reference. It was one of the most spectacularly gorgeous things I’ve ever put together, if I don’t say so myself. Why you’re loyal: Think about it this way, you want people to miss you, not be thankful that you’re gone.

What do you think? What does loyalty mean to you? If you’re in a management position – how does your company deal with this? If you’re the one hopping around – are you loyal to some degree or do you act with complete disregard for your current employer?

As you may or may not know, I started yesterday with WCG here in Austin. Which means there are surely some posts to come from that transition, the relocation, etc. Stay tuned.