How to retain top performers at your company

Once your company has successfully recruited and hired a talented worker, you may think it's time to sit back and reap the rewards of your efforts. However, in a competitive field, highly qualified employees are likely being sought after by other companies, and if your organization is lax in its retention efforts, your best workers may be out the door before you even realize they're looking elsewhere.

For this reason, it's important for employers to continuously make an effort to keep their best hires engaged and happy in the workplace. Here are some steps that will help companies retain their top talent.

Establish growth paths
Opportunities for growth within a company are important to many workers. Even if employees are hired into executive positions, it is essential that they can see a future where they can grow and learn within the organization. Make sure these key players know what opportunities they'll be afforded if they stay with the company, and it will keep them from exploring other job options.

Pay more than market wages
It's not always possible to offer the highest salaries in your industry, but employers that only offer market pay will lose talented workers to their competition. Companies should find ways to offer competitive pay and benefits to their top performing employees if they want to retain this talent. A good starting point is to pay more than market wages - even just a few thousand more is better than nothing - as well as good insurance options, vacation time and flexible scheduling.

Appreciate good work
Employee recognition is a small effort that can go a long way toward keeping workers engaged and content. According to HR Morning, 79 percent of people have quit a job because they felt unappreciated. Take this statistic to heart and create a system for regular employee recognition, whether it's annual worker awards, performance-based bonuses or a company-wide feedback system. When your best workers feel like their contributions are valued, they may be more likely to stay with the company for the long haul.

Conduct regular reviews
The best way to find out what workers are thinking is to ask them. Executives and managers may not know an employee is unhappy if they don't take the time to conduct reviews, and this can result in high turnover of top talent. Quarterly reviews are a great way for higher-ups to connect with their employees, find out what could make the company a more attractive workplace and fine-tune their retention efforts.

Invest in human resources
If these tasks seem unattainable due to time restraints, it's probably a sign that your company needs to invest in its human resource department. A strong HR team can monitor the moods of the company's top workers and advise management on how to improve retention strategies.

This content is brought to you by the Marketing Team at Beacon Hill Staffing Group.