亲爱的安妮：关于如何优雅地离职，您曾经写过一篇专栏文章，我非常喜欢，可不幸的是，我有几位最出色、经验极为丰富的下属似乎也拜读了您的文章。过去三周内，有三个人“很优雅地”离职了，剩下的人对工作的热情似乎也没有以往那么高涨了。所以我担心他们也可能离职。

    问题是，在经济危机最严重的时候，公司不得不裁掉了大约一半员工，如今虽然公司业务有所好转，但公司高层却让我们坚持“少花钱多办事”的原则。结果，公司所有人都在超负荷运转，我也不例外。而且，为了防止多招人手，公司限制了预算，这也导致我无法给手下的关键员工加薪。我应该不是唯一一个如此纠结的上司吧。您有什么好的建议吗？——LBB

    亲爱的LBB：你竟然没权利给下属加薪，这确实令人非常遗憾（其实，你自己肯定也希望得到加薪），但不必担心。绝大多数员工留任方面的专家都表示，加薪不一定有多大帮助，至少不是长久之计。

    德勤咨询公司（Deloitte Consulting）最近进行了一项名为“人才2020”（Talent 2020）的研究，对最近换工作的560人进行了深入调查。研究发现，导致人们辞职最大的原因与薪酬几乎没有任何关系。相反，42%的人称，最主要的原因通常是因为其他公司能够提供更多机会，让员工更好地发展技术、发挥能力。超过四分之一（27%）的人表示跳槽的原因是之前的工作缺乏职业发展前景。而21%的人由于“缺乏挑战性”而选择跳槽。

    换句话说，就是员工厌烦了之前的工作，而工作量增加更是加剧了这种情绪，尤其是对于最优秀、最出色的员工来说。德勤人才服务部负责人比尔•皮尔斯特发现：“具备关键技能的员工跳槽的可能性也最大，”他补充说。“要留住这些员工，不单是人力资源部的工作。必须从高层开始，贯彻到每一个管理层，直至一线管理人员。”

    这也正是你的工作切入点。顾问公司Career Systems International联席CEO贝弗利•凯伊称：“要留住最优秀的员工，通常需要与他们进行正确的沟通，而这不需要花一分钱。人们需要的是被重视的感觉，他们希望未来在你这里能继续得到更好的发展。”贝弗利•凯伊与他人合作出版了一本新书，名为《员工想要的职场对话：帮助成长，关注发展》（Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Employees Want）。

    她补充道：“经理人不会每天早上一醒来就考虑：‘今天该如何榨干我的下属？’只有当所有人都疲于奔命，过于专注于自己每天所受到的压迫，才会发生这样的事”。如何避免优秀人才流失？凯伊给出了三种策略建议：

1. 多说“谢谢你”

    听起来非常简单，但凯伊发现，她的这种所谓“感谢的力量”在客户那里始终没有得到充分利用。她说：“员工工作压力过大的时候，如果没人说‘我知道大家工作负担非常沉重，非常感谢大家的付出’这样的话，他们会感到更加沮丧。”

    此外，也不要把表扬保留到一年一次的绩效评估当中。“应该把表扬融入到日常工作当中。一句‘干得好！’可以让人开心一整天。这可是不花钱的礼物。”她建议，表扬的时候，要考虑员工的个人喜好。凯伊发现：“有的人享受公开表扬的过程。而有的人则会对此感到很不自在，希望在私底下，听到别人一对一的‘感谢’。”如果不了解下属的喜好，可以直接询问。

2. 开始进行“留任面谈”

    凯伊发现，在离职面谈之前，几乎很少有人会主动去问，需要什么样的条件才能留住关键员工。她说：“最后的结果就是，员工跳槽后得到的条件，你本来也能提供，只不过前提是，你要提早知晓。但大部分管理人员都很少会主动问：‘我们怎样才能留住你？’而等知道答案时却已为时已晚。”

    Dear Annie:I liked your column about the art of quitting gracefully, but unfortunately several of my most talented and experienced direct reports seem to have read it, too. Three of them have quit (gracefully) in the past three weeks, and certain others seem less enthusiastic about their jobs than they used to be, so I'm worried about losing them as well.

    The problem around here is that we had to lay off almost half the staff during the worst of the recession and, now that business has picked up again to some extent, top management is telling us to keep right on "doing more with less." Everyone has been overworked, including me, and the same budget constraints that preclude hiring more people are also standing in the way of my being able to offer my stars more money. I can't be the only boss who's struggling with this. Any suggestions? — Low-Budget Blues

    Dear LBB:It is indeed unfortunate that you can't hand out big raises (you'd probably like one yourself, for that matter), but don't fret about it. An overwhelming majority of experts on employee retention say more money probably wouldn't help much anyway, or at least not for long.

    A new study called Talent 2020 from Deloitte Consulting, based on an in-depth poll of 560 recent job changers, says that the biggest reasons people quit have little or nothing to do with pay. Instead, what most often makes them move on is the opportunity to develop and use more of their skills and abilities elsewhere, cited by 42%. More than a quarter (27%) also cited a lack of career progress in their old jobs, and 21% mentioned "lack of challenge."

    In other words, people get bored, and the added work only exacerbates that -- especially for your best and brightest. "Employees with critical skills pose the biggest flight risk," notes Bill Pelster, a principal in Deloitte's U.S. talent services division. Retaining these folks "is not simply a human resources function," he adds. "It has to start with the C-suite and extend through every level of management, down to line managers and supervisors."

    This is where you come in. "Keeping your best people is often a matter of having the right conversations with them, which doesn't cost a dime," says Beverly Kaye, co-CEO of consulting firm Career Systems International and co-author of a new book, Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Employees Want. "People want to feel valued, and they want to see a future with you where they can continue to develop and thrive.

    "Managers don't wake up in the morning and ask themselves, 'How can I burn out my people today?'" she adds. "It just happens because everyone is so busy and so focused on the crush of the day-to-day." Kaye recommends these three strategies for keeping your stars from straying:

1. Say "thank you."

    Simple as it sounds, Kaye has observed among her clients that what she calls "the power of the thank-you" is a woefully underused resource. "People are more frustrated about being overworked if no one is telling them, 'I understand how tough this is, and I appreciate it,'" she observes.

    Nor should pats on the back be reserved for a once-a-year performance appraisal: "This should be woven into the daily texture of the work. Just saying, 'Great job!' can make someone's day. It's a gift you can give that costs nothing." While you're at it, she advises, try to tailor your attaboys (or attagirls) to people's individual preferences. "Some people revel in public recognition. Others are embarrassed by that and would rather hear 'thanks' one-on-one, in private," Kaye notes. If you don't know who prefers which, just ask.

2. Start having "stay interviews."

    All too often, Kaye observes, nobody asks what it would take to keep a key employee until the exit interview. "People end up going somewhere else to get something you could have given them, too, if you'd only known about it," she says. "But most managers never ask, 'What can we do to keep you?' until it's too late."