With the job market as it is, finding top talent can be difficult. This is especially true when it comes to finding quality employees who will stay with your company for the long term. High turnover rates are not only costly; they also make it more difficult to find and retain exceptional employees. However, if you put in a little extra time and effort up front, you should have no trouble identifying and rewarding exceptional employees sooner rather than later.

Read on to discover how to recognise and reward great employees from the get go.

Ask for employee referrals

If you’ve already hired a few employees, you’re most likely well aware of the importance of referrals. After all, you probably found the majority of your new hires this way. So if you’re looking for new hires and are having trouble identifying and hiring the right candidates, why not ask your current employees for referrals? By doing so, you give your current employees a chance to share their experiences with others. And if you happen to hire someone who was referred by an employee, there’s an excellent chance that person will be happy at your company.

Offer a one-time cash bonus

If you’ve got the budget and want to give new hires a little something extra, consider offering a one-time cash bonus. And if you want to make the offer even more enticing, make it retroactive. In other words, if your new hire worked at their previous job for a specified amount of time, offer a retroactive bonus that covers that amount of time. Why? Because this will show new hires that you value their past experience and that you expect them to hit the ground running. Additionally, a one-time cash bonus will give new hires a little extra cash to help pay any bills they may have acquired during their transition to their new job.

Provide ongoing recognition

You should be looking for opportunities to notice excellence from the start. If a new hire does something exceptional, make sure to acknowledge the effort as soon as possible. Remember, you don't need a special occasion to recognise excellence. If a new hire goes above and beyond, make sure to recognize the effort and let the employee know how much you appreciate them. There is no such thing as a bad time to recognise and reward excellence. Furthermore, identifying excellence on a regular basis will demonstrate to new hires that you are serious about motivating and inspiring high performance.

Recognize excellence with a promotion

If an employee has exceeded performance expectations, is well liked by his or her co-workers, meets company goals on a consistent basis, and has been with your company for a specified amount of time, consider promoting that person. If you operate a performance-based promotion system, you’ll want to ensure that employee’s promotion is based on merit, not seniority, as promotions aren’t just for managers. If you’re looking to promote someone, ensure this is done at every level in your organization. Also, when promoting someone to a higher-paying position, be sure to offer them a pay raise.

Conclusion

Finding, hiring, and retaining excellent employees is crucial to an organization's success. With that said, employers should be proactive and seek out opportunities to recognize excellence from day one.