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July 23, 2018 101

101: Managing high performers

Maybe your company has sought out, wooed and gotten an industry powerhouse to come aboard. But will they be there a year from now? It isn't enough to just recruit high-performing employees onto your team and announce their hires. Managers must ensure they remain happy, challenged and rewarded in their work. With the Society of Human Resource Management reporting a total cost of employee turnover at 60 to 200 percent of annual salary, it pays to retain high-performing employees.

Invest wisely. It is definitely not a case of a manager's job being done once a top performer is welcomed aboard, but just the opposite. Joyce Maroney at Forbes.com says companies looking to ease burnout on their top performers must put as much effort into retaining them as they do into recruiting them. “This will break the disruptive and costly cycle created by turnover. Instead of trying to keep ahead of churn, HR can focus their energies on building great teams,” she writes.

Keep it fresh. Stimulating work activities are crucial for high performers, reports MindTools.com, even though the temptation is to put them with lower-performing colleagues to balance out collaborations. This focus on stimulating work activities is even more important if your company's advancement opportunities are limited. “Find ways for your high achievers to earn quick wins to build their confidence and motivation,” the site states.

Pair them with other high performers whenever possible to keep them growing. “High performers routinely find themselves separated from those they most closely relate to and enjoy working with,” said Matt Plummer at Harvard Business Review. “This happens for obvious reasons, but surrounding them with low performers increases their workload, saps their morale and limits their development.”

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