Extraordinary circumstances demand extraordinary responses, and I will detail some aggressive recruiting strategies in my next column. This month, however, I want to talk about keeping the people you've got. In my opinion, the first priority most retailers need to work on is employee retention, for the obvious reason that you'll do a lot less recruiting if you do a better job retaining. You have to do things differently today. Otherwise, it's too easy for people to leave you for a couple of dollars more down the street.
Retail is tough work, and many owners are entrepreneurial sorts who have little patience.
Even if they aren't the types to jump down an employee's throat, retailers tend to play their cards close to the vest. After all, the reasoning goes, what's the point of sharing a lot of information with loose-lipped employees. Those attitudes have got to change. TO CARE Communication is the first step toward creating the kind of environment that people care about, and if they care, they just may stay. I'm not talking about a lot of New Age stroking designed to bring out the inner person or false praise that creates a misplaced sense of security.