One of the main concerns that many businesses have is employee retention. Good talent is hard to come by, so how do you keep your best workers on the payroll long-term? High retention rates increase your overall productivity and keeps costs lower.

Staffing with the right people is the first step towards building your ideal workforce. Once they are on your payroll, here are seven tips for keeping your best workers.

1. Don’t overwork them

If you are a manager with a highly productive worker, it may be tempting to want to hand them the workload whenever an extra push is needed. Unless they are explicitly initiating and wanting the extra hours, putting the burden on them may feel like punishment for a job well done. What is more, according to recent work published by Stanford University, productivity starts to decline once someone passes forty hours a week. When you find yourself in a position that necessitates asking for extra work from your best employees, be sure to reward them for it.

2. Provide recognition

Your top performers are going to be naturally self-motivated, but that does not mean they don’t need a pat on the back once in a while. Find out what helps them feel appreciated and build it into your work environment. Verbal recognition, and sometimes bonuses can go a long way.

3. Offer competitive compensation

This is one of the most important steps you can take to retain top talent. Good workers will find someone to pay them what they are worth. If you have difficulty keeping up with your competitors’ wages, you have to make up for the loss of income by providing a favorable work environment—by implementing the other strategies.

4. Care about them personally

While you want to maintain professional boundaries in your workplace relationships, you also want to be a human supervisor and not a robot or a drill sergeant. Celebrate with your workers when they reach major milestones at work or in their personal lives. Show compassion and offer help when they are experience pain or loss.

5. Honor your commitments

If one of your employees made a promise and then did not follow through, you would find that highly disrespectful and unprofessional. It goes both ways.

6. Keep the work challenging and engaging

For many people, satisfaction in work comes from doing something they can get excited about. When possible, give employees the opportunity to explore their passions. Give them problems to solve that are well suited for their talents. Don’t restrict them from certain roles and responsibilities just because they are not in the position description.

7. Develop their skills

While you don’t want to micromanage your employees, you should frequently be providing training or feedback in some form no matter how long they have been working for you. If your employee is talented, find new areas for them to grow in so they can continue to expand their knowledge and expertise.