Brainstorms

Want to Keep Your Good Employees? Make It Worth Their While

Seth Godin says it’s up to employers to create conditions in which workers want to stay.

Published

4 months ago

January 14, 2024

INSTORE Staff Instore January 2024 Issue

Want to Keep Your Good Employees? Make It Worth Their While

PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO

Depending on the study, something like two-thirds of American businesses are struggling to retain staff. And this is mostly seen as a bad thing: hiring, onboarding and training are expensive, time consuming and a drain on resources. But business author Seth Godin says we are looking at it wrong. “Turnover is a good thing,” he said on a recent episode of the Tim Ferriss Show podcast, noting that 40-year careers at one place are an anachronism. “What I would do if I were running a real company is I would say the first thing you’ve got to do on your first day is update your LinkedIn page and keep it up to date. I don’t want you to stay here because you can’t get a better job. I want you to stay here because the conditions we’ve created, the work we are doing is worth you staying here for. And then I would listen. If I’m not creating the conditions where the people who I need to be dancing with want to stay, I have to change the conditions, not curse the people who are leaving. And if I can keep somebody here for a long time, it’s because they want to stay here.”

She Wanted to Spend More Time with Her Kids. She Called Wilkerson.

Your children are precious. More precious than gold? Absolutely! Just ask Lesley Ann Davis, owner of Lesley Ann Jewels, an independent jewelry store that — until the end of 2023 — had quite a following in Houston, Texas. To spend more time with her four sons, all in high school, she decided to close her store. Luckily, she was familiar with Wilkerson and called them as soon as she knew she wanted to move on to bigger, better and more family-focused things. Was she happy with her decision? Yes, she was. Says Davis, “Any owner looking to make that life change, looking to retire, looking to close, looking for a pause in their career, I would recommend Wilkerson. Hands down!”