Some Tweaks To Build Employee Loyalty

Two years here. Three years there. Another five somewhere else. Frequent job-hopping used to be a red flag, suggesting to prospective employers that a candidate was unfocused and disloyal.

That stigma seems to be gone. Changing jobs might be the best way to score a significant salary bump and move up the career ladder. And younger workers—the fuel driving every startup machine—are more likely than older ones to switch employers. Employees ages 25-34 had a median tenure of just 2.8 years on the job in January 2016, compared to 7.9 years for workers ages 45-54, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Concern about turnover is yet another worry that keeps founders and management up at night. They know their business success depends in large part on keeping a stable and productive team on the job for the long haul—or at least long enough to make it through a key milestone such as a product launch, a critical round of funding or an exit event.