Are you tired of trying to hire, maintain and retain talented individuals? How do organizations with low turnover rates do it? I decided to look around and see what some companies are doing.

One organization allows their staff to take a sababatical. This program can be a one-time opportunity and may either be paid or unpaid. With so many professionals working a lot of overtime, this may be a wonderful incentive towards retaining your talent.  

I also read this blog by Michael Hyatt. He mentions the #1 reason someone leaves is "Their boss is a jerk". So how do you prevent that? If you are the boss, work on being a better one. What is it like to have YOU as a boss? Can you attend any leadership training classes? He goes on to review the next 4 reasons you loose associates. Take a look at it and then let us know - is that what happens in your organization or has it happened to you?

Another blog I read, mentions the importance of keeping tabs on employee engagement. I was confused about what that meant. Certainly it was not to understand who was single and who was about to get married!!

The secret is to communicate with your associates. That is not a difficult concept but it certainly is one frequently overlooked as everyone is busy on completeing the next sale, spreadsheet or phone call.

Do you have regular staff meetings and give updates about the state of the company and the market? What do you do to connect with your team?

After all, you want to keep the talent in YOUR fishbowl!!