I was recently reminiscing about my teenage years when I would order 12 CDs for a penny from Columbia House by dropping a postcard in the mail. I could hardly wait to get my hands on those new CDs, and after six to eight long weeks of waiting they were finally delivered to my front door. Flash-forward to the current day when I used the Amazon app on my phone to buy diapers. And thanks to my Amazon Prime membership, they were delivered to my front door . . . in about six hours

When I think about employee retention, I always come back to the story of a professional I know who kept a list at her desk of all the employees who came in and out of her 18-person department over the course of three years. She puts the number at 68 and she has the names to prove it. Of course, even that number is conservative—it took a few months of her just observing the revolving door before she even decided to start her list. If the first time you think about employee re