You may think that you can simply leave your top performers to do their job while you focus on employees whose performance may not be at the same level. And why wouldn’t you? They’re doing just fine without your supervision.

However, 3C Contact Services Inc., the leading provider of outsourced call center solutions, tells their partners not to assume that everything is fine and that they can just leave their top performers to do their job while they focus on improving other employees’ performance. In fact, they shouldn’t be surprised when their top performers offer their two weeks for the following reasons:

You top performers aren’t rewarded fairly: Put bluntly, your top performers may feel their work isn’t being properly rewarded. If you aren’t acknowledging their hard work, whether it’s a simple, “Thank you for your hard work and contributions to the company,” or bonuses, they may seek out greener pastures. Your top performers aren’t appreciated enough: If you’re spending all your time focused on your bottom performers, your top performers may feel that their efforts aren’t being appreciated, leading them to think, “Why am I bothering?” Let your top performers know how much you appreciate their efforts and how valuable their contributions to your organization are. You spend more time more time recognizing your lower performers’ performance improvements: While you may feel that you can just leave your top performers to do their job while you focus on improving your low performers and this may well be the case, at the same time, it may lead your top performers to feel like they are being ignored in favour of poorly-performing employees. This may just lead them to feel they are being neglected. You don’t challenge your top performers enough: Top performers tend to be very motivated people, so if they feel they’re settling into a rut, they may get bored and, in turn, seek more challenging opportunities. Consistently provide challenges for your top performers and offer them ways to further improve their performance.

Perhaps the most important way you can show your top performers you appreciate their efforts is to involve them in the process of improving the performance of employees who are doing mediocre and poor jobs, thereby leveraging their skills.

It will help your top performers to feel like they are a valued part of the company, and also free up your time as well. As an added bonus, 3C Contact Services Inc. tells their partners that this strategy will also help them to spot employees with leadership potential.