The most significant asset of any company is the resource pool of employees who work there. Most employers are guilty of ignoring the needs of their staff and instead spend too much of their time on results. While exclusively being a result oriented company definitely helps your bottom line in the short run, it can damage the very fabric of your existence in the long run.

Here’s the rule you need to remember: never let go of your employees. Hold on to them while you still can – because if you won’t, someone else will.

Focusing exclusively on results is actually counterintuitive to your company goals. It’s the biggest oxymoron known to the office space, a glaring error which manifests itself only when it’s too late.

An important question you need to ask yourself right now: How will you run your company, if the employees responsible for making it work are walking out the door?

All of this because of a simple reason – the absence of feeling important at the office because the employers and managers have their eyes shrouded under the veil of a promising bottom line, the likes of which can be comparable to a mirage at best. So what can you as a company do to improve your chances of retaining top talent?

Building a relationship with them!

This doesn’t mean you should go completely berserk at the office, fraternizing with your employees as if they’re your long lost buddies. No. There’s a fine line you have to walk. Fostering a sustainable, profitable relationship takes time and determined effort. It is exclusively the domain of managers and owners.

Employees do not have the freedom or leeway to start this kind of relationship or maintain it.

Have a sit down with them

Having a sit down with your employees every once in a while serves to make them feel important. Make use of this opportunity and ask them about their expectations from the company in the future. If they’re really interested to continue walking down the same road as your business, they’ll definitely open up. Let them know you trust them and that the wellbeing of the company is directly tied to them.

While this may or may not necessarily be true, it will do wonders for your employee’s overall behavior towards their job. It might just be the nudge they needed to kick them into high gear, or it could indirectly serve to cancel their plans of leaving the company, if the thought ever crossed their mind.

Build on their skills

Let your employees know that you actually care about their skills and plan on building upon those which they are lacking. These could include technical, business and social skills. Build career development programs aimed at assessing each of these weaknesses and building upon the strong ones. If you invest your time and money on your employees, it will only serve to increase their capabilities and loyalty in the long run.