As a director of an SME, it is essential to recruit and retain talented employees in order to grow your business. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for these workers to move on to other job opportunities. In fact, approximately 46% of employees in Singapore intended to leave their current job within the next year, higher than any other country in Asia-Pacific. This leaves small business managers wondering: why do employees leave and what can be done to keep them?

A study by Payscale estimates 25% of departures were driven by the motivation of a higher salary. The most straightforward way to address this issue is to give raises to high performing employees. However, this can be difficult for companies operating on tight budgets. For these businesses, may be possible to appease some employees without increasing their salary. For example, some businesses may be