Employee turnover.
It was mentioned earlier on this thread, the fact that most employees last 3-6 months. Or start out motivated, then slow down in their work. My thoughts on this, from an employee perspective are this: I've read somewhere (Newsweek, Time not sure which) that a survey among resigning employees revealed that the number one reason for people leaving jobs is lack of training. It makes sense, really. People at all levels want to feel valued. If a guy starts a job, and 6 months later is doing the exact same thing, with no progression at all. He''l feel like he's topped out, with nowhere else to go. I believe some people leave jobs looking to fill that perceived void. It's possible they think they can progress elsewhere. Training (a 3 or 4 day school or training seminar, or training that's conducted in house and documented) can and does give employees a sense of professional progress. If you, as an employer just hires people and that's as far as it ever goes, meaning the only real difference between a 3 month employee and a 1 year employee is the 9 month difference in experience. Then there's no real sense of upward progression working for an employer like that. Another example of training is to send a good employee to an equipment manufacturers sponsored training. Some companies offer it for free, all you'd pay as an employer is travel and lodging. Worth it for good employees. The more intelligent the pool of workers, the more important additional training is to them. If a company wants good employees, that company has to be worth working for and staying with. The employer creates the environment and overall atmosphere that makes employees want to stay or leave. If you treat a certain position like it's one that's easily filled, one with no growth potential, employees will see it that way also an not be interested in staying much beyond 3-6 months. The more you can keep good employees, the less tiime and effort you'll have to spend looking for new ones. Make you're company one worth staying with. Just my thoughts, from an employee perspective.