How do you find and keep good employees?

My philosophy is that I treat my employees the way I would want to be treated. Our store is behind the school where I went to high school, and a former football player I know teaches business there. He asked me to come to talk to the students, and I said sure. Then he saw me out behind the store in the dumpster, crushing boxes. “You have employees for that,” he said. I told him if he wants me to talk to the students, the first thing I'm going to tell them is never ask an employee to do something you wouldn't do. That's how you keep employees. And you treat them like family. Do things together. I am truly blessed to have the employees that I have. None of them have to work; they work because they want to. I've never had to fire anyone. In 35 years, I've never put up a “Help Wanted” sign, run an ad, nothing. It's all word of mouth. We just had a retirement party for Nancy, who worked here for 25 years. The average is about eight or nine years.

Our employees find us. A lot of people want to work at the store because of its niche. We decide which fit is right through interviews. We are a very casual business, so interviews are done at a local cafe. We've usually already had some contact with the person, as a customer or a friend of a customer. Sometimes, we'll tell interviewees we don't have a position — that's usually based on a hunch, because we've interacted with the person as a customer. By the time we get to the interview stage, product knowledge is the most important thing, as well as an outgoing personality and bringing something personal to the table that is different from what other interviewees bring. We work very hard to keep our employees through bonuses that are not tied to performance; we avoid the idea of commissions for sales. Product knowledge is the foundation of our business, and our employees are with us because they genuinely want to be.

Finding and keeping good employees is one of our most important jobs. It goes beyond hiring signs, work experience programs, ads and word of mouth. Ever wonder why the ice cream shop always has plenty of smiling, energized workers? Gift stores become a magnet just like the ice cream shop. They're neat places to work. It's no different than what goes into attracting and keeping customers. We find good workers by making our store an enjoyable, fun place to be. We make sure to enjoy our employees as we do our customers. Some chit-chat is healthy and productive. This makes employees feel we are accessible and could prevent the sudden loss of a good person. We try to recognize their birthdays or important events at the store, or involve them in buying decisions. People want to feel important on the job. Periodically, we ask them for something we can do to improve the store, and when it's slow, we bring out the current issue of Gifts & Decorative Accessories and have them mark items they think might sell. We want as many entrepreneurs as we can get.