Turn Around That Turnover

As a former Workforce Development Director, I like to keep up with business trends.

At a business event the other day I met a woman who mentioned that she was having trouble keeping front-desk help. She hired teenagers, who then left for college. She wanted to hire somebody more stable, but was having trouble finding someone.

I asked how much she was paying, and immediately discovered the problem.

I pointed out that continually training people was more expensive than paying a decent wage to somebody who would stick around and actually care about the business. Also, when you have to spend time training people, and there’s nobody there who actually gets to know the customers, your customer service and customer satisfaction tank, and subsequently, so does your business.

Astonishingly, she said she knew all that.

And she still didn’t want to pay more.

For the last 15 years, in 3 different states, I’ve heard the same story over and over again. Some people get it and some don’t, but none of them wants to pay for quality help.

So let me spell it out for you:

If you want people who can help you advance your business—PAY THEM.