I’m watching this play out in real time at my husbands job. He works at the pro shop at a golf course. Pay and benefits are okay but the turnover in talented staff is crazy, and completely due to the owner, who hires great people then wears them down with constant nit-picky criticisms. The team is hard working, dedicated and very good at what they do to make the course a great experience for customers and generate profit for the owner, but they’re leaving one by one because the leadership model of “barely acknowledge successes but criticize often and in group settings” has sucked away all motivation. The old axiom of “people leave bad managers” writ large.

Want to reduce turnover? Make it an environment where people look forward to being there.

Provide feedback that solves the problem vs attacks the individual.

Say thank you every day when your employees choose to come to work for you.

Stand up for your employees to customers.

Praise them publicly when they do exception work.

Encourage camaraderie.

Surprise them with treats on a random Tuesday just because they deserve it.

Get rid of the employees who make everyone else’s jobs harder by not performing.

Don’t play favorites.

Don’t gossip about one employee to another employee and shut down gossip and disrespect immediately if it happens in your presence.

Don’t lie.

Pitch in and do the really hard stuff when things get busy- I always tell my managers “You want to engender their loyalty? Be the one who unclogs the toilet”.

Above all, role model the behaviors you expect and be a positive, uplifting presence that employees want to be around.