Having a managerial position in a company often results in a more substantial amount of work to carry-out during the day. However, many managers – regardless of their status – are forgetting how they should be treating their employees, and are therefore losing some of their hardest workers. Here are top tips to help you avoid making mistakes as a manager in the professional world:

First, don’t overwork people. If you assign your employees to heavy of a workload, they will burn out. And yes, this applies to even your best employees. Also, if you think they can handle the workload, double-think it, because what you’re asking may be unreasonable for an employee to complete during regular hours of a workday. According to an article published by Entrepreneur.com, “New research from Stanford shows that productivity per hour declines sharply when the workweek exceeds 50 hours, and productivity drops off so much after 55 hours that you don’t get anything out of working more,” (9 Things Managers Do That Make Good Employees Quit). Understand the power of quality work, not quantity.

Another piece of advice to consider as a manager is to recognize contributions and reward good work. This is something that many managers avoid doing, which leads to unhappy employees who are likely to leave the company. You may not realize this, but telling an employee that he or she is doing a great job, or that they’ve written an excellent report or article, will go a long, long way when it comes to his or her happiness. Everyone deserves a pat on the back at some point or another, and since it will increase your employees’ levels of confidence, why not praise them more? Don’t be afraid of communicating more often to tell your employees that they are doing well.

Not caring about employees as individuals is another step in the wrong direction that many managers are guilty of. A good manager should be able to balance his or her professionalism with personality and likable qualities so that his or her employees are not afraid to speak up when things are going wrong. According to Entrepreneur.com:

“These are the bosses who celebrate an employee’s success, empathize with those going through hard times, and challenge people, even when it hurts. Bosses who fail to care will always have high turnover rates. It’s impossible to work for someone eight-plus hours a day when they aren’t personally involved and don’t care about anything other than your production yield,” (9 Things Managers Do That Make Good Employees Quit).

If you’re a manager, there are times when it’s more important to feel sympathy and be human than it is to obsess over the production rate. Recognize that your employees are just as human and have personal lives just like you do.

For more informative advice on what not to do as a manager, please check out Entrepreneur.com’s article here, and make sure you always lead by example so that your employees are glad that you’re their manager.