On “Pensacola Speaks,” Quint Studer discussed his upcoming column in the Pensacola News Journal on how to retain new employees. I asked him, “When you see a company with a lot of turnover, what are your thoughts?”
Without hesitation, Studer said, “Leadership.”
He continued, “I mean this sounds crazy, but people always try to get you to fix a symptom. Years ago, a huge company out west brought me in to talk about problem employees and turnover. I said, ‘I’m willing to do it,’ —this was the top 17 executives in a room in San Francisco—‘But we won’t talk about anybody that’s not in this room. If you’ve got a challenge out there, it’s because you’ve got a challenge in here.’
Studer said, “When you have a lot of turnover, the first thing you look at is when are people leaving? What areas are they leaving from? Are they leaving early, are they leaving after a set amount of time. Then you look at what leadership changes were there. Were they getting feedback? There are various areas tolook at, but you always have to look at leadership and turnover because it always starts at the top.”
