Mission Retention: Tips on Finding and Keeping 5-Star Staff

Moving into the second quarter of 2025, the labor market continues to tell the same story: more job openings than people looking for jobs. In February 2025, the number of unemployed people was 7.1 million, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation Summary from March 7, and the number of job openings was little changed at 7.7 million, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary from March 11. 

Whether you’re grappling with recruitment hurdles or seeking to fortify your existing workforce, three retailers shared with attendees of the 2024 Independent Home Improvement Conference their practical tips and proven techniques to elevate your staff to 5-star status. 

If you find these tips helpful, you won’t want to miss the 2025 Independent Home Improvement Conference, which will feature breakout sessions covering topics from technology to employee engagement to marketing. 

North American Hardware and Paint Association (NHPA): What are some of the biggest challenges you face when it comes to hiring and retaining staff members?
Robert Gann, general manager of Yeagers Ace Hardware (RG): I think the biggest challenge has been quality of hiring. In the the window span of 2020 to 2022, we were just hiring regardless of what qualities they had or what knowledge they had. We just needed people to help out in the lumberyard, help on the sales floor and stock the freight that we were getting in. 

In 2023, we looked at hiring differently because we were having turnover more and more and started looking for employees who had more of the qualities we wanted and needed. 

I think retention has been our biggest opportunity and also the biggest challenge for us because everyone has more choices when it comes to jobs. It seems like there are less people in the workforce, and then the people who we were getting applications from, those individuals are not of the quality we would want to keep and retain. 

Helena Dabrowski, vice president of employee and customer experience for Sunshine Ace Hardware (HD): At Sunshine, part of our challenge on the hiring front is the economy. Our locations are located up the western coast of Florida, and so we’re in some areas where the housing prices are higher, which makes affordability for associates a little hard, especially on an hourly basis. 

Applicants are submitting applications in multiple places so time is of the essence; you have to be able to get back to those associates quickly if you’re interested in hiring them. If not, they’re moving on to somebody else. To counteract this, we do walking interviews so that when an applicant comes in, they see the atmosphere, they understand the responsibilities and they walk the floor with the floor associates. By setting those expectations early on, it helps reduce the turnover, because they understand what their responsibilities are going to be.

And you know, most applicants want to see their growth and what we can provide, so it’s important for us that we show them their path on growth.

Joanne Lawrie, owner of Annapolis Home Hardware Building Centre (JL): For us, I think it’s been adapting quickly enough to adjust wages accordingly. During COVID, everybody wanted to move down because our property values were affordable, so these new locals are coming in and buying up our properties. They are paying premium dollars for these homes, then the regular locals can’t afford it, so I’ve had to shift my wage bands, and I can’t do it fast enough. I have lost key people because I haven’t reacted fast enough, so I’m adapting.

At the same time, we’ve been able to capture a couple of those new folks into our store, because right away they feel a sense of culture when they walk in. So they are intrigued by that because they didn’t have that in the bigger stores. I feel like they’ve given us a little bit more energy because they’re a little bit more fast paced. We’ve seen a blending of these different dynamics and different personalities.

NHPA: What are some of the employee engagement programs you are using and how are they driving engagement and reducing turnover?
HD: Retention and engagement isn’t just about having fun events, although we do have a lot of fun events, but it’s also about each employee feeling like they’re part of the family. At Sunshine, we formally focused on employee engagement several years ago and now have dedicated a full-time position just to this initiative. Each store has one to two associates who are very passionate and enthusiastic and serve as that store’s employee engagement champion.

Each store’s champions know the store’s associates and what is best for that store so they customize their own events so that the majority of the associates in that store can participate. Each new associate fills out a new hire form that includes their favorite color, beverage, snack and more, and then each champion customizes their new hire kit with those items and gives it to the new hire on  their first day, so that the associate feels welcomed right away on that first day. 

RG: If you don’t have a recognition program, get a recognition program. It can be simple. We have shout-out cards for our managers and our team members to recognize each other, which we hang on the bulletin board. At the end of each month, we see who has the most and we recognize that employee with a $50 gift card. It’s that simple. Training is also key; when you focus on training, employees are getting product knowledge, so they’re selling better and increasing your average transactions. The more they learn, the more they can share with customers, who will come to rely on them for questions, which leads to increased customer traffic. 

JL: It doesn’t matter the size of your operation, you have to have standardized policies and procedures and an employee handbook. After that, move to centralizing your training programs and even your recognition programs so that employees don’t fall through the cracks. Leadership training is also key. I’ve already focused a lot on that with my store managers, and I think that they’ve appreciated it and their confidence level has certainly increased. I’ve also found it’s important to invest in your leaders outside the store by taking them to markets and other industry events so they can be exposed to industry knowledge and networking.