The Employee Reward Philosophy That Equals Higher Retention

"Congratulations! That great new person has been hired to your team - and they are eager to start adding a ton of value. As a highly-engaged leader, you understand how to create an upward spiral of performance very well: define performance standards, spell out expectations, collaborate on next steps and benchmarks, follow up and adjust. That structure and support goes a long way toward engaging and developing today's best talent. You just hope that great new hire decides to stick around for a while."

"Without leaders who are engaged enough to help people develop skills and grow their careers, there will be no hope of retaining even the most dedicated employees. But what if you are already a strong, highly-engaged leader? You are a master of the management fundamentals: You have regular 1:1 meetings with each direct report, spell out expectations and guidelines, track performance, hold people accountable, and help them solve problems every step of the way."

Strong leadership and targeted recognition are essential to retaining top talent. Managers should define performance standards, set clear expectations, collaborate on benchmarks, and provide ongoing follow-up and adjustment. Rewards become more valuable when leaders control delivery, time rewards close to performance, and customize incentives to individual preferences. Providing guidance, direction, support, and coaching amplifies reward impact. Treating all employees identically under the 'myth of fairness' undermines retention of high performers; instead, differentiate rewards to reinforce exceptional contributions. Even skilled managers who handle fundamentals must elevate their recognition strategies to prevent losing high performers to insufficiently targeted rewards.

Read at Psychology Today