Have you heard of golden handcuffs? While there are certainly anti-employee versions of that business trope, there are certainly pro-employee ways to do that. P

Have you heard of golden handcuffs? While there are certainly anti-employee versions of that business trope, there are certainly pro-employee ways to do that. Profit sharing that goes up by year is a good one, as is benefits increases. Even just increase pay over time past what they'll earn elsewhere. They'll keep doing their highly specialized job because no one else can hire them at a competitive rate. Find areas they can flex their brains that don't cost you much. Say, publicity stunt woodworking (I'm sure you could make things that get you press), novelty items you can use as gifts to prospective clients, etc, completely designed and done by these skilled tradesmen. Or hell, just give them stupid amounts of time off. It's very hard to leave a place that has 20-40 days of vacation. Or even make a community oriented approach. Have them teach a class on X etc to the community, mentor at risk kids, etc.