Earning Followers
Earn your followers. Don't just hire them.
If an NPC is not noteworthy enough to have a name and have a player know where they are from and why they follow them then they should not follow them.
If a player is just saying "follower 1 fires an arrow and follower 2 hangs back with the torch" then they have hirelings not real followers.
Maybe also don't let them pick up multiple followers at once. Each should be unique and memorable. Who is with a character is just as important as the sword they carry and the armor they wear.
Followers often become the next character that a player plays in high lethality OSR games like Wolves Upon the Coast and a player starting with say Aymeri who was pulled out of the river during an escape from a pressgang by a now deceased party member is an excellent "Why do I adventure" story.
Hell even if they don't have a name have them be unique. Shepherd recruited a tongueless druid of Onthloug and this silent thegn followed him until Shepherd abandoned mortality.
All of these characters are excellent and would immediately fit the setting far more then any randomly generated guys.
All in all those who are with a character are a huge part of making you part of the setting as much as any magic item or ability they gain.