Finding good talent is tough.

Retaining them is even tougher.

Here is how you make a good employee or team member stay with you for long.

First and foremost, hire right. Someone who is a fit for the role finds the work play. Hiring right is easier said than done and needs a separate post.

Give them room to settle and learn the way you work and how the actual work is done at your company. For this, make a 45-90 day onboarding plan. During this time, train and guide them to do their best work.

Respect them and treat them as professionals. For example, don’t have them work after work hours.

Challenge them with interesting work, where they have an opportunity to apply themselves.

Grant stock options, with a one-year cliff. This means they must stay for at least a year to be able to exercise any options. This way they’ll have an incentive to stay for the first year. And, one year is enough time to settle in a new place, learn the ways of work and culture and make sure there is a mutual fit. If they are not settled within one year, better they go.

Make sure they are growing. This means through work at your company, they are able to move forward in both their personal and professional lives.

Show a growth path. Give job security. Also, give them the freedom to experiment and to fail.

Pay more than what is needed for survival, equal to or more than the market.

Be transparent. Be clear about what needs to be done. Recognize good work and give constructive feedback when it is not done well.

Give an option to rotate jobs, where team members are shifted between two or more roles, in order to expose them to work they like doing and also to break the monotony.

BONUS: Be a good boss. Because people don’t leave companies, they leave bad bosses.

Hope you find value in this. It is by no means exhaustive but should give you a good overview of what you should do to retain the talent you hire.