Employee retention is incredibly important in every company and business. When an employee leaves your company, he takes with him all the time invested in his training, as well as institutional knowledge. The loss of an employee also leaves a gap that another employee must fill until you can find a replacement. When an employee leaves, the whole business model is interrupted.

Part of your job is to ensure the retention of employees. You need to start working on programs that are designed to help keep employees happy and keep them in the company. Here are a few tips and tricks that can help you accomplish your goals:

Small perks

Employees love it when companies offer small perks like bagels on Fridays or free parking spots in a downtown location. Another small reward to offer your employees is free dry cleaning pick-up and drop-off. These benefits may seem insignificant, but to your employees such offerings can enhance their lives, or at least make their lives easier.

Ask long-term employees why they stay

You probably already perform exit interviews with employees that are leaving your company, but why not look at the employees that have put in years at your company? Ask them what they like about the company and why they have stayed. Make a point to invite their input and ideas about what changes they would like to see, whether it’s a management style or a change to a system currently in place. Performing these interviews will enable you to view your business from a different perspective, generate new ideas and help you continue to offer your employees the leadership they have come to expect.

Help employees grow

Instead of expecting your employees to perform the same job year after year, offer them opportunities to advance and acquire new skills. Whether that means providing scholarships, classets or the opportunity to travel to a conference, find ways to help them grow as people and employees. Encourage them to share their new knowledge with other employees and with you, thereby making them a truly vital part of your operations.

Financial incentives

Maybe those small perks aren’t enough to motivate your employees. Instead, consider offering your employees financial incentives for doing great work for a client or landing a big deal. These incentives not only foster productivity in employees, but they offer a reason to stay with the company.

Find ways to help your human resources department

Some of the day-to-day functions of the human resources department can shift their focus away from employees. Consider investing in HR software or outsourcing some of the department’s responsibilities. When you’ve got good HR software, your department will be more effective and streamlined, which will allow you to focus on keeping employees happy and your company running at full capacity.

In the long run, a business is most successful when employees are happy and feel personally invested in their work. When an employee leaves your company, everything is disrupted. You lose knowledge, have to take time to hire and train a replacement, and you may even lose clients, if they follow your former employee to a new company. Focus on what you can offer employees that makes them want to stay.