How To Retain Your Best-Performing Employees

Ambitious employees are most often your top performers. Even though it’s great to have a devoted and ambitious performer, it’s also equally scary because, in any case where they find themselves dissatisfied with your company, they won’t think twice about jumping ship.

Don't take it as an unconquerable conquest when the number of resignation letters continuously stacks up on your desk. Instead, re-evaluate your work culture and policies and develop action plans to retain your employees, especially your best-performing ones. In this article, we outline 6 killer strategies to manage and keep your most valuable assets.

 

#1 Invest in their professional development

As mentioned above, your top talents are most likely highly ambitious people. They typically hunger for dynamic improvements and have that inner drive to grow personally and professionally. In fact, a 2022 survey by Harris Poll discovered that 80% of employees view career development as an important factor when considering a new job offer. 

Ask yourself: What initiatives have you or the company taken to ensure employees are constantly improving themselves? Is there a learning culture embedded in the company? If the answer is no, then it’s high time you start thinking about it. 

Strive to create a work environment that invests in their learning and growth - whether it’s conducting training workshops, sponsoring certification programs, or having networking opportunities. When the path of career development becomes clear, employees tend to be more motivated, with visible goals to look forward to. Plus, these newly acquired skills and experiences will benefit your company in the long run.

 

#2 Offer substantial pay raises or benefits

Ah yes, the inescapable competitive salaries and benefits. Most employers often throw in a pay raise whenever their top employees intend to resign. But studies have shown that for raises and bonuses to be motivating, they should involve at least a 5-7% increase. In other words, it has to be significant, or it will not be impactful. Since most pay raises aren’t that high, it is no wonder top-performing employees still decide to leave.

Some practices that you can consider incorporating include annual benefits and compensation reviews. By re-evaluating performance with compensation yearly, it helps ensure your top talents remain continually motivated and well appreciated. 

 

#3 Assign top-performing employees stimulating and high-visibility tasks

This can be a little tricky because, like it or not, top performers tend to get bored easily when they are not challenged enough. Hence, team leaders or employers can strive to engage in more conversations with top performers and use those conversations to look for new, challenging, yet meaningful tasks, even if it means transferring them to different teams or departments. This helps your top talents be more engaged with their work and retains the employee’s talents within your company. A win-win situation for both parties.

 

#4 Adopt work-life balance and flexibility

A 2021 survey revealed that the top reason high performers eventually leave their job was to find better work-life balance elsewhere. Ask your employees, especially high-performing ones, how you can support their work-life balance, then come up with an offer that benefits your employees’ wants. 

Employers or HR leaders can also support by providing:

• Flexibility in the work environment (for example remote or hybrid arrangements)
• Generous amount of paid time off
• Physical and mental health benefits such as insurance
• Reasonable workloads to reduce the chances of burnout

 

#5 Customize offers to fulfil their needs

Every employee wants different things at some point in their careers and lives. When you are open to tailoring your offers to meet the demands of both the employee and the company's needs, you set the relationship up for long-term success. Provide what they need to perform, and they’ll recognize your company as a workplace that cares. 

 

#6 Make them feel like your business partners

If you want your top talents to constantly be engaged in the company, DO NOT micromanage. Multiple research has suggested that autonomy remains one of the most powerful motivators at work, and there’s a reason why. 

When employees have the freedom to own their work, they will naturally feel more motivated and empowered to perform at a higher level because of mutual trust. Breathing down someone’s neck isn’t help them do their jobs better or faster. Trust your employees and offer autonomy openly - you may be surprised how well individuals perform when given more control over their work.

 

Keynote

With endless job opportunities for talented professionals, employers and HR leaders need to take real actions to make their most valuable employees happy and motivated to stay within the company and ultimately defeat the ‘Great Resignation’. Because undeniably, the company's future lies in the hands of high-performing employees. 

 

For more HR-related content, visit our HR Library!