After steering your business through the worst recession since the Great Depression, the last thing you need is to be unprepared to take advantage of new opportunities as the economy recovers. Keeping your top talent should be a crucial focus area so you can respond quickly and efficiently when demand for your company’s goods or services increases.

Why is retention a key issue during a recovery? Just as businesses look for new opportunities when conditions improve, so do employees. Your most valuable players may have been biding their time during the recession, planning to make a move when the hiring outlook gets better. You can’t afford to lose your best people when you need them most. Here are some tips to help you keep your retention efforts on target.

To Retain, “Re-recruit”
You can bet that plenty of other companies out there are looking for talented and experienced employees. Before your competitors can woo your top workers away, “re-recruit” them yourself. This means “selling” them all over again on the advantages of working for your company, particularly if you had to make unpopular cuts in employee benefits and perks during the recession.

If you’re not yet able to offer new perks (or re-instate old ones), take a different tack. Highlight what’s unique and special about your company. Is your corporate culture collegial and informal? Do your employees get to use cutting-edge technological tools? Do you allow your workers to be innovative and take prudent risks? Do you nurture and support your staff members’ professional development?

Establish Well-Defined Career Paths
Another key retention strategy is to make it clear to your top performers how essential they are to the success of your company. Use this as the starting point for a discussion about what their future with your firm might look like. While you should avoid making pie-in-the-sky promises, you can help them envision tangible rewards on the horizon – including promotions, raises, performance bonuses, company-sponsored training opportunities or profit-sharing.

It is particularly important to have this discussion with your most senior-tenured employees. This is the group that may be at a higher risk of leaving, especially if they feel that their careers have stalled at your firm. In the context of performance reviews, talk to these employees about their aspirations and goals. Using their input as a point of departure, together brainstorm ways you might structure job descriptions and positions to accommodate and advance their professional goals.

Build Skills Through Cross-Training
Yours may be a small company with limited upward mobility, but why be a training ground for talented employees who then move on, taking their skills to the competition? To prevent this from happening, offer cross training so your staff can grow professionally. Your employees will appreciate the opportunity to expand their skills and competencies. And your company will have a more versatile group of employees with a better understanding of how their individual roles contribute to a successful business.

Consider Flexible Work Arrangements
A strategy best reserved for top performers, flexible work options can help you hold on to valued employees who might otherwise be tempted to leave. To set up mutually beneficial arrangements, tailor the alternative schedule – whether telecommuting, flextime or compressed schedule – to the individual employee.

Your most seasoned, experienced staff members are the ones who will help your company the most as the economy recovers – and they are the employees most at risk of being recruited by your competitors. By taking the time to fortify your retention strategies, you’ll show your best people that you’re committed to their professional success. They’ll reward your efforts with loyalty and hard work, which will help your company seize the new opportunities that economic recovery brings.

Robert Half International has more than 360 staffing locations worldwide and offers online job search services on its divisional websites, all of which can be accessed at www.rhi.com. This article is provided courtesy of Robert Half Management Resources, North America’s largest consulting services firm providing senior-level accounting and finance professionals on a project basis. For further information, visit www.roberthalfmr.com or follow Robert Half Management Resources on Twitter at twitter.com/roberthalfmr