Angela Ahrendts sat down with Fast Company for an interview, in which she discussed strategies she implemented as head of Apple retail to boost morale and improve employee retention. Ahrendts mentioned that she treats retail employees as executives, which led to an 81 percent retention rate in 2015, the highest in the company’s history:

We just ended the year with the highest retention rates we’ve ever had: 81%. And the feedback [from Apple Store employees is that it’s] because they feel connected. They feel like one Apple. They don’t feel like they’re just somebody over here working with customers. I don’t see them as retail employees. I see them as executives in the company who are touching the customers with the products that Jony [Ive] and the team took years to build. Somebody has to deliver it to the customer in a wonderful way.

Ahrendts also touched on the culture at retail stores, stating that the values shared by everyone at Apple make it one of the most successful companies on the planet:

The company was built to change people’s lives. That foundation, that service mentality, that drive to continue to change lives—that is a core value in the company. And Tim [Cook] then has added his on: He says it’s also our responsibility to leave it better than we found it.

Source: Fast Company; Via: 9to5Mac