Retaining Star Employees Your company's long-term success will always depend on maintaining and developing great people. Are you at risk of losing any star employees? Would you even know if you were at risk, or will you find out when they tell you of a new offer they just accepted? There's a great way to measure the satisfaction of your key employees. Buckingham and Coffman's book, First, Break All The Rules: What The World's Greatest Managers Do Differently, outlines 12 key measures for employees: 1. Do I know what is expected of me at work? 2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right? 3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day? 4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for good work? 5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person? 6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development? 7. At work, do my opinions seem to count? 8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel like my work is important? 9. Are my coworkers committed to doing quality work? 10. Do I have a best friend at work? 11. In the last six months, have I talked with someone about my progress? 12. At work, have I had opportunities to learn and grow? Managers: Focus First On The Initial Six Questions For example, it doesn't matter if you're helping develop your employees (question 12), if they don't know what's expected of them at work or don't have an opportunity to do what they do well (questions 1 and 3).