In truth it goes beyond just patting them on the back and delivering a few mandatory platitudes every now and then. When did you last give them a bonus at holiday times, at the new year or perhaps before they go away themselves in the summer.

Still engaged ? Great – now for a real bombshell . Cutting them to the profits at the year end . You may not necessarily wish to set up a formal profit share scheme but an annual bonus goes a very very long way to cultivating loyalty if it’s structured properly . I used to spread the bonus over several months on the condition that they remained in my employ, which had the added effect of making them feel better off for 3 months after the year end. We had 5 months of the year with bonus payments. And I also threw in extra holidays and treats from time to time such as ice cream when the sun came out.

Although the above may be undertaken to benefit the business , they are in fact acts of common decency and humanity. Just because you pay somebody a monthly salary , perhaps a good one, does not mean that you should take them for granted. Staff are human and they know when the business is running well and you are taking home substantial sums of money , often way above them. Yes, you may be working harder or taking the financial risks but you depend on your staff and if they don’t feel part of the story , that story may not have a happy ending.

The tide has turned in recent years to the extent that not making the staff “part of it” means that you are out of line with the zeitgeist and that’s when things can start to unravel , and often quite fast at that , so before you know it you’ve lost a couple of key staff members in rapid succession because they are simply fed up – nothing specific – simply fed up at your firm because they feel jaded and unloved. For the cost of a couple of annual bonus payments now look at the costs you are facing m whether actual or hidden , in having to replace people.

To sum it all up look in the mirror and ask yourself how you would like to be treated as an employee