The key to retaining employees must start long before  the first day on the job — when the worker looks for a place to  hang a jacket and for a refrigerator to cool his brown-bag lunch.

 The owners of a local retention consulting group,  Employment Dynamics, plan to make that point at a free  seminar on how to keep workers at RiverCenter Amphitheater,  Covington, on Nov. 16.

 With unemployment at historic lows and worker  discontent rising, employers need to bring an  all-encompassing approach to the issue of retention or else  face sometimes hidden but always expensive retraining costs.

 The session, a new focus  of the West Chester-based  Sasha Corp., will offer local  companies insight into ways to  begin to solve employee  turnover, said Brenda Corbett,  vice president of the company.  “We've found that an  entire retention system is what  people and companies need to  put in place,” she said. “It's not  a little bit here and little bit  there. It's a system.”

Companies can opt to  aggressively attack the problem  by signing on to learn  Employment Dynamic's  16-module plan — an initiative  that will cost firms $5,000 each  for a yearlong program.

 The free seminar,  “Retention Deficit Disorder,” will  focus on two components of the  Employment Dynamic  approach to the issue:  employee assessments and  front-line supervisor training.

 Through its Employment  Dynamics arm, the company is  looking for 10 companies to  make a yearlong commitment  to solving retention concerns.  Five have signed up.

 “Every dollar invested in developing an employee walks  out the door when they do,” Ms. Corbett said.

 The firm broadened its consulting approach to focus on  retention earlier this year after consulting for Jancoa, a  Norwood-based office cleaning company owned by Tony Miller and founded in 1972.

 Employment Dynamics saved the company tens of  thousands of dollars by reducing training, improving productivity  and morale, and bringing a sense of worth to workers at Jancoa, said Mr. Miller, who hired Sasha last year to assess  operations.

 “In just one example, we had a women who wanted to do  a great job, but we realized she didn't have the tools to do that.  She was a supervisor and went through 130 people in six  months,” Mr. Miller said. “People didn't want to work for her.

 “After the training, she's now the number one requested  manager. She went from being the worst to being the best.  Having a solution to retention is pure gold. Companies are struggling for an answer.”  Mr. Miller suggested that Sasha develop Employment  Dynamics into a program for all companies and keep the focus  on retention.