I read a fantastic article on Costco and their hiring and retention practices at Workforce.com. One comment from someone in the industry was "Costco is like the Marine Corps of the retail industry. The elite, the finest". Very, very high praise. In an industry where turnover averages close to 59% Costco has a yearly turnover of 6%! They also almost never use third-party recruiters. And they don't let their HR department do any hiring either. Why? it costs too much and they would rather promote from within and spend the money on their current employees.
I think this is a great attitude. A lot of companies who would prefer not to use third-party recruiters but just won't make the effort that Costco has to keep their employees happy. So ultimately their turnover is high and they have difficulty hiring. Using a recruiter should be for truly difficult positions. If you find yourself reaching for a recruiter on positions that could challenge and reward your current staff, I think you need to have second thoughts.
By the way, Costco is starting to really grow in Asia. The concept I think is difficult to pull off there but ultimately I think the convenience will win a lot of people over in the region. Although they have a lot of competitors trying to break into Asia as well.
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