Have you ever lost a key employee? The answer is probably yes if you've been in the retail game for any amount of time. Retaining employees is an important element of a successful retail operation.

I think one of the main things to remember about satisfying employees is that it's about more than the money. The knee-jerk reaction is to throw more cash at anyone that you want to keep long term...and fair compensation is important. But we humans need a whole lot more than cash to make us feel needed, wanted and appreciated.

That is one of the reasons we preach so hard about regular employee store meetings. Once a person feels that he or she is part of a team, they immediately become more satisfied with their postion...whatever that may be. Store meetings can accomplish many things beyond an enrollment in team attitude...things like product education, profit selling education, housecleaning expectations etc.

Regular store meetings take time and employees may balk at them at first. But I have seen some wonderful synergies emerge from them too. If you're planning a store meeting, be organized and have about half of the time for program and leave half of it to encourage feedback from your staff. The more involved they are the more they will buy into anything that comes from the meeting.

Parting shot: Satisfaction at the job for anybody requires more than money!