Employee Retention and new applicants

[ikarasu]

Can't give a raise every year unless you also increase prices....or if everyone's productivity goes up

Lets say you have 5 employees. a 25 cent raise per year is 8*5*.25 = $10 more per day. Lets be generous and say you have 20 employees... Thats $40 more per day. Or the profit off of 1 sign... I doubt you have 20 employees as a sign shop. So if you cant afford a .25 cent raise each year... might be time to re-think your business strategy!

When your supplier raises prices on products, do you not pass that increase onto your customer? Inflation works the same way... If your employee doesn't earn more each year, theyre stuck making less and less because of price increases.

I mentioned before that a new company opened shop in our area with a Dhurst printer, underbid everyone by 50% and got all of the traffic signs at pretty much no proffit. Our company used to be mainly screen printing, we were very, very heavily into traffic signs... so the company felt it bad. For a period there was almost no work. The owners refused to let anyone go, gave them all a small raise... and did it by taking out a second mortgage on his personal house after exhausting all loans/credit. He wasn't sure if the company would bounce back, but he didn't think the employees should suffer for his choices not to diversify, etc.

That's a true boss - Someone who cares enough to put everything on the line for you. The employees are there helping make your business successful just as much as you are (In most cases). You wouldn't take a pay downgrade every year, would you? Because every year you don't do cost of living... thats exactly what your employees are doing. Working for less.

[Edit] Btw, I don't expect every owner to do something like that. It's extreme, and I doubt I'd do it even.

I just find it funny people always say theres no more loyalty from employees... That they leave for 10-25 cents an hour more and job hop. I can guarantee you 90% of them employees feel like the Company wasn't loyal to them. And if they feel that way... why not move on? If you don't want to give cost of living raises, or even normal raises... that's fine, but don't be surprised when your employee does move on.. The #1 thing I've seen a lot of owners/managers not get... is it isnt always about the money. I've seen plenty of people move on from every job I've been at... Friends, family... the one thing they have in common is they're not enjoying their work, they don't feel appreciated... and it was just time to look for something new.

 

[Emd2kick]

Lets say you have 5 employees. a 25 cent raise per year is 8*5*.25 = $10 more per day. Lets be generous and say you have 20 employees... Thats $40 more per day. Or the profit off of 1 sign... I doubt you have 20 employees as a sign shop. So if you cant afford a .25 cent raise each year... might be time to re-think your business strategy!

When your supplier raises prices on products, do you not pass that increase onto your customer? Inflation works the same way... If your employee doesn't earn more each year, theyre stuck making less and less because of price increases.

I mentioned before that a new company opened shop in our area with a Dhurst printer, underbid everyone by 50% and got all of the traffic signs at pretty much no proffit. Our company used to be mainly screen printing, we were very, very heavily into traffic signs... so the company felt it bad. For a period there was almost no work. The owners refused to let anyone go, gave them all a small raise... and did it by taking out a second mortgage on his personal house after exhausting all loans/credit. He wasn't sure if the company would bounce back, but he didn't think the employees should suffer for his choices not to diversify, etc.

That's a true boss - Someone who cares enough to put everything on the line for you. The employees are there helping make your business successful just as much as you are (In most cases). You wouldn't take a pay downgrade every year, would you? Because every year you don't do cost of living... thats exactly what your employees are doing. Working for less.

[Edit] Btw, I don't expect every owner to do something like that. It's extreme, and I doubt I'd do it even.

I just find it funny people always say theres no more loyalty from employees... That they leave for 10-25 cents an hour more and job hop. I can guarantee you 90% of them employees feel like the Company wasn't loyal to them. And if they feel that way... why not move on? If you don't want to give cost of living raises, or even normal raises... that's fine, but don't be surprised when your employee does move on.. The #1 thing I've seen a lot of owners/managers not get... is it isnt always about the money. I've seen plenty of people move on from every job I've been at... Friends, family... the one thing they have in common is they're not enjoying their work, they don't feel appreciated... and it was just time to look for something new.

Your boss sounds like a moron taking out a second mortgage to essentially support his employees. Owners start businesses for themselves not support there employees...if he loses his house and goes out of business I’m sure his employees will pick up the tab smh.

 

[TimToad]

It is, that's true, but in order to attract and retain valuable employees, you need to be able to at least play close to what other people are paying. Added benefits help, but if the shop down the road is paying $3 an hour more, that's a hard choice for an employee to make. Free pizza on Fridays or an extra $120 a week? Maybe not that hard.



That's why I said "fairly well" instead of completely. Heck, if you've got the money you can drive a pallet of material up to a printer and not touch it again until it's done. Most shops aren't at that level of automation and won't be for a while (or ever).

Having now employed more than one of our competitor's former employees, I know for a FACT that we pay more and offer more benefits of any kind than all of nearby competition which I stated earlier in another response. Every employee we've ever had from the competition and the one we inherited with the business purchase had never received a paid holiday or vacation by either shop. If they didn't work, they didn't get paid zip.

We pay two weeks vacation after 90 days, they get 5 paid sick days per year by state mandate and we offer the other perks I've described. So basically, any employee here in their first year is paid for 52 weeks and only required to work 49 weeks not including the other days we close early on a Friday with pay which probably adds up to another couple days total.

 

[ikarasu]

Your boss sounds like a moron taking out a second mortgage to essentially support his employees. Owners start businesses for themselves not support there employees...if he loses his house and goes out of business I’m sure his employees will pick up the tab smh.

Or, he's a boss that actually cares. We have 15-20 people working here - Most of them have been working here for 15+ years. I'm the newest at 3.5 years. Theres a few at 25+ years.

If the business shut down, thats 15-20 people he's known for 10-25 years that will be out jobs - Most of them too old to get a new job. Most of them he's seen everyday for the past 25 years. Is he stupid to not want them to lose their income, possibly their houses, and who knows what else?

This is what I'm talking about... an Employee isnt property. Employee/owners have a mutually beneficial relationship... You cant succeed without one or the other. It's usually the people here to act like their employees owe them the world for being hired that are the ones who have trouble retaining good talent.

The business has been open for 30+ years... so the owners must be doing something right. Show me another sign shop with 2-3 employees who have been there for 10 years... I sure as heck don't know one. Meanwhile theres over 5 at 25+ years, and 10 at 10+ years... I'm the onlyone under 10 years I believe.

Moral of the story... Treat your employees right, and they'll treat you right. Our pay is average at best for the industry/location... But I know odds of finding a company that cares and treats their employees as good as this one does is rare, so I'll be sticking around for as long as I'm wanted. And you can ask any of the other employees, they'll say the same.

 

[Emd2kick]

Or, he's a boss that actually cares. We have 15-20 people working here - Most of them have been working here for 15+ years. I'm the newest at 3.5 years. Theres a few at 25+ years.

If the business shut down, thats 15-20 people he's known for 10-25 years that will be out jobs - Most of them too old to get a new job. Most of them he's seen everyday for the past 25 years. Is he stupid to not want them to lose their income, possibly their houses, and who knows what else?

This is what I'm talking about... an Employee isnt property. Employee/owners have a mutually beneficial relationship... You cant succeed without one or the other. It's usually the people here to act like their employees owe them the world for being hired that are the ones who have trouble retaining good talent.

The business has been open for 30+ years... so the owners must be doing something right. Show me another sign shop with 2-3 employees who have been there for 10 years... I sure as heck don't know one. Meanwhile theres over 5 at 25+ years, and 10 at 10+ years... I'm the onlyone under 10 years I believe.

Moral of the story... Treat your employees right, and they'll treat you right. Our pay is average at best for the industry/location... But I know odds of finding a company that cares and treats their employees as good as this one does is rare, so I'll be sticking around for as long as I'm wanted. And you can ask any of the other employees, they'll say the same.

I love this...remove emotion for a moment, by not trimming his staff and taking out a second mortgage he’s risking his entire business. I guess better to lose everything then layoff some longtime employees?

Logic like this is why you are an employee, and likely why your employers business will fail.

It’s one thing to treat your employees properly in all aspects, and I commend your boss for likely doing that. However, it’s called business not friendship.

Based on these comments, I can say I probably pay higher end of the spectrum for my employees (my lowest earner made 57k last year handling prepress etc with OT and bonuses, we pay 60% of healthcare) as we have double in size for the past 3 years. That being said, if all goes in the opposite direction I’m chopping heads before I put my family and business at risk. Welcome to the real world.

All good though, let me know when your company starts selling off assets...I could use more equipment. And hey maybe the boss can crash on your couch?

 

[ikarasu]

Every post I've made is how it's not about the money. You could offer me double my pay, and based on your comments just in this thread I'd never work for you... Even if you wanted to offer a 10+ year contract to ensure my employment.

Anyways, I don't feel the need to defend our business practices. They've been in business for 30+ years, and we have long term multi year contracts. I don't see the business going anywhere. I'm sure all the people who've worked here for 25+ years will be here for another 25, and more than happy to be!

All the luck to you and your employees. I hope when you hit a bad year, they don't all need to find new jobs.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I love this...remove emotion for a moment, by not trimming his staff and taking out a second mortgage he’s risking his entire business. I guess better to lose everything then layoff some longtime employees?

Logic like this is why you are an employee, and likely why your employers business will fail.

It’s one thing to treat your employees properly in all aspects, and I commend your boss for likely doing that. However, it’s called business not friendship.

Based on these comments, I can say I probably pay higher end of the spectrum for my employees (my lowest earner made 57k last year handling prepress etc with OT and bonuses, we pay 60% of healthcare) as we have double in size for the past 3 years. That being said, if all goes in the opposite direction I’m chopping heads before I put my family and business at risk. Welcome to the real world.

All good though, let me know when your company starts selling off assets...I could use more equipment. And hey maybe the boss can crash on your couch?

I agree with you... I read that post and in my opinion, thought those were some bad moves by the business owner. I think letting some people go and not financially ruining himself would have been the better option.

 

[Emd2kick]

Texas, that’s why you run your own business and ikarasu is an employee (and sound like her boss will be an employee of someone’s soon too lol)....they are different animals.

Being in business 30+ years doesn’t mean much when you have to literally mortgage everything.

But maybe ikarasu is right, having employees for a long time is worth it all in the end...who needs a house. Having admiration of those that work for you is what capitalism is based on right?

Bringing in new ideas, with new people, that may even be less expensive since they haven’t worked for you for 25+ year is just foolish. So is trimming some fat so others in your company (including yourself as the owner) can survive another 30 years...

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I'm conflicted about the loyalty of an employee. Since they have no finical stake in the business, what reason do they have to be loyal?

I'd hate if an employee stuck with me purely out of loyalty. The relationship should me mutually beneficial. Since the employee is renting out his or her time they should be getting the most bang for the buck.

If someone has better pay / benefits and that person wants to advance in a way that the current employer can't, don't hold them back! It doesn't always have to be $$, maybe they value flex time or a relaxed or creative atmosphere or a "cool and collected boss" that the other company offering more $$ doesn't have. Just don't stay out of loyalty, would make me think I'm robbing them of a better situation.

 

[AKwrapguy]

Your boss sounds like a moron taking out a second mortgage to essentially support his employees. Owners start businesses for themselves not support there employees...if he loses his house and goes out of business I’m sure his employees will pick up the tab smh.

So do you attack everyone who disagrees with you and send them a PM calling them a 'clown' or make some passive aggressive remarks about where they live? Are you some sort of special snowflake that can't handle when someone else might have a different opinion, or see's the situation differently than you all knowing infallible eye's?

I know your going to reply some stupid thing about something and end with 'but that's ok cause I probably do twice as much business a you do blah blah blah... grown my business blah blah blah since blah blah' Cause you think that's all that matters and that's how you measure success, and unfortunately that's kind, well... sad.

I know what you'll say next, ' Ya well is it sad that I drive blah blah blah car or live in some blah blah neighborhood or some big house and I have this or I have that thing that.' Than you'll make another low hanging, remark about me living in Alaska, and saying that your better than me in some way or something stupid to that point.

But now you'll probably just reply with some other stupid remark or try to tear me down or nit pick something I've misspelled or said wrong, or something to that extent. Or try to troll me with some other stupid thing, All cause you have to be the big swinging dick, the loudest voice in the room....

Wow that was actually kinda cathartic....

 

[Emd2kick]

I’m editing this post, AK I was just breaking balls and sorry if I hit a nerve. But thanks for posting what I might have said back, saved me a bunch of key strokes! Haha

 

[equippaint]

Lets say you have 5 employees. a 25 cent raise per year is 8*5*.25 = $10 more per day. Lets be generous and say you have 20 employees... Thats $40 more per day. Or the profit off of 1 sign... I doubt you have 20 employees as a sign shop. So if you cant afford a .25 cent raise each year... might be time to re-think your business strategy!

When your supplier raises prices on products, do you not pass that increase onto your customer? Inflation works the same way... If your employee doesn't earn more each year, theyre stuck making less and less because of price increases.

I mentioned before that a new company opened shop in our area with a Dhurst printer, underbid everyone by 50% and got all of the traffic signs at pretty much no proffit. Our company used to be mainly screen printing, we were very, very heavily into traffic signs... so the company felt it bad. For a period there was almost no work. The owners refused to let anyone go, gave them all a small raise... and did it by taking out a second mortgage on his personal house after exhausting all loans/credit. He wasn't sure if the company would bounce back, but he didn't think the employees should suffer for his choices not to diversify, etc.

That's a true boss - Someone who cares enough to put everything on the line for you. The employees are there helping make your business successful just as much as you are (In most cases). You wouldn't take a pay downgrade every year, would you? Because every year you don't do cost of living... thats exactly what your employees are doing. Working for less.

[Edit] Btw, I don't expect every owner to do something like that. It's extreme, and I doubt I'd do it even.

I just find it funny people always say theres no more loyalty from employees... That they leave for 10-25 cents an hour more and job hop. I can guarantee you 90% of them employees feel like the Company wasn't loyal to them. And if they feel that way... why not move on? If you don't want to give cost of living raises, or even normal raises... that's fine, but don't be surprised when your employee does move on.. The #1 thing I've seen a lot of owners/managers not get... is it isnt always about the money. I've seen plenty of people move on from every job I've been at... Friends, family... the one thing they have in common is they're not enjoying their work, they don't feel appreciated... and it was just time to look for something new.

Youre ok with the owner taking a $2500+ per year paycut, all else equal, as long as you get your 25 cents that you think youre entitled to? You also expected and are cool with taking a raise while your employer is virtually being put out of business and leveraging his home to stay afloat through no fault of their own? As long as you get yours and you're happy, to hell with everyone else. You must stay busy making all those one way signs.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

I think the point was that the owner has loyalty to his employees, which most employers don't. Which you can clearly see from some of the posts in this thread. You may own a business that's doing well, but that doesn't make you a good business owner.

I know plenty of people with "successful" businesses that are garbage humans. If you don't take care of your employees, it doesn't matter how successful your business is, it's still a bad business.

Walmart might make plenty of money and be a financial success, but they force their employees onto welfare programs because they're such a crappy business to work for. If you're okay with being a Walmart, you're a garbage person.

 

[ikarasu]

Youre ok with the owner taking a $2500+ per year paycut, all else equal, as long as you get your 25 cents that you think youre entitled to? You also expected and are cool with taking a raise while your employer is virtually being put out of business and leveraging his home to stay afloat through no fault of their own? As long as you get yours and you're happy, to hell with everyone else. You must stay busy making all those one way signs.

Every year pretty much, business is up. Look at this thread, people claiming their business has doubled in the last two years... Look at the other thread on how business is doing, people have claimed it's doubled since last year also.

The owner doesn't make a static xx per hour like an employee does. When business is up, so is the owners Proffits... I know our business has doubled since last year, and while they're looking to hire two new people... Their wages will barely put a dent in the profit.

So yea... I'm ok with the owner paying $2500 more per year, considering he's likelly making a couple hundred grand more this year than last, even after hiring more payroll.


And I never said I'd take a raise when the business was hurting - it happened before my time. The point was to show the owner not only cared a out losing his business, but cared about his employees. To most owners, employees are numbers on a spreadsheet. To good (in my opinion) owners, employees are part of.the family.

The world isn't about how much money you can bring in .it's about helping people, treating people right and getting by.

Another example... At least once a month were donating signs to schools or hospitals, for autism events, or one of a dozen other things... All for free. Not just cheap Coro signs either...I'm sure the concept of giving away free signs is foreign to a lot of owners on here. Some people try to punch every penny they can get, and likely consider donating a couple grand worth of signs a year a bad business move.

Everyone runs their business different. Every owner is unique, and has their own principals with what's important to them.

I'm happy to have owners like I do. So you guys can say they're idiots, tell me how wrong / irresponsible they are, but I've never respected, or was willing to work so hard for anyone else. Loyalty and commitment begts loyalty and commitment .And as I've said... 30+ years, one of the major sign companies in the biggest city in Canada... We get lots of government contracts, I'd say they're doing something right.

But I'm just an employee, what do I know .

 

[equippaint]

I think the point was that the owner has loyalty to his employees, which most employers don't. Which you can clearly see from some of the posts in this thread. You may own a business that's doing well, but that doesn't make you a good business owner.

I know plenty of people with "successful" businesses that are garbage humans. If you don't take care of your employees, it doesn't matter how successful your business is, it's still a bad business.

Walmart might make plenty of money and be a financial success, but they force their employees onto welfare programs because they're such a crappy business to work for. If you're okay with being a Walmart, you're a garbage person.

True to a certain extent but in fairness you cant leave out bad employees. I'm no walmart fan but they probably receive more bashing than what they are due. Playing devils advocate, there are people that have worked their way up through the ranks of Walmart and have made decent careers there and have had doors opened for them that would not have had elsewhere. The majority of their workforce is not on welfare too. Plenty of issues stem from our growing corporate society but you can't ignore that there are also issues with people that don't take initiative to better themselves and expect things to be handed to them. Walmart is considered a good employer for truck drivers and is somewhat difficult to get in there so it can not all be bad.
One overlooked issue that contributes to companies not having more full time positions is the reliability of the lower level workers. It leaves them with many spares so to speak so when 1 or 2 or 3 have a hangnail Saturday morning and cant make it in, they are not stuck.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

And I never said I'd take a raise when the business was hurting - it happened before my time. The point was to show the owner not only cared a out losing his business, but cared about his employees. To most owners, employees are numbers on a spreadsheet. To good (in my opinion) owners, employees are part of.the family.

The world isn't about how much money you can bring in .it's about helping people, treating people right and getting by.

I don't think it could be stressed enough, just what the business owner did by mortgaging personal assets to keep things a float (although doing that after as many years that they have been around, typically means something is broken somewhere in the business, something about the process is off, but I digress).

I have to wonder why the other employees with all of this kumbaya going on, couldn't have taken even less of a raise (or none at all). Loyalty needs to be shown both ways.

On the flip side of that, employees need to plan for bad things to happen. No matter how good the employer is and all that. Business could have folded up right then and there. The owner may not have been able to leverage his personal assets and come out ahead (which is the scary thing that I would have worried about, because those personal assets of mine are what keep my family safe and secure).

My father in law has been with the same company since out of HS. No plans for the future at all. They were bought out a few years ago and it was known that their department was going to be gone. Not close to retirement age yet, certainly too old to be re trained for anything else. Shoot he was already grandfathered in to the position that he had. He is in the same boat that those guys are at your place. Can't always assume everything is going to be flawless. And I would certainly have a problem with anybody that just assumes that it's incumbent on the owner of the business to mortgage personal assets (business assets are something else) to keep the business going, no matter the cost. It still may not work out.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

True to a certain extent but in fairness you cant leave out bad employees. I'm no walmart fan but they probably receive more bashing than what they are due. Playing devils advocate, there are people that have worked their way up through the ranks of Walmart and have made decent careers there and have had doors opened for them that would not have had elsewhere. The majority of their workforce is not on welfare too. Plenty of issues stem from our growing corporate society but you can't ignore that there are also issues with people that don't take initiative to better themselves and expect things to be handed to them. Walmart is considered a good employer for truck drivers and is somewhat difficult to get in there so it can not all be bad.
One overlooked issue that contributes to companies not having more full time positions is the reliability of the lower level workers. It leaves them with many spares so to speak so when 1 or 2 or 3 have a hangnail Saturday morning and cant make it in, they are not stuck.

Sure, there are always extenuating circumstances and outliers, but Walmart is an objectively bad company to work for. They prioritize upper management and shareholders over the vast majority of their workforce, who can go suck an egg for the most part. They treat their employees like an expendable resource, so the employees they DO get are pretty terrible, because they have no incentive to care. "The company pays me squat, they don't give me enough hours to qualify for benefits, they treat me like garbage, and I'm likely to get canned at any moment for the dumbest reasons. Guess I'll just do the bare minimum, not stick my neck out, and stay out of sight." Not the type of employee you want to have.

Meanwhile, go to some place like Costco or Aldi and the employees there are (generally) pretty stellar in comparison to other stores.

I definitely get what you're saying, and Walmart is vastly different than any sign company out there (or any other type of company, for that matter) due to the sheer size, but the point still stands. If you treat your employees more like a Costco than a Walmart, you're going to have better employees in the long run. AND you'll get a reputation for being a good employer and people will actively seek out employment with you.

 

[equippaint]

Every year pretty much, business is up. Look at this thread, people claiming their business has doubled in the last two years... Look at the other thread on how business is doing, people have claimed it's doubled since last year also.

The owner doesn't make a static xx per hour like an employee does. When business is up, so is the owners Proffits... I know our business has doubled since last year, and while they're looking to hire two new people... Their wages will barely put a dent in the profit.

So yea... I'm ok with the owner paying $2500 more per year, considering he's likelly making a couple hundred grand more this year than last, even after hiring more payroll.


And I never said I'd take a raise when the business was hurting - it happened before my time. The point was to show the owner not only cared a out losing his business, but cared about his employees. To most owners, employees are numbers on a spreadsheet. To good (in my opinion) owners, employees are part of.the family.

The world isn't about how much money you can bring in .it's about helping people, treating people right and getting by.

Another example... At least once a month were donating signs to schools or hospitals, for autism events, or one of a dozen other things... All for free. Not just cheap Coro signs either...I'm sure the concept of giving away free signs is foreign to a lot of owners on here. Some people try to punch every penny they can get, and likely consider donating a couple grand worth of signs a year a bad business move.

Everyone runs their business different. Every owner is unique, and has their own principals with what's important to them.

I'm happy to have owners like I do. So you guys can say they're idiots, tell me how wrong / irresponsible they are, but I've never respected, or was willing to work so hard for anyone else. Loyalty and commitment begts loyalty and commitment .And as I've said... 30+ years, one of the major sign companies in the biggest city in Canada... We get lots of government contracts, I'd say they're doing something right.

But I'm just an employee, what do I know .

To answer your question, apparently not much about running a business. You really think these small business owners, under 25 employees, are swinging hundreds of thousands more now than they were a year or 2 ago? You really think that the business profit all goes out in a paycheck to the owner? You do understand the concept of cashflow and how much money needs to be in the bank untouched just to keep the ship sailing in good times? Then add in some more so you can weather a down turn without having to lay everyone off and close the doors. What about equipment upgrades? Depreciation is real and costs real money even though you don't write a check for it every month. You see the work roll in and out and automatically assume they are banking but you don't know.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

I have to wonder why the other employees with all of this kumbaya going on, couldn't have taken even less of a raise (or none at all). Loyalty needs to be shown both ways.

I worked for a company once that took a serious dip during the last recession. The verge of going out of business type dip. The owner of the company paid employees out of his personal bank account for a time, until things got better. He didn't just take less money from the company, he actually used his own personal finances to make sure that his employees got paid. My understanding is that nobody knew about it until much later (this was all before my time there), so it's entirely possible the employees at ikarasu's company had no idea how bad business was.

Even with all that generosity, the company still wasn't a great place to work (at least for me, a lot of people seemed to like it there), I ended up leaving after a while.

 

[equippaint]

Sure, there are always extenuating circumstances and outliers, but Walmart is an objectively bad company to work for. They prioritize upper management and shareholders over the vast majority of their workforce, who can go suck an egg for the most part. They treat their employees like an expendable resource, so the employees they DO get are pretty terrible, because they have no incentive to care. "The company pays me squat, they don't give me enough hours to qualify for benefits, they treat me like garbage, and I'm likely to get canned at any moment for the dumbest reasons. Guess I'll just do the bare minimum, not stick my neck out, and stay out of sight." Not the type of employee you want to have.

Meanwhile, go to some place like Costco or Aldi and the employees there are (generally) pretty stellar in comparison to other stores.

I definitely get what you're saying, and Walmart is vastly different than any sign company out there (or any other type of company, for that matter) due to the sheer size, but the point still stands. If you treat your employees more like a Costco than a Walmart, you're going to have better employees in the long run. AND you'll get a reputation for being a good employer and people will actively seek out employment with you.

Agreed, this is my gripe with Home Depot when they went from having skilled full time people in the departments to part time warm bodies wandering around. Any publicly traded company is going to value shareholders over people, including Costco. It's not right but it is flawed by design.