Even if you don’t subscribe to the idea of Blue Monday, the dark depths of January can be enough to dim your outlook – even for those with the sunniest of dispositions.

And equipped with a glass-half-empty perspective, it becomes easy to question your career prospects or make negative judgements about the modern employment landscape.

An example of such a judgement is that employee loyalty is now a thing of the past, with new generations of workers pursuing career strategies that firmly prioritise their own interests ahead of their employer’s.

And evidence can certainly be found to back up this point of view. Employer organisation CIPD states that the average turnover of UK workers stands at 34%, meaning around three in ten workers leave to join another company each year. This churn figure is highest for hospitality businesses, where it stands at 41%.

Furthermore, there is separate research showing recent year-on-year increases in churn – all of which plays into a broader anti-loyalty narrative based around decreasing tenures and a keenness to fast-track career progression through ‘job-hopping’ or by becoming an ‘office frog’.

Shifting loyalties

But there is also a counter argument. It is possible that the propensity of employees to demonstrate loyalty to their employer has not diminished, but rather, there has been a change in how loyalty is perceived among today’s workforce.

Once, it might have been assumed that employees would, by default, show unquestioning loyalty to their employer, measured by the length of their tenure.

But that logic is being challenged in today’s more fluid employment scene, where tenures might be shorter, but employees are still capable of demonstrating dedication to the company’s cause during their employment period.

The difference, arguably, is that the loyalty ‘contract’ entered into by both employer and employee has become more finely balanced. Increasingly, workers expect this agreement to be underwritten by mutual respect and the idea of a value exchange, where the benefits of financial security, personal support and professional progress are rewards for endeavour and commitment. And when these elements fall out of balance, loyalty and retention rates can be negatively impacted.

What workers want

This point is illustrated by the top priorities among jobseekers. While pay is often still cited as the main driving force, in some cases it is now being edged out by factors such as job security. Meanwhile, a sense of meaning and purpose is becoming more influential to loyalty and retention, with staff increasingly willing to move on if they do not feel a broader alignment with their employer’s ethos.

Even high-performing staff who are seemingly content at work can be prone to leaving, underlining the complexity of the loyalty challenge faced by employers. This can be driven by various factors such as a perceived lack of recognition and limited opportunities for growth.

For companies struggling to adapt to these new rules, there are clear implications. Poor levels of retention can lead to personnel changes and operational disruption which, potentially, impacts on productivity and team morale.

There are also direct financial implications through the requirement for additional expenditure on recruitment efforts to replace lost employees.

As such, it is perhaps no surprise that retention is cited as the biggest challenge by around half of HR professionals in one survey.

Benefits: An indicator of investment

In order to address these symptoms, employers must get to the root cause of the issue. Surface level fixes are unlikely to provide long-term resolution when staff are seeking more fundamental cultural change or policies and initiatives that are more closely aligned to their ambitions and expectations.

This context underlines the importance of employee benefits to the broader employer proposition. From pensions and private medical insurance to flexible working and fitness discounts, the package of benefits on offer is increasingly regarded as an indicator of how much an employer is willing to invest in sustaining staff wellbeing for the long term.

By extension, this further reinforces the importance of good communication in driving awareness of, and engagement with, benefits. With a clear understanding of what their employer is offering and why, individuals can make better-informed decisions about whether or not to stay.

Building bonds of trust

Ultimately, retention will always present something of an uphill struggle: very few employers can boast of maintaining a 100% rate and there will always be a proportion of the workforce that will never fully submit themselves to the team’s mission.

In the modern workplace, where loyalty is likely to be regarded as a choice rather than an obligation, this is arguably even more of a struggle.

But companies that understand the new dynamic and accept that loyalty is now hard-earned have a clear opportunity to shape these choices. By creating an environment that meets the needs of the workforce – and doing so in a transparent way – the bonds of trust between employee and employer can be strengthened, laying the essential foundations for loyalty.

As a result, when retention flash points such as Blue Monday inevitably come around, staff might be less likely to think the grass is greener elsewhere and more likely to take a rose-tinted view of both their current and future prospects.

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