Increasing Employee Retention in Convenience Stores

North America NACS, 2000
Employee turnover costs companies bottom-line profits. A recent study conducted in the supermarket industry estimated the cost to turnover a single hourly supermarket employee at $3,752. The cost would be similar for the c-store industry. In the late 1970′s, one c-store company estimated it cost approximately $1,800 to turnover a store clerk. Adjusted for inflation, the cost would be $3,903 in today’s dollar.
 

Such tremendous costs mean that even a small reduction of employee turnover – especially in high volume turnover jobs – would result in improved profits. The multi-million dollar question is, “How can a company reduce employee turnover?”

The answer to this question comes from a study on employee retention recently completed in the supermarket industry. The study introduced a new way of looking at turnover – focusing on employee retention, not turnover – and identified management and organizational practices that can impact retention in a desirable way. The objective for this article is to show that the results of the supermarket study are generalizeable to the convenience store industry, to summarize the key results of the study, and to provide guidance on how to apply the results.