How to Identify and Retain Key Employees

2.5 minute read

According to Zywave’s 2022 Attraction and Retention Survey, more than 75% of employers consider attraction and retention to be among their top five business challenges. Identifying and retaining key employees is especially important right now in response to changing work demands brought on by the pandemic and the ‘great reshuffle’ trend. For organizations to continue to succeed, they need to find and retain the best workers. These are the workers who affect performance and drive business for their employers, making them critical assets.

Who Are Key Employees?

Key employees have skills, knowledge and excellent performance that can be linked to the organization’s overall success. Often these employees have special proprietary knowledge, additional certifications, degrees, or licenses that help their organizations function more efficiently. They have a tangible impact on their companies and are difficult to replace.

Some general indicators of key employees include:

• Exceed expectations
• Enhance strategies
• Affect performance
• Impact business relations
• Connect teams

How to Retain Key Employees

Identifying key employees only helps organizations if they can retain them. Here are some ways that employers can keep key employees:

• Identify who the key employees are. Employers are far less likely to be able to retain key employees if they don’t know who they are.
• Maintain open communication. Keep communication lines open to ensure that employees’ needs are being met.
• Ensure competitive compensation. Consider reevaluating compensation strategies for top-performing workers to make sure they are competitive.
• Update employee benefits. Determine whether your current benefit offerings are meeting your key employees’ needs.
• Provide learning and development opportunities. Key employees are often overachievers who want to learn more. By providing opportunities, these employees can enhance their skill set.

Conclusion

Key employees are vital to the success of an organization, so it’s important for employers to figure out who they are and how to keep them. Download the bulletin for more details.