High performers are great assets of every company. Employees who excel in their job roles, and are highly-driven to expand their capabilities are considered to be key employees. They are resilient during downturns experienced by a company, highly-engaged and loyal to the organization.

However, many employers are put through situations when an employee resigns unexpectedly. Losing top performers in the workforce shocks the management and can disrupt cohesive workings of a team to perform optimally. While employers do initiate talent retention strategies for making a talent stay, but sometime implementation of those strategies is way too late. Since the employee has already accepted a job offer somewhere else.

Looking beyond talent retention, organisations are required to design a talent succession planning programme to develop and retain top performers within the company. Here are some tips that can help you do so:

Help them grow in their job roles. High performers love to expand their skills and learn new things to enrich their experiences and sharpen their expertise. Organisations should provide them with opportunities to grow and challenge them to excel in their careers to avoid stagnation at a certain point in time.

Employers should further ensure that key employees are able to accomplish the current workload without making them feel excessively burdened with responsibilities. Employers should also be proactive in holding effective communication with employees, and seek to understand if they are really in a position (physically and otherwise) to accept more responsibilities. Employees appreciate when organisations and senior managers, show trust and care.

See: Human Touch for Tech Talent Retention: “Thank You” Works!

Invest on Training to Help Them See Future Career Goals. Employers should be aware about the personal individual goals of employees, as in terms of what they seek to achieve in their career and integrate those plans into the company’s vision for the future. Managers should be able to provide clear explanation about an employee’s career and motivate them to execute their regular jobs. They should inspire thinking big and support it with zest to excel.

Ensure that employees know, they are appreciated. Too often, high performers leave the company as they are not appreciated or valued by the employers. Appreciation is one crucial thing, employers should provide to boost employee morale, enhance job satisfaction and retain performers with the company. Rather than delivering praise as general form of appreciation, employers should detail and be specific when appreciating employees, highlighting on their contributions and how this has helped the company taste success in its growth path.

Implement “stay interviews” to know what can make them stay. Instead of allowing room for ambiguity and assumptions, HR managers should make it a part of best business practice to hold stay interviews to seek understanding on why talent want to quit. Sometimes a casual conversation over lunch or coffee breaks, will help managers understand employee wants and expectations in their careers and personal growth. This opportunity for calm interaction can also be used by HR managers to showcase care, trust and support provided by the company, to help resolve their concerns and issues with the management. This will help create a great impression on the minds of employees and perhaps, they might choose to stay back.

Don’t forget about the money. It is common for best employees to seek for greener pastures elsewhere since everyone desires better monetary compensation. And, employers who fail to appreciate their key talent, feel demotivated to perform and even if the job offer isn’t all about money in itself, it does matter. Money makes employees happy and this is the most undeniable fact that organisations should know. Best performing talent only job-hop for better remuneration, else in some case because of irritating managers. These could be the main two reasons why employees quit, besides a small portion that includes other personal problems.

Retaining high performers with an organisation requires tact and patience. Employers should make sincere efforts to ensure that employees are satisfied in their jobs, motivated and passionate to make a difference with their performance, by offering them the benefits and monetary compensation they seek.

Read also: The Real Cost of Employee Turnover: Impact on Finance