How to Retain the Good Employees

In today’s economy there a wide range of potential employees that can fill job openings. Some employees don’t work out for various reasons. The worthy employees are the one you want to take steps to stick around. So if you want to keep your employees happy, in both good and bad times, here are five things you need to know.

Challenge your employees – Offer the ambitious employee some new challenges to help them grow professionally and help your business too. You don't want to overwhelm them, but you shouldn't bore them either.

Pay your employees - If you can, pay them more than they think they are worth, But if you can't pay a high salary, then provide benefits, such as family time and flexible work schedules, can have more value to the employee rather than additional cash. Pay your employees compliments.

Don't hover - Remember, if you hired employees because they're talented, creative and have a unique set of skills and intelligence, if you constrain them too much and make them do their work exactly like you would do it if you were in their position, you risk losing the very qualities that you hired them for in the first place.

Make the work environment as work-friendly as possible - Look around you and the environment in your office. Money is not the only motivator, but so is going into a workspace that doesn’t tolerate office gossip and general tension. Is the office everyone works in kind of a dump?  Would you work here if you were an employee of yours?

Employees need to get something out of their job – At least offer your employees as much career growth as possible.  It may seem counterproductive to help prepare an employee for a better job, but the more you help an employee grow and evolve so they can get a better job, the better the odds that they're going to realize that the better job is the one they have.