Achievers

The price you pay when a good employee jumps ship is high -- up to 300% of the first year's salary. Losing high achievers impacts your reputation and your bottom line. A recent Wall Street Journal poll showed that businesses with stable, highly committed employees enjoyed a much higher profit than those without them.
Here are seven ways to establish the reputation you'll need to attract and retain top-flight employees.

1. External motivators like salary and perks have a limited shelf life. So flashing dollar signs won't work. Instead convey that employees in your firm are valued for who they are, for their unique skills, and for what they can add to the corporate culture. The enduring attractions to high achievers are the opportunity to grow in their profession, to make a difference, and to accomplish something within a company they could not accomplish on their own.
   
2. During the first two weeks on the job, make the employee feel welcome. You should reconfirm three points: the reason the person was hired, what you expect of him, and how his contribution will be valued. Your challenge is to connect to new employees as soon as they are hired and not let them swim around in circles struggling to keep their head above water. They want to know from the start what direction they'll be heading and to feel that what they are doing is in line with their own career objectives as well as appropriate for the company.
   
3. Encourage the old guard to mentor and guide new employees, rather than criticize or ignore them. What will drive a new employee out during the first month are her peers, not her manager. When new employees feel the sting of ridicule every time they make a mistake, or when they find that information has been purposely withheld to make them look bad, it creates an atmosphere of animosity. Research shows that it is the most competent, high achievers who are the first to flee a hostile environment. Let your veterans know they have an important part to play in bringing rookies up to speed and helping them to fit fast and find job satisfaction.
   
4. Ensure that someone at the executive level is available to solve significant problems. This lets new people know that the chain of command is working and that someone with authority is involved. Your top executives need to be inside the company, not continually away at conferences and tied up in meetings. When seniors are accessible, new employees have the satisfaction and the validation of receiving feedback from top decision-makers. Such attention is inspiring.
   
5. Expect managers to form teams and act in a team-like fashion. If new employees don't see teamwork modeled from above, there is no inspiration for them to make the necessary compromises to work together cooperatively. Companies without teamwork develop a reputation for dissent, not cooperation. Employees then feel disconnected and vulnerable (especially during times of change), and they can find no collective sense of accomplishment. In addition, it is hard for them to measure their own growth because they feel as if they're operating in a vacuum. A new employee cannot have a clean sense of accomplishment if she's the only one measuring.
   
6. Insist that supervisors give frequent evaluations, provide honest feedback, and address poor performance and inappropriate behavior with a sense of immediacy. Evaluations contribute to the overall morale of the newly hired; the immediate feedback clears up confusion, reinforces excellence, and helps reassure them that their progress within the company is on track. Hard work is recognized, which provides them with the incentive they need to reach for even loftier goals. Addressing poor performance is important because it raises the overall performance levels and reassures high achievers that the company's status as a place that rewards excellence and discourages substandard work is deserved.
   
7. Create an atmosphere where new hires can surface complaints, express criticism, challenge inconsistencies, and communicate negative information without prejudice. This establishes your company as a place where open communication is the norm. New employees want assurances that they will, in fact, be supported for trying to rectify problems, not penalized for it, that honesty counts, and that they do not have to suffer the frustration of hiding the truth. To excel, these folks must trust that their a mistake can be corrected without fear that it will hamper their career path. In the end, they'll accept that the only thing that is measured or remembered is what they've done well.