The problem with most workplaces is that they are so big one or more persons efforts go unnoticed. I worked at a fairly large media conglomerate a while back and there were 4 people in the front-end development team, 3 people in the systems administrators team and 4 people in the backend development team. The issue with the front-end team I was in was that the guy who had been there the longest and had reached a point where he would delegate most of the work to people did nothing but got all of the credit. Occasionally some of us "other" devs would get a collective thank you, but this one developer who wasn't very good and had been there for 4 years prior got the special treatment and it caused the entire team to continuously reshuffle and it continues to do so long after I've been there (so I hear).
There are two things employers need to do to keep good workers: pay them what they're worth, if they're doing a great job and contributing to the business pay them for their dedication and hard-work, make their life easier (especially if they have a mortgage and family to feed). And lastly, make your employees feel trusted and valued. It's not always about money, but it is 50% of the total equation that equals a happy employee.
There are two things employers need to do to keep good workers: pay them what they're worth, if they're doing a great job and contributing to the business pay them for their dedication and hard-work, make their life easier (especially if they have a mortgage and family to feed). And lastly, make your employees feel trusted and valued. It's not always about money, but it is 50% of the total equation that equals a happy employee.