The Road to Retaining Top Talent Infographic

The Road To Retaining Top Talent. Your top employees are the key to success. But the risk of losing them can be high. Here’s how to protect your top talent. Why should you care if your top performers leave. [1] They contribute between forty percent and sixty nine percent more than average performers. The top five percent of performers produce twenty six percent of an organisation’s output. They help others improve by acting as mentors, trainers and role models. For every top performer that leaves, an average of two other top performers follow. [2] Five signs a top performer might be about to leave. [3] Complaining about frequently shifting strategic priorities. Being dismissive of less high performing colleagues. Showing lack of engagement with their allocated tasks and responsibilities. Dabbling in work or projects outside their main area of responsibility. Claiming lack of recognition and reward for their achievements. Four reasons top performers leave. [4] No appropriate opportunities for career advancement. Inadequate pay or bonuses. Not enough challenge or stretch. Not enough enjoyment in the work. Top tips for retaining top performers. [5] Give regular praise and feedback for good work. Offer challenging projects and assignments. Provide opportunities for development and career growth. Regularly benchmark salaries to understand and manage expectations. Do. Find out what matters most to your top performers, e.g. flexibility, further study, more challenge, and use this to help retain them. Communicate with top performers more than you think you need to. Don’t. Forget that satisfaction with an immediate boss is essential to keep top performers. Remember. People join companies but leave managers. [6] Think money is the only tool available to motivate top performers. Are you the manager your top performers want. [7] Understand what your top employees need with these key employee engagement drivers. Honesty. ninety percent of employees want this from their manager. Be as open as you can. Fairness. Eighty nine percent want their manager to be fair. So, no playing favorites. Trust. Over eighty six percent want to trust and be trusted by their manager. Have your employees’ backs and don’t micromanage. Respect. Eighty four percent want to respect and be respected by their manager. Be a good role model and a considerate colleague. Dependability. Eighty one percent. Let employees know you’re there for them. Keep to your word. Collaboration. Seventy seven percent. Encourage people to share their ideas and consider them carefully. Genuineness. Seventy six percent want their manager to be authentic. Be yourself, within reason, at work. Appreciation. Seventy four percent of employees need praise for their efforts. Say thank you, or great job, for a job well done. Responsiveness. Seventy four percent want their manager to listen, understand and respond. Use active listening to really tune in.

References
[1] The Interview Group, Top Performers Research Paper (April 2014). Available at: www.interviewgroup.biz (accessed 19 September 2014).
[2] ‘The Real Reasons Your Employees Are Leaving’, Certus Sales Recruitment Blog (8 January 2013). Available at: http://www.salesrecruitmentblog.com/real-reasons-employees-leave (accessed 19 September 2014).
[3] Ernest O’Boyle Jnr and Herman Aguinis, ‘The Best and The Rest: Revisiting the Norm of Normality of Individual Performance’, Personnel Psychology (27 February 2012), Volume 65, Issue 1, pp 79-119. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2011.01239.x/full (accessed 19 September 2014).
[4] The Interview Group, Top Performers Research Paper (April 2014). Available at: www.interviewgroup.biz (accessed 19 September 2014).
[5] Amy Gallo, ‘How To Keep Your Star Performers in Trying Times’, HBR Blog Network (9 December 2009). Available at: http://blogs.hbr.org/2009/12/retaining-star-performers-in-t/ (accessed 19 September 2014).
[6] Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently (Free Press Business, 1999), pp 11-12).
[7] Terry Bacon, What People Want: A Manager’s Guide to Building Relationships That Work (Nicholas Brealey America, June 2011).

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