Win the War on Employee Turnover
Renee Pas • August 2017
Every day, there are challenges you face in running a c-store. And you don’t want to just win a battle here and there, you want to win the war—play the long game.
Employee turnover is a challenge you can solve for the long-term.
Two good reasons you should create an action plan to retain employees are:
- Steep increases in c-store turnover. Store associate and manager turnover both came in with high numbers in the 2017 NACS State of the Industry report, which provides stats on 2016 data. Associate turnover hit 133%, up from 95% in 2015. Manager turnover hit 27% in 2016 after hovering around 18% for the past six years.
- Slim pickings in the low-wage workforce camp. The national unemployment rate dipped in February and experts predict it will continue to fall, possibly down to 4.4% in 2018 from the 4.7% it was in February. That translates into a tight labor market. And that low-wage, high-school-educated workforce is disappearing, so expect to pay more for people with the same level of education, David Nelson told the crowd at the NACS State of the Industry Summit in Chicago April 4-6, 2017 as reported in CSP Daily News.
So how do you win the war on employee turnover?
“Start by taking care of the people you have,” says Tom Terrono, CBC Learning Center instructor. “Remind yourself that the people you keep actually save you money in training and recruiting costs. Put a portion of that money back into their wages.”
Next comes respect. “I hear the way we talk to employees today,” says Terrono. “It would be wise to show them more respect. No one wants to work somewhere they feel put down all the time.”
Along with respect, Terrono believes having employees in uniform adds an additional level of professionalism and respect. “It sends the message that you are a legit organization,” he notes. “Even better if employees have a nametag that says ‘5 years of service.’ People appreciate any kind of recognition and it gives them something to be proud of. The bottom line is that we have to show we care. When we care, they care.”
