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Seven housing-related companies were patting themselves on the back earlier this month when they made it onto the Sunday Times' lists of the best companies to work for. The leagues are voted for by employees, but what makes staff so happy that they are willing to register a vote? And how much does it cost to keep them sweet?

Many housing staff get great satisfaction from the job, but this alone won't keep them with you, as The Ridings Housing Association found out. The Leeds-based registered social landlord came ninth in the list of best small businesses to work for, but just two years ago it had a "reasonably high staff turnover," says human resources manager David Albone.

Going places
The company decided to ask staff why they were leaving, and paid a consultant £20,000 for a detailed survey. Albone says: "They found we were very good at training, development and support but people said that if they wanted to take on more responsibility, it was difficult." The Ridings' readiness to avoid discriminating against outside applicants meant existing staff felt they could not get promoted.

Albone says: "We revised our recruitment practices to advertise internally first and introduced secondments where people could spend six months trying out different roles." This reduced staff turnover from 20% last year to 13% this year and saved £7000 on the recruitment budget, bringing it down from £36,000 to £29,000.

Think about whether staff could benefit from extra training: since its consultation, The Ridings has thrown open its induction programme to existing staff as a refresher course, and is considering workshops on time management and delegation.

London & Quadrant Housing Group, which came 29th in the overall top employers' list, spends £1200 on training for each employee every year. Human resources manager Chris Gillam says: "About 40 people in the organisation at one time are on day release studying for external qualifications." This covers job-related courses such as accountancy exams, L&Q's surveyor training programme or the CIH qualification. L&Q also gives long-serving employees up to £250 to pursue courses in their leisure interests.

Irwell Valley Housing Association, which came 17th in the list of small businesses, offers confidence-building sessions and destressing classes. Property services firm MJ Gleeson, which came 19th in the best employers' list, gives staff £100 towards evening classes in any subject at local colleges.

Talk and listen
Housing management company Pinnacle PSG came 43rd in the list of 100 best companies to work for. Its human resources director Andy Lee says communicating openly with staff is essential to keeping them happy. "The more we communicate, the more staff know we are upholding the values they believe in," he says. "All our staff understand the value of their contribution."

One of the main ways Pinnacle is doing this is a scheme where employees can meet the chief executive for one-to-one sessions to voice any problems. The company also prints newsletters every six weeks for all staff.

Another option is to host a staff conference. The Ridings spends about £2000 on a consultant, plus more on hotel hire, to organise its annual conference.

Developer Urban Splash, which came 18th in the ranking for the best small employers, has quarterly meetings that are followed by an evening meal.

Gleeson has a suggestions scheme in which employees can be rewarded for good ideas with payments of £100-20,000.

Make space and let your hair down
The offices in which people work can make a big difference to how they feel about the job. The Ridings' survey revealed many staff felt cramped in its main office, so it is changing its office environment. It is adding lifts to the three-storey building, taking down partitions in the open-plan office, replacing old-fashioned desks with PC workstations and using portable offices to add space. The total refurbishment cost is £562,342 for an office housing 45 staff.

Never underestimate the value of a good party. Urban Splash pushed the boat out last year with a combined Christmas and birthday party. "We flew the whole company and 100 guests to the European capital of culture, Graz in Austria, as a way of saying thank you," says communications manager Lisa Ashurst.

Last year, The Ridings held a fancy-dress Christmas dinner dance at a hotel. It cost about £30 per head, including a meal and some drinks. Pinnacle spends about £100 per head per year on events for its 550 staff, including Christmas and summer parties, pub quiz nights and staff socials at its office.

Irwell Valley runs a number of events throughout the year, including a Christmas party for the staff's children and a choice of trips in the summer including days in Chester, Blackpool, the Lake District and the races, for which the association funds the travel. Chief executive Tom Manion says: "It's not about how much you spend. Our costs are down 15% over the last three years despite spending money on our staff." The company also gives employees one extra day off per year on top of their standard 25 days. "People can take off their child's first day at school, or gay people can take Mardi Gras day off – whatever they want," says Manion.

Help with health
Private healthcare is a popular perk. Pinnacle secured a reduced rate on private healthcare of about £400 per person per year, rather than the £1000-plus this would cost workers individually. The company also spends about £40,000 a year on life assurance.

To keep staff fit, you could fund a company team: The Ridings has a softball team that costs about £200 a year. Opinion is split, though, on offering gym memberships: Irwell Valley offers a £100 gym fee subsidy and Pilates, weight watchers and other exercise classes, but others have resisted the trend.

Think of the children
Flexitime is important for people with children, but childcare assistance can also help them do their jobs. The Ridings offers childcare vouchers worth £30 per week for children under five and Pinnacle encourages employees to bring their children to work on certain days during the holidays.

Don't forget the basics
Finally, never be stingy with the basics. Albone stresses the importance of free tea and coffee and water coolers, and free car parking for staff. And once you start giving staff good deals, they always want more, so think laterally. Urban Splash gives staff a discount on buying its apartments; Gleeson celebrated its 100th anniversary by offering employees company shares worth £250 and two extra days' holiday – increasing this to a maximum of 32 days per year. It also secured reduced energy rates with Scottish and Southern Energy for employees. L&Q pays hard cash to hardworking employees: its Rewarding People system gives annual individual and team awards and it gives £50 to employees each time they introduce a new member of staff to the organisation.

Beware, though, setting up incentive schemes can be difficult: Irwell Valley had the idea of buying all workers a birthday cake, but complaints about the relative quality of cakes meant a "cake working party" had to be set up to agree a standard price.