Keep your best employees on board with these helpful tips.

by Mel Kleiman

Have you ever lost a great employee to another employer? Hurts, doesn’t it? And while that person probably told you they were leaving for more money, that’s rarely the case. More often the real reasons have to do with relationships, opportunities and respect.

Here, then, are a few, simple steps you can take to prevent it from happening again:

Provide clearly defined growth opportunities.

Give them more responsibility and cross-training.

Provide them with a culture of accountably.

Pay for performance.

Whatever is scarce has value, so give them the gift of time. You can trust your top performers to use flex time wisely and honestly.

Only allow them to work with other winners because they rightfully resent slackers.

Seek out their opinions and ideas and ask for their thoughts/feedback before changing anything or starting something new.