Businesses everywhere are worried about retention, and newspapers are no exception. Get used to it. Demographers and workplace consultants say we are near the beginning of what could be a 20-year period of high turnover. They cite a labor shortage, more demand for information professionals and workers’ desire for more frequent change. Turnover is costly. Some estimates are that it costs two to three times a person’s annual salary just to replace them. Money aside, high turnover can erode the quality of your newspaper, perhaps even as it makes a competitor stronger. Here are 10 strategies to increase retention at your newspaper, large or small:

1. Train line managers.
   They are your most important allies in retaining workers. Line managers are the pressure points for changing any organization. Each one if the most important person in the professional lives of a handful of your staff members. Great bosses make people stay longer. The stronger your first-line management team, the lower turnover will be. In a time of high demand for workers, a bad boss can quickly clean you out. Aggressively approach the training of line managers and you get a double benefit: you will retain them longer, even as they help you hold onto your staff.
2. Listen.
   Numerous studies say that people stay in jobs that are meaningful to them and challenging. Ask your staff about the kind of work that is meaningful for them, and find ways to let them do it. They want to make the newspaper better, too, but they may have a different way to get there. These days, the best workers want to know they have the boss’ ear and a chance to create.
3. Recognize good work.
   Newspapers daily expect their staffs to perform miracles – and then ho-hum the accomplishments. This can be frustrating for newspaper managers who say, "I spend a lot of time praising good work; they never seem to give me enough credit for doing it." So true. Do more, and get more of your managers to do it. Recognition can be cash rewards, but just as effective is prompt, meaningful feedback from immediate supervisors. Teach them how.
4. Stress quality.
   Good workers know that if they want to be the best, they have to work with the best. If you cut corners on quality, your best workers will cut out. Give them that opportunity to work in a great place before someone else does, and talk it up. Enlist their help in making your newspaper the best it can be. Top-down management will drive out your most creative people.
5. Become more flexible.
   Newspapers ask people to work some hours that are, by other industries’ standards, ridiculous: weekends, early morning, through the night, holidays. Having deadlines 365 days a year can be a real burden, but it also gives us more flexibility for spreading the work around. Turn this disadvantage into an advantage by becoming more flexible with job sharing, leaves, days off and unconventional schedules.
6. Offer growth.
   People want to get better. They stay longer at places that offer education, cross-training, mentoring, tuition plans, career counseling, advancement and opportunities to run projects or to act on their own ideas. If yours is a place where it takes five years to find a new opportunity, people will find another way.
7. Make it a friendly place.
   People stay longer when they feel they have good friends at work. Encourage that by creating a collegial culture. Use welcoming orientations, staff get-togethers and lots of opportunities and places for people to hang out with co-workers.
8. Show them the money.
   Enough research has been done showing that money is not the No. 1 factor, that some executives act as though it is no factor. It is. Are you paying what comparable businesses pay, or are you finding that smaller companies hire away your best workers with big increases? Can you afford to pay more? How long can you afford not to?
9. Give them a plan.
   Many people leave because their jobs feel like the movie "Groundhog Day" – the same thing over and over again. A new job sounds exciting, and seems to be a prescription for growth, even when it really isn’t. The best defense against some other company swooping in with a new plan for change is to have all of your people working on career plans that they have helped develop for themselves. Make it part of the annual appraisal process, and make the plans matter.
10. Remember our mission.
    One key to keeping people is meaningful work. People want to make a difference. Newspapers have a good story to tell on this score. Tell it. Newspapers offer the chance to do demanding work that can make their communities stronger. Few businesses have that power, or even the interest. Few serve such an important Constitutional role in American life. Unabashedly and frequently, remind people of how the newspaper matters so much more than just another business and how the work we do can improve people’s lives.