the root causes of excessive turnover and, as a result, their questions to high level subordinates focus on the activities taking place to attract people to fill vacancies (job fairs, advertisements here, there and everywhere, possibly the use of a professional recruiter,This subject is addressed time and time again. Some retailers have more Store Manager and Assistant Manager positions open than they have filled. Take a look at on-line job sites and you’ll see that even large, well known retailers are trying to fill positions that should be filled with candidates from within the company. In fact, if a solid internal promotion policy was in place – one that really worked - the majority of vacancies would be at entry level.

The concern is that this is not just an occasional problem for many retailers and other companies in the service industry. It is an on-going state of affairs. It has become a ‘mission critical’ item that goes unrecognized as such. C level individuals absolutely must become involved with this epidemic called excessive turnover.

The research is out there. We know it’s very expensive to attract and train high caliber employees. Why, then, do so many organizations treat excessive turnover as normal and acceptable? The answer, simply and unfortunately, is lack of awareness.

Often top management is unaware of the root causes of excessive turnover and, as a result, their questions to high level subordinates focus on the activities taking place to attract people to fill vacancies (job fairs, advertisements here, there and everywhere, possibly the use of a professional recruiter,

be filled with candidates from within the company. In fact, if a solid internal promotion policy was in place – one that really worked - the majority of vacancies would be at entry level.

The concern is that this is not just an occasional problem for many retailers and other companies in the service industry. It is an on-going state of affairs. It has become a ‘mission critical’ item that goes unrecognized as such. C level individuals absolutely must become involved with this epidemic called excessive turnover.

The research is out there. We know it’s very expensive to attract and train high caliber employees. Why, then, do so many organizations treat excessive turnover as normal and acceptable? The answer, simply and unfortunately, is lack of awareness.

Often top management is unaware of the root causes of excessive turnover and, as a result, their questions to high level subordinates focus on the activities taking place to attract people to fill vacancies (job fairs, advertisements here, there and everywhere, possibly the use of a professional recruiter,

and other companies in the service industry. It is an on-going state of affairs. It has become a ‘mission critical’ item that goes unrecognized as such. C level individuals absolutely must become involved with this epidemic called excessive turnover.

The research is out there. We know it’s very expensive to attract and train high caliber employees. Why, then, do so many organizations treat excessive turnover as normal and acceptable? The answer, simply and unfortunately, is lack of awareness.

Often top management is unaware of the root causes of excessive turnover and, as a result, their questions to high level subordinates focus on the activities taking place to attract people to fill vacancies (job fairs, advertisements here, there and everywhere, possibly the use of a professional recruiter,

out there. We know it’s very expensive to attract and train high caliber employees. Why, then, do so many organizations treat excessive turnover as normal and acceptable? The answer, simply and unfortunately, is lack of awareness.

Often top management is unaware of the root causes of excessive turnover and, as a result, their questions to high level subordinates focus on the activities taking place to attract people to fill vacancies (job fairs, advertisements here, there and everywhere, possibly the use of a professional recruiter,

the root causes of excessive turnover and, as a result, their questions to high level subordinates focus on the activities taking place to attract people to fill vacancies (job fairs, advertisements here, there and everywhere, possibly the use of a professional recruiter, word of mouth, etc.) and those activities are pushed very high on the priority action list. The question to subordinates should be “Why do we have excessive turnover?” and “What is being done to ensure that we keep the good people we already have?” Why not put ‘hiring and keeping good people’ high on the priority action list? And I mean high…right up there with sales and profit.

When you define ‘good people’ for your particular business it is highly likely it will include some form of performance or productivity criteria. You don’t want to attract and retain nice people, or sweet or happy or kind people. You want to attract and retain people who are ‘good’ based solely on your particular company’s definition of ‘good’. Someone else’s definition of ‘good’ just won’t cut it.

Why not set up a new department to delve into this area? With all due respect to Human Resources professionals everywhere - and I mean that sincerely - the HR department is not the place to start with this new endeavor. An ‘attitude survey’ alone won’t serve the purpose. An ‘open-door policy’