6 Ways to Create Glue Employees

When the business climate gets unstable, you feel it most in your people. Some team members stick with you through every updraft and downgrade—they’re your glue employees. They strengthen the culture, add stability, and help everyone else stay aloft. But how do you intentionally create glue employees? The answer lies in how you lead, how you communicate, and how you shape the environment they work in.

The Sticky Factor Behind Loyalty and Engagement

Let’s be honest—great employees don’t magically appear. You develop them by creating conditions where they want to stay, grow, and contribute. As you look at your team today, who already shows signs of being a glue employee? And more importantly, what can you do to create glue employees?

How to Create Glue Employees:

• Show them how their work matters. People soar when they see the purpose in what they do. Tie daily tasks to organizational impact, especially during turbulence.
• Build trust through clarity. Glue employees are anchored by leaders who communicate expectations, priorities, and boundaries clearly.
• Develop them intentionally. Provide coaching, mentoring, and skill-building that makes them feel invested in and valued.
• Give them autonomy with guardrails. Trust your people to make decisions while ensuring they know where the thermals—and the downdrafts—are.
• Encourage healthy challenge. Glue employees stay because they’re stretched, not stressed. Offer opportunities that energize rather than exhaust.
• Recognize contribution early and often. Simple acknowledgement adds lift. What behaviors do you want more of? Celebrate those.

When you create glue employees, you strengthen your organization’s culture, stability, and momentum. And in a turbulent business environment, the leaders who intentionally create glue employees enjoy a more loyal, capable, and committed workforce. I help leaders like you identify that lift and put it to work in your organization. Contact me and we’ll talk about how. You haven’t peaked yet!