There are those jobs that are meant to be short lived; weigh stations of sorts. Employees go back to school, outgrow their roles, or just burn out.

It’s natural that you’d want to do everything possible to retain employees. Given the amount of time spent finding, hiring and training a new employee, it’s in your best interest to keep employees engaged and interested in your job for as long as is reasonably possible so that you can retain your top employees.

You can’t force an employee to remain in their job longer than they want to stay employed with you, but there are things that you can do now to increase the likelihood that you’ll retain your staff long enough to develop a mutually beneficial relationship with them:

Be proactive and assess your applicant’s commitment to the role before hiring.

There are no guarantees, but you can lessen the possibility of employee flight upfront by asking your job applicant about their career goals and long term commitment. Don’t stop there. Check references in order to verify how long the applicant stayed employed at past jobs. Past behavior can give you insight on future behavior.

Enable your employees and give them a sense of ownership in their jobs.Give your employees and opportunity to cross train or take on new tasks.

Access to even very simple or straightforward opportunities can help to make your staff feel that they have an opportunity to learn a new skill.

Acknowledge your employees efforts.

Employees want to know that you recognize and appreciate their work. Let them know that you are available to answer questions and concerns. Then follow through on your commitment to be available to staff.

Address work place problems immediately.

Don’t let unaddressed issues in the workplace affect the morale of other staff members.?? Make sure that employees understand their roles and what you expect of them.

Orient your new employee to their new job.

Make sure that they have everything that they will need to be successful during their first few weeks in their new role.

Following these tips will help to take the mystery out of how to retain your valued employees.

Author's Bio: 

Dianne Shaddock is the Founder of Easy Small Business HR.com, a website which provides “Quick and Simple Human Resources Strategies for Small Businesses, Non Profits, and Entrepreneurs. Go to EasySmallBusinessHR.com for more tips on how to hire and manage your staff more effectively. Easy Small Business HR, Your Personal HR Consultant!