In the face of this competitive hiring market, treasury and finance leaders need to be alert to the possibility that they may lose their best workers. Employees quit jobs for all sorts of reasons, including professional burnout, a feeling that accomplishments are insufficiently recognized, and factors in their personal lives.

One thing our survey discovered is that there's a disconnect in opinion between management teams and staff. CFOs feel the primary reason people leave their jobs is limited opportunities for career growth. However, for surveyed workers, that was only the third most commonly cited reason. Employees cited inadequate salary and benefits as their primary cause for resigning.

Treasury and finance managers need to take proactive steps to try to keep their best employees. They need to identify and address the factors that may unsettle valued team members. The key to staff retention is understanding why a particular employee may choose to leave.

Retention Red Flags

For managers in treasury and finance who are concerned about keeping their superstars happy in their jobs, here are six warning signs to watch for—and ways to address each.

1. Salaries are below scale.

Money may not buy happiness, but more of it sure does boost employees' job satisfaction. And as our survey suggests, inadequate salaries can push workers to seek greener pastures elsewhere.

Solution:  If it's been a while since you've benchmarked salaries in your area, take the time to determine how your compensation packages rank. Resources like the Robert Half Accounting & Finance Salary Center can help you figure out how your employees' wages compare with local averages. If your company comes in on the lower end of the pay scale, consider shoring that up with merit raises sooner rather than later.

2. Distant work relationships.

There's a clear correlation between workplace happiness and staff retention. What's the main factor affecting on-the-job joy? The quality of an employee's friendships with colleagues. According to Robert Half's "It's Time We All Work Happy" report, healthy and supportive relationships are the glue that holds a team together and helps people manage workplace stress.

Solution:  To help your staff get to know one another on a deeper level, you could create more opportunities to cultivate these important bonds. Some companies in the tech world do this with game rooms, gourmet snack bars, and intramural sports. This approach may not work for your finance department, but you could incorporate team building into weekly meetings and plan after-work social gatherings.

3. Friction with management.

What if your team members get along great with one another, but the relationship with you is strained? A negative relationship with a direct supervisor can push a top performer to leave. Indeed, a quarter of workers responding to our survey said unhappiness with management is a top reason to part ways with a company.

Solution:  If the only time you interact with staff is during team meetings, their annual review, or other critiques of their work, you won't have the foundation for a positive and supportive relationship with them. Take the lead in getting to know them better. Perhaps schedule regular one-on-one meetings to check in, discuss ongoing projects, and gauge their level of job satisfaction. From our Gen Z study, we know that the latest generation of workers appreciates more frequent feedback and informal coaching than do Gen Xers and boomers.

4. Inadequate reward structure.

Bonuses, perks, and recognition can motivate people to exceed expectations, but not all staff have access to such incentives. Operations professionals, such as risk analysts, usually have few chances during the year to earn bonuses for great work, even though they know they'll be disciplined if they make a mistake. Such a negative reward structure can be demoralizing and cause people to question whether they are in the right organization.

Solution:  You can't have a reward structure without clear goals, so it's important to set attainable targets at a local level. Managers can also help to identify spontaneous examples of exceptional individual performance. Ideally, the rewards offered should have a meaningful value, but the essence of such a system is to thank valuable employees and let them know they're a key part of the company.

5. Work fatigue.

Even loyal staff can burn out if they feel overburdened or under-supported in their roles. The short-term effects are lower productivity and morale, while the long-term consequences can include stress-induced health issues. Of course, certain roles have busy periods—such as tax season or year-end closing—but the pressure should be temporary and manageable. If the workload is consistently heavy, employees are likely to seek less-stressful work elsewhere.

Solution:  Assess the resource situation from a higher level. Are team members regularly working long days? Are they making mistakes or missing deadlines? Do they grumble about a work-life imbalance? Make smaller changes first, such as allowing them to have a flexible schedule or to occasionally work from home. If that's not enough, it's time to hire more full-time employees.

6. Uncertain career paths.

Your most talented treasury and risk management staff are determined and eager to climb the ladder to greater success. If they feel their career is at a dead end in their current role, they will seek opportunities elsewhere.

Solution:  All team members, especially your MVPs, should have a defined career plan that has been approved by their immediate supervisor. This roadmap should have a defined goal, such as moving into leadership or being promoted to a specific position. Skills development is a key aspect in employees' career paths, as it helps them hit the next milestone. Such a system could involve helping entry-level staff attain their Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) or Certified Cash Manager (CCM) designation, and pairing them up with a mentor. Professional development not only builds worker loyalty, it also up-skills your team and boosts efficiency.

What To Do When a Star Employee Leaves

Every staff member leaves eventually, due to retirement, a promotion, another job, or off-ramping to take care of family. But there are ways to lessen the impact of losing a key player:

• Transfer knowledge.  No one person should be critical to any process. During the two to four weeks between a resignation notice and when an employee actually leaves, make sure someone talks through every process with the departing staffer so that the organization retains all the essential information he or she knows. Whenever possible, workers who are leaving should train their replacements.
• Protect the team.  An unexpected resignation could have a negative impact on remaining employees, who will need to pick up additional work while you recruit, hire, and train a replacement. Deliver the news personally, explain any changes in workflow, and listen to their concerns.
• Get final feedback.  Exit interviews are vital, even if the departing employee is taking a position in another division or branch office. Either a leader in the employee's direct chain of command or an HR manager should ask about his or her experience with your department. Is the person leaving because of salary, workload, better opportunities, or any of the other factors over which you have control? If so, start making plans to fix those problems to improve your chances of holding onto your remaining staff.
• Part on good terms.  The boomerang employee—someone who returns to an ex-employer after some time away—is not unheard of in the finance world. Let top performers who depart on good terms know they are welcome to come back. After they leave, keep lines of communication open by adding them as a LinkedIn connection and touching base occasionally.

Losing great employees means a loss of talent as well as time and productivity. While you can't realistically keep all the good ones, you can make their jobs so financially and professionally rewarding that they'll want to stay.

Paul McDonald is senior executive director at Robert Half, the world's first and largest specialized staffing firm. He writes and speaks frequently on hiring, workplace, and career-management topics. Over the course of more than 30 years in the recruiting field, McDonald has advised thousands of company leaders and job seekers on how to hire and get hired.