I often hear employers say they would like their workers to be more loyal and show greater commitment to the company. The answer is fairly simple: profit sharing.

Stories abound in the media about problem employees who take advantage of their employers and then file huge lawsuits over a real or imagined wrongdoing. Although these are the stories we tend to remember, they are by no means the norm. Most employers, along with their employees, seem to be looking for the same thing mutual respect and a return on investment.

Many employers strive to communicate to their employees the value of the individual to the organization. The way employers do this is by implementing employee-friendly programs such as casual days, Employee Assistance Programs, expanded benefits plans, generous vacation and holiday pay, sick pay, flexible work schedules, company-sponsored events, educational benefits, service awards, scholarships, and more.

I am often approached by employers seeking ideas and additional programs they can use to cultivate a “stakeholder mentality” in their employees. Although we all recognize the value of employee and family-friendly programs, one of the most effective methods used by employers to gain stakeholder mentality from their employees is to do exactly that: make them stakeholders, partners, co-owners of the business.

When management shares the company’s profits with its employees, an organization can accomplish what so many CEOs say they want: loyalty and buy-in from employees.

Employers can do this several ways. As Ray Liden, a qualified plan consultant and partner with Liden, Morton, Nestle & Soled in Westlake Village tells me, “An employer can use a stock-option plan, a profit-sharing plan, or a matching 401(k) plan. There are significant incentives for employees if they know they are driving the company’s profits and they in turn will profit themselves. The type of plan used depends on the comfort level of the CEO in rewarding key performers.

“I have a client company that incrementally matches the deferral in its 401(k) plan based on profit goals. They’ve met 100 percent of their goal three years in a row,” Liden adds.

Employees gain the return on investment they are seeking along with a sense of security and connection with the job. Employees who partner in the business see the results of their hard work, not just in compensation but in the commitment the company has made to them as well.

Loyalty is very hard to come by these days, on both sides of the employment equation. Employees who appear to be disloyal, uncommitted, and only out for themselves may actually be demonstrating the backlash from cut-and-slash downsizings that occurred in the early ’90’s. How many business owners, if they survey their employee population, can be certain they have even one employee who has the expectation of retiring from their current job?

The lifetime job is long gone, and the lifelong commitment from employees has gone with it. It is communicated clearly to employees from the first day on the job that their employment is “at will” and they can be fired any time, for any reason. So it’s no wonder employers, now more than ever, are using programs beyond the standard compensation of salary and benefits to gain commitment from their employees.

“Employers have more flexibility to reward high achievers by using a 401(k) plan coupled with a profit-sharing plan while still retaining tax benefits,” said Barry Levine, financial advisor for Sagemark Consulting in Westlake Village. “This type of plan, called a ‘discretionary defined contribution plan’ can be used to reward key performers based on the profits of the company, thereby passing on additional benefits to these people.”

This can be very attractive to high-achieving employees whose loyalty and commitment we would like to gain and keep, and this type of recognition flows over into all areas of performance.

When employers and employees partner for the success of the company, dramatic changes occur in workplace morale. For employers, this can translate into big cost savings. It is common knowledge that when morale shifts to a high level, productivity increases, absenteeism drops, employee turnover diminishes, and employees work together more harmoniously.

Rather than performing according to old standards of behavior where rewards are distributed solely in the form of compensation, employees begin to view themselves as crucial to the success or failure of the organization by virtue of the contribution they make or fail to make. The organization becomes a shared responsibility. Whether or not the company succeeds or fails becomes a very personal matter to the employees.

Being a stakeholder entails ownership, which is a great motivator not only in terms of profits and revenues but also the necessary team building that will guarantee the organization’s ultimate success.

An opportunity to take part in the company’s profits is also an excellent way to attract new employees to an organization. Applicants with the most to offer will also be looking for the greatest return on investment. From the first day of employment, a new employee feels responsible for virtually every dollar earned or lost by the company. This is a cost-effective way to create and keep the critical trust factor in the employer/employee relationship.

In a recent survey conducted by the Families and Work Institute, two-thirds of the 1,000 companies surveyed allow flextime, 23 percent offer elder-care resource and referral services, and 33 percent offer maternity leave more than 13 weeks long. With the rapidly changing family needs of our employees, work-family programs are essential in the workplace. But for ultimate buy-in and commitment, partnering with employees will capture the “stakeholder mentality” that employers are seeking.

Jane Bright is president of the Bright Group in Los Angeles, which works with a broad range of companies in recruiting, training, and employee retention. She can be reached at (818) 775-3805; her e-mail address is [email protected].

Entrepreneur’s Notebook is a regular column contributed by EC2, The Annenberg Incubator Project, a center for multimedia and electronic communications at the University of Southern California. Contact James Klein at (213) 743-1941 with feedback and topic suggestions.