High-performing employees. Every business wants them, but, surprisingly, not every business knows what to do when they have them. This problem is often due to these kinds of thoughts: “They’re exceeding expectations, so they’re already happy and engaged. They don’t need extra attention.”
Instead, leaders often give the majority of their attention to those who aren’t performing at their peak. How to boost engagement, how to boost productivity, how to improve morale, etc.
However, just because high performers are excelling now doesn’t mean they will continue to do so. And if they feel like their work isn’t being adequately noticed or their efforts aren’t appreciated, you may find yourself with fewer high performers than you’d like.
Understanding High Performers
Before anything else, it’s important to know how to spot high performing employees. Top performers are those who:
- Innovate and put creativity into each task
- Proactively tackle responsibilities
- Are accountable for their work
- Happily provide resources and mentorship to other employees
- Frequently deliver high-quality work on time
The definition of high performing employees is different for every organization, but this should help you identify them and know where to aim your efforts.
Managing High-Performing Employees
So how do you manage and retain high performing employees? How do managers balance not giving them special attention in an unfair way but also rewarding them for their top-level work? Here are some ideas.
Provide Constructive Feedback
Most high performers crave feedback because they want to improve and continue to excel. Help managers know how to provide consistent feedback that gives actionable advice and guidance for high performers to continually improve.
Focus on Flexibility and Avoid Micromanagement
High performing employees don’t need to be told how to work. They’re already pushing boundaries and hitting goals, so managers need to give them freedom and flexibility to continue to work in the way that is best for them. Micromanagement will only cut down on their productivity.
Recognize Their Efforts and Accomplishments
Good work deserves to be recognized, whether from a brand new employee or an established high performer. Managers need to know how to notice good work and express appreciation to help maintain employee engagement.
Awardco’s Secret Weapons
We’ve built powerful tools that allow for impactful recognition from managers, coworkers, and even third parties.
- External Recognition, to allow customers, patients, and other external parties to recognize your employees.
- Custom incentives, to drive and reward specific behaviors.
- Global reward network, to allow top performers to choose whatever rewards they want.
- A-Pay Cards, to let anyone spend their points at any location and at any time.
Retaining High-Performing Employees
Managers aren’t the only ones with the responsibility for keeping high performers engaged and satisfied. Here are ways that business leaders can retain their top workers.
Provide Professional Development Opportunities
High performers want to grow in their work and responsibilities, and companies should want these types of employees in the most important roles. To that end, provide training, mentorship, online courses, or budgets for other developmental opportunities to high performers.
Make Sure They Have Necessary Resources
Nothing is more frustrating than wanting to do great work but not knowing how to do so. High performers need resources to know how to succeed, and they need to have a clear idea of what’s expected of them.
Group Them With Like-Minded Employees
One of the most gratifying things for high performers is working with other high performers. Group these people together for projects, or pair them up with senior mentors who share the same work ethic.
These ways to retain employees will help you keep your high performers engaged and interested in their work, and they’ll help them feel satisfied with and loyal to the organization as a whole.
Hold On to Your Top Employees
Long story short, employees that put their all into their work need to feel like the company values their efforts and wants them to succeed. Professional development, recognition, flexibility, and feedback are just some of the answers to how to retain good employees.
An avid lover of fantasy books, a proud Hufflepuff, and a strong proponent of escapism, Jeff has a love of good storytelling. He relies on that for both his professional work and his writing hobby (don’t ask about the 10+ novel ideas collecting virtual dust on his computer).
