Greetings!

Good solid performers are hard to find.  Once found, you had better hope that you can keep them on your payroll, keep them focused, and keep them motivated.  We have talked about this before (and most likely will again), as this is so critical to organizational success.

If you really are interested in talent retention, you must know, understand, and respond positively to the personal goals and objectives of your employees.  Where do they see themselves going in their career?  What is it that motiviates them?  What can you do to help them achieve their goals and objectives? 

We hope you will find the feature article below to be helpful. 

Employee Retention: Strategies To Retain Top Performers

Even in a damaged economy, some employees (usually the top performers) contemplate moving on to bigger and better opportunities if they are unhappy in their current situations. Most often it can be the manager that plays a key role in preventing this syndrome by doing what they can to create a workplace environment that allows for growth, challenge and opportunity. While compensation helps, it's not always salary that makes for an optimum working atmosphere. When wages are equal with the marketplace, other factors take precedence.

According to a Key Group report, here are 8 ways a manager can keep employees content and committed in the organization:

1. Keep them engaged.

Consider ways to provide opportunities for employees to improve on their skills or learn new skills they can use in their jobs.

2. Give praise where praise is due.

Recognizing a job well done isn't an expensive proposition, but it will mean the world to your employee.

3. Be aware of employees' changing needs.

By recognizing their changing needs, you show sensitivity to what's going on in their lives. This builds loyalty and helps bring stability to their personal lives, which mean they can focus better at work.

4. Realize that great employees thrive under great leaders.

Employees won't leave for greener pastures unless you drive them. The buck starts and stops with their leaders.

5. Conduct regular "stay" interviews.

Rather than exit interviews, use regular "stay" interviews to provide an opportunity to compliment high performers on their work and inspire them to do more.

6. Create an environment where people can do their best work.

By allowing employees to develop and implement their own ideas, you'll keep them passionate about their work.

7. Create an environment of trust.

Employees are happier and work harder when they trust their leaders. They decide which leaders they can trust based on how their fellow employees, company vendors and customers are treated.

8. Rid your pasture of weeds.

The weeds are those poor performers and negative employees who stifle the good attitudes and high performance of their co-workers.

The bottom line:

Striving to keep employees happy and engaged is not just a "nice" thing to do - it's the only way to maximize workplace productivity, organization efficiency and avoid the high cost of recruitment. Engaged employees are creative, productive, motivated and loyal to the organization.