Finding and training qualified employees is an expensive endeavor. Employers want to attract, motivate and retain key employees, but want to do this without substantially increasing their costs. One way to do this is to design an employee benefit program that enhances the firm's ability to retain critical employees.In that tax-qualified pension and profit-sharing plans do not allow an employer to discriminate in favor of selected key employees, those that the employer normally wants to favor, many employers turn to non-qualified deferred compensation plans. These plans require no government approval and can be arranged exclusively for the benefit of top management.