Is Employee Loyalty Bred?

What breeds employee loyalty? Can it be bred at all? Is loyalty an innate ability in one’s personality? And what makes someone loyal in the workplace?

When you think of loyalty, words like devotion and obedience come to mind. Sure, those are descriptions for man’s best friend. But are they descriptions for a good employee? Devotion absolutely is. But Founder and CTO of HubSpot, Dharmesh Shah takes an interesting look at the seven traits of a truly loyal employee, and they are more surprising than you think.

Traits of Loyal Employees

Shah lists traditional traits such as integrity in the workplace, praise and support. But he also mentions traits that at first, you would think come from the opposite of a loyal employee. Shah states that loyal employees also exhibit courage to generate discussions and share their opinions. And surprisingly, loyal employees know when to leave.

Shah’s article leaves food for thought on how you evaluate your employees and what you need to look for when searching out loyalty. In essence, a truly loyal employee is a loyal person. And while they may be few and far between, it is possible to breed a culture of loyalty, if you know what to look for.


The Culture Counts blog is a discussion of law firm culture and legal innovation, including topics such as effective leadership, employee engagement, workplace culture, ideal work environment, company core values, and workplace productivity.  

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