We don’t need to make a sales pitch about why you should aim to keep your top employers. Every business owner understands their value. Still, many employers worry about losing these exceptional employees. So how do you retain this top talent? There are many answers to this question, but ultimately, it all starts and ends with management.

Employees leave managers and supervisors more often than they leave companies or jobs. So, you’re very first step should be to ensure that you’re employing great management. What makes a great manager? A great manager that employees want to work for is going to be a superior communicator, who facilitates success, and treats their team equitably and with fairness.

A manager must be an effective communicator. For starters, managers need to constantly communicate their goals and expectations to their employees without micro-managing. Not only does this make your team more productive, but it eliminates the widely-felt frustration of many workers: not knowing what is expected of them. This lack of communication can cause stress, fatigue, and annoyance and will definitely drive away top performers. It is also important for managers to communicate potential for growth and additional compensation. Ultimately, your employees are working to build their careers and find success. Understanding growth potential, and the path to greater success in the organization will incentivize your employees to perform at a higher level and stay in-tuned with your business.

A great supervisor is also a catalyst for success. As entrepreneur and author Paul Hawken observes, “good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them”. Another advantage of a manager who excels at communication is their ability to get people excited about their vision. This is more of an art than a science, and a craft that comes with maturity, wisdom, and emotional intelligence. This skill is also sure to keep top performers engaged and attuned to the organization’s goals.

Finally, management must treat their team equitably. One of the largest complaints in the workplace is a sense of favoritism or otherwise unfair treatment. A leader must be impartial and level-headed in their treatment of all employees. Unfair treatment will drive employees away by creating a negative and unstable workplace environment.

By ensuring that management is communicating effectively, sparking growth, and treating employees with fairness, you are taking major steps to retain those top performers that make your organization unique and successful.