This is turning out to be a very interesting thread.
I really like jjf1's comment about HR being proactive. One problem, though, is I find people will very rarely say they're leaving for money, even though in many cases you know for sure they are. If you press the question, they can't come clean because they already gave their other excuses...
I also think triplez's IT-related response was interesting. I can see how it has allowed people more job choices and firms more candidate choices (just like Ebay has given you all the world's garage sales instead of just the ones in your town), but I'm not sure it's really affected my situation, other than being able to bring in folks from out of state.
One endemic problem is that it's a specialty business and the local firms in the two cities are fighting over the folks that already know the business. These folks are worth more (initially) because they can be productive almost immediately. Our schedules are tight, margins are slim (usually 1.7 to 2.5) and productivity is paramount.
Get this - I found out this week that we are training one of the copy room clerks and an IT guy on AutoCAD!! Can you believe that? Granted, these two happen to be pretty sharp guys, but I just thought it was funny that we're dipping into overhead staff to pull some slack doing drawing pickups!! I'm trying to tell you - it's crazy here...
I also found out today that we've hired a new engineer and drafter. The engineer is from Israel and the designer is from an architectural firm - a CAD whiz, but will be quite shaky on what we do.
We lost another engineer this week - a 15 to 20 year guy that's getting a stiff bump in pay (again) to go back to the company he came from 6 months ago. The kicker? He spent three months before here at yet another company!!
Call me old school, or just stupid, but my Dad worked for the same company for 33 years and they did him right. I know those days are long gone, but 3 companies in 6 months? I just can't do it - even for a big chunk of cash.