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

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.”