Here are some reasons why you might be at risk of a sudden talent deficit and some ideas about what to do about it:

Your valuable employees may not be invested enough in the company if they don’t feel like they have any power over how the company runs. According to Forbes, “People (especially great people) like to feel that they’re an integral part of the success of their company. ”

While some decisions are by necessity, keeping employees informed and making them feel that their voices will be heard will give your employees incentive to remain involved.

Forbes also warns that great employees may ditch your company if they aren’t interested in the work they’re doing. Everyone has to do some work they don’t like, but “Good people want to be challenged.” Furthermore, “companies that keep their good people make more of an effort to match employee passion and aptitude with job requirements.”

A competitor may be able to offer more money and/or better benefits for the same job. To some degree, this can’t be helped. You may not have a higher salary in the budget. If you do, however, and you want someone to stick around, consider offering financial incentives.

If the job doesn’t match the job description, employees may seek a more suitable position. As CareerBuilder reports, “About 43 percent of professionals say a job description didn’t match the position.” Being honest with employees when you are hiring them about what they should expect if they take the job can save you trouble later.

If you have a disgruntled employee now who you want to keep around, ask them what aspects of the job have provided an unpleasant surprise and see if you can do something about the problem. And, it should go without saying (though we’ll say it anyway), be careful to be clearer with your next hire.

Employees who don’t feel appreciated may jump ship. This point is related to every other point on this list, and most ultimately boil down to this. Make sure that you create a sense of loyalty in your employees by letting them know that they are valuable and offer rewards where appropriate.

Knowing your employees is key to keeping the right ones. Grapevine Evaluations can assist you in determining who is helping your company the most through our online employee assessment tools.

If you want to avoid loosing your best performing employees to your competition, you should invest in 360 review software that will help you develop your employees in ways that you never thought possible. Knowing this, however, is just the first step; finding the right tool to use can be daunting.

Grapevine Evaluations has the solution you need: web-based, customizable templates that provide comprehensive reporting. Take a tour of our product, or learn more from us one-on-one, and find out why we’ve helped countless large and small companies