1. Challenging and interesting work

2. A chance to learn and grow

3. Good rapport with co-workers

4. Fair pay

5. A great boss

1. Talk to your employees.While you may be nervous about the answer, the best way to find out what it will take for an employee to stay is to ask them outright, says Carol Skube, a senior consultant with Personnel Decisions International in Minneapolis. Once you've asked them, encourage them to list every factor that they can think of. "It's going to be the rare person who says 'money' and only stops there, because your real high performers are after growth, development and responsibility," Skube says.She also points out that the process doesn't have to be complex and formal. You can start things off with a simple conversation about what projects your key employees have enjoyed in the past and the kinds of things that make them excited to come to work every day. On the other hand, you should also uncover aspects of their work that that they didn't enjoy or complaints that they might convey to a friend.

2. Challenge your employees with goals.Jordan-Evans, who has interviewed 14,000 people on job satisfaction, points out that although a great boss is last on the list of what employees are looking for, it is this person who can influence all of the other factors. In your position as a leader, you also have the opportunity to set goals for your employees that help each of you realize a vision for the company. Ongoing discussion about these expectations will help to ensure that employees are inspired and positively motivated to work toward these goals.This alignment of goals has proven effective for Debbie Lombardi, president of Barter Business Unlimited in Newington, Conn. Since she started her company 11 years ago, she has managed to keep 70% of her original staff."I think it takes very strong goal setting. You need to keep the vision open, so they know where you're trying to go with your own goals for the company," Lombardi says. "You need to be able to communicate clearly about what your goals are and what you're trying to achieve and why there are rewards."

3. Don't micro-manage.Richard S. Gallagher, author of "The Soul of an Organization,” has found that top performers will rebel if you try to micro-manage them.Gallagher, who also manages a telephone support office in Ithaca, N.Y., stresses that most top-performing employees need the flexibility and independence to make their own decisions. "When people make decisions based on human nature, they respond to problems by criticizing people, creating new rules and procedures and taking autonomy away from people. In time they develop a working environment where even though they say they respect people, the reality of it is they've developed a business where they say we don't trust you -- and we don't particularly like you, either."

4. Keep the lines of communication open.As your company grows bigger, you must find ways to continue to communicate. Employees will start to feel separated from your business if they're hearing about major company changes through the grapevine, or reading about them in the newspaper, rather than getting it first-hand from their internal leaders. "A way to prevent that from happening and to keep people engaged is to be certain that your employees are hearing late-breaking news from their direct leader," says Jordan-Evans. "That means setting up a very efficient information flow from the top down, making sure that communication is accurate through each level."

5. Recognize the importance of your company culture.Developing a company culture that top performers want to be involved in also is critical to retaining them.Gallagher points out that employees will remain in a work environment where they feel they are contributing and building something that is bigger than them. "Together with the team, get everyone to buy into and evolve that culture. The culture dictated from above becomes a meaningless mission statement. A culture that has benefits for the people in it, motivates and enthuses everybody is what then drives your success."