Turnover is one of the most expensive things a small business pays for without ever seeing it on an invoice. Every time someone leaves you pay for it twice. Once in recruiting, training, and the mistakes a new person makes, and again in the overtime, the slower service, and the hours you personally cover in the gap.

The good news is that turnover almost never has a mysterious cause. People leave for a short list of reasons, and most of them are things a small employer can actually change. This step is about finding out which reason is yours, rather than assuming it is pay when it is scheduling, or assuming it is scheduling when it is one supervisor.

• How many people worked for you at the start of the last twelve months, and how many left
• Who left, how long they had been there, and whether they left by choice
• Anything they told you on the way out, even in passing
• What you pay each role, and how that compares to the benchmark you built earlier
• Your schedule practice. How much notice people get, and how often it changes