The start of a new year brings new opportunities. One of the common pain points for first quarter can be recruitment, and while it’s important to add new team members it’s just as important to find ways to retain your best employees. Retaining talented employees not only helps reduce turnover costs, but when these same employees are engaged it boosts morale, productivity, and company culture.

While retention is a year-round priority, the first quarter is an ideal time to reassess your strategies and take proactive steps to keep your team motivated. Here are some effective strategies to improve employee retention in the first quarter.

1. Implement Recognition and Appreciation

One of the most straightforward and impactful ways to retain employees is by showing appreciation for how they contribute to the team. Recognition can come in many forms, from simple words of gratitude to more formal recognition programs, such as employee of the month awards or internal recognition with their team or department. If you don’t already have a recognition program in place, the beginning of the year is a great opportunity to launch this by acknowledging employees’ achievements. However you decide to implement recognition and employee appreciation, be sure to tailor this to the individual employee: some team members will want public recognition, while others will appreciate more private recognition from their direct report.

2. Provide Clear Growth Opportunities

Professional growth is a priority for most employees, but for your best team members it will be essential to retaining them long term. First quarter is a great opportunity to assess your current training programs and any areas where employees may be able to learn or grow professionally.  Whether this is in the form of growth into new roles or learning opportunities to grow their skill set, there are a variety of ways you can adapt growth to your team. Employees want to know that they can advance their careers, whether through a promotion, development of their skills or new challenges.

Some unique ways to incorporate growth into your culture are mentorship and coaching meetings, department workshops and monthly goals built into employee performance. When employees see a clear path forward, they’re more likely to remain loyal to their team.

3. Be Competitive

While compensation is important to employee retention, there are a variety of ways you can leverage resources to offer employees competitive benefits in your industry. First quarter is typically a fresh start, so take the time to audit your current offerings against your competitors to ensure your team members are rewarded for tenure and incentivized to stay engaged in your company culture.

Competitive benefits can take the form of flexible PTO, partnerships with local businesses for networking, professional resources to help employees grow or other smaller scale benefits like casual dress code and complimentary food and beverages in your workplace. These benefits add up, and by blending professional opportunities with some of these smaller perks, employees can enjoy the day to day culture while also being motivated by the more traditional benefits that exist outside of compensation.

4. Encourage Open Communication

While there are multiple ways to be proactive in retention, ultimately transparency is the most vital. It is often said that employees don’t leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses. You can foster an environment of open communication with leadership that encourages feedback, asks for input on decisions within a respective department, and ensures all employees have a space to feel heard at work.

Other ways of maintaining open communication involve internal newsletters for updates within different departments, anniversary check-ins with tenured employees and employee feedback surveys. However you decide to implement more open communication, it can always be tailored to your company and what makes the most sense for your team.