The Best Employees Want More Than Just Money. Here Are 6 Ways to Attract Them. Decent pay is tablestakes. Six founders explain what actually keeps their top performers around.
By Entrepreneur Staff Edited by Frances Dodds
This story appears in the December 2022 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
1. Commit to a mission.
"Since becoming B Corp certified in 2020, we've retained almost three-fourths of our first 50 employees and attracted our next 50 'keepers.' Through employee surveys, we've learned that our B Corp status and our mission-led approach are a key driver for bright, competitive talent to join our team. Great people want to work for companies that walk the talk." — Tomás Froes, founder and CEO, Kencko
2. Put employees first.
"I know I'll only get good work out of my team if other aspects of their lives are relatively stable, so I give people a lot of rope. I don't micromanage, and I give people the time and flexibility they need to take good care of the important things in their lives. I trust that they will reciprocate with strong work, and guess what? They always do." — Brooke English, founder and CEO, Goodly
Related: Employee Retention: 4 Tips to Help Keep Your Top Talent
3. Help great people grow.
"We retain people by running the business as a meritocracy. The best ideas and work rise to the top, regardless of tenure or title. Our strongest team members know that if they stay, their careers will grow exponentially faster than they will elsewhere. For example, we have a 26-year-old associate director responsible for leading $10 million-plus marketing campaigns who started as an entry-level associate four years ago." — Jolijt Tamanaha, co-owner and VP of growth, Fresh Prints
4. Offer enrichment benefits.
"During Covid-19 we launched our Flex Benefits program, which offers each team member $6,000 annually to spend on whatever they choose across wellness, growth, lifestyle, and impact. This program, alongside other initiatives — including extra mental health days and daily virtual stretching and meditation sessions — helps our team have a healthy work-life balance, and helped us grow from a team of 13 to 200-plus." — Alex Zaccaria, cofounder and CEO, Linktree
5. The right kind of challenges.
"Treat employees like adults. We have unlimited vacation, and employees can work from anywhere, however they want, as long as their work is getting done. Also, we provide employees with interesting challenges. I encourage employees to take on clients outside of their normal wheelhouse. We also provide a quarterly stipend for enrichment, so everyone can continuously learn." — Lauren Kleinman, founder and CEO, Dreamday
Related: Improve Employee Retention By Taking a People-First Approach
6. Create a sense of ownership.
"Fair pay, benefits, and respect matter, but those are table stakes. Once someone feels looked after, the next thing they're looking for is purpose. And that comes from autonomy and feeling like your work makes a difference. Everyone in the company owns their piece of the puzzle. It's challenging and requires them to show up, but it feels like their work and is acknowledged as such. That's the most important piece." — Dan Demsky, founder and CEO, Unbound Merino
