Knowing how to retain top performers doesn’t come down to a few tricks or quick fixes. It’s a process which should start the day your new hire begins, and is ongoing throughout their journey to becoming a top performer.

Take a personal interest

Top performers don’t necessarily want to be seen as that and that only – they’re human too. Taking a personal interest will help drive towards their longevity within your business. Ask about their personal life (to a polite and non-intrusive degree), and do what you can within the bounds of their role and responsibility to flex their job to suit this. That could mean offering flexible shifts, giving them more access to resource thus relieving some pressure, or helping them work towards personal goals. The further you engage, the more likely they’re going to stick around.

Allow them to contribute beyond their day-to-day duties

There’s a reason they’ve become a top performer – they’re doing things well. And that means, in all likelihood, they have some ideas and information to share. By asking your top performers to contribute feedback, ideas and thoughts toward future improvement and/or change, you’re giving them the recognition they deserve alongside a path to shaping their own future and legacy within the company.

Keep their role challenging and progressive

It’s sometimes easy to fall into the “they’re really good at this task – let’s keep them doing it,” trap. But, if your top performers are doing the same thing day in, day out, they may become complacent and ultimately bored. Keep their roles fresh and challenging, offering opportunities to learn each and every day.

Invest in their professional growth

Speaking of learning, one key in how to retain top performers is to invest in their professional development. Whether it’s a vocational qualification, more traditional schooling or an online course, it’ll go a long way to letting them know you appreciate their education and career here.

Customize their benefits package

One-size-fits-all is a thing of the past. Your competition might be able to offer these individuals a similar salary and the same great career prospects, so make sure your organization – who knows them well already, giving you an edge to work with – is going above and beyond to curate a benefits package which suits them and their lifestyle.

Talk about the future

By reiterating that you see a future with them in it (and one that they have the opportunity to shape with their own hands), you’ll stave off those wandering eyes. Talk about the future regularly; ask where they see themselves, what they’d like to achieve. Be transparent with top performers about business goals, large and small, all the while reassuring them that they feature front and centre. Talking about the future and their place in it will naturally see it become more of a reality.

How to retain top performers

Retaining top performers is one thing – finding then hiring them, an entirely different ball game. Engaging with a manufacturing staffing and recruiting specialist like NLG, one with experience at all levels of the manufacturing sector and its many offshoots and intricacies, is going to bring you that much closer to sourcing your next generation of top performers.

To learn more about what we do, visit our website or drop President and CEO Andrew Lavoie a direct message on LinkedIn.

Sometimes, you need to switch off. Literally AND figuratively – switch off your mobile phone, emails, and everything that comes along with it. Give your brain a chance to relax, rejuvenate.

And sometimes, it’s important for us to write about matters like this, rather than the usual recruitment talk or leadership advice.

The importance of taking a mental health day… It just can’t be overlooked.

As recruiters, we’re used to a fast-paced daily life. Work begins early, often ends late, and it’s not often you’ll find time for clock watching. Between phone calls, interviews, client meetings, and all the management that comes along with these tasks, things can be pretty non-stop. And through the work we do, we understand better than most that many professions are very much the same.

So our only advice to you today is this: when your brain, and/or body, tells you it’s time to do so, take that mental health day.

And what should a mental health day look like? Well, the first and obvious point is that it should absolutely not involve work. Instead, it should involve good, old-fashioned downtime. Getting some fresh air, exercise, even just taking a walk. A mental health day should mean no checking work emails, even “just this one time”. It shouldn’t be taking the odd call here and there, even though you aren’t in the office or clocked in.

All that being said, taking a mental health day isn’t just about switching off and getting away from work. It’s about taking the time to focus on the things – and people – you love. We can all admit that our families, hobbies and interests often take a back seat when it comes to work, deadlines, pressures of the everyday. So, taking a mental health day doesn’t just have to be about switching off – it can also be about engaging different parts of our brains and personalities, which don’t get enough attention in the schedule of life.

As a business leader, the importance of taking a mental health day is twofold. By doing so yourself, you’re setting the example to your staff: this is how we’re doing things. This matters. If we can do it, so can you.

Also, fundamentally, taking that day off – as difficult, in some cases near-impossible as it may seem to do sometimes – is going to help. It’s going to give you time to reflect; to become a more happy, healthy leader. The betterment of your own mental health is akin to that of your team.

Trust us – they will thank you for it later.

We love what we do here at NLG; our team is a passionate one. We find jobs for people which we know they too will be passionate about. But, much as you may love the job you do, it’s crucial to step away regularly, if not often. To reflect, refresh, reenergize. To remember why you do what you do, and what about it you love.

If this resonates with you, here’s the go ahead to give yourself a break. If you run a team or business and this inspires you to take a day for yourself, or to encourage your team to do so, let us know. Hopefully we’ve provided at least someone out there with a simple reminder: mental health matters.