An occasional look at issues facing Wyoming business owners and entrepreneurs from
the Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network, a collection of business
assistance programs at the University of Wyoming.
By Devan Costa-Cargill, regional director (Big Horn, Hot Springs, Park and Washakie
counties), Wyoming SBDC Network
For small businesses, workforce challenges are not abstract. They show up as missed
shifts, constant rehiring, exhausted owners and the frustration of training someone
-- again. For many of our clients, this exact situation prevents them from hiring,
despite needing the increased capacity. But that approach often increases the very
problems owners are trying to solve.
A more sustainable way forward begins by reframing work not as short-term labor, but
as sustained contribution. By aligning training, expectations and support around that
idea, small businesses build an environment that respects and honors the people working
in their business.
The hidden cost of turnover and constant training
Turnover is expensive in ways that do not always show up neatly on a spreadsheet.
Beyond recruiting and onboarding costs, owners lose productivity, institutional knowledge
and momentum each time someone leaves the company. For small businesses, the owner
is often the trainer, which means every new hire pulls time away from sales, service
or strategy.
What often gets mislabeled as employee unreliability is frequently a systems problem.
When expectations are unclear, workloads are unrealistic or training feels rushed
and unsupported, employees disengage. This is not because they lack work ethic; often,
the role never became sustainable.
Retention improves when people believe their effort matters; their role is learnable;
and their growth is supported over time. This means small businesses can make a real
financial impact on their bottom line by simply keeping their employees.
Work that is sustainable beats work that is scalable
In most mainstream articles and webinars, we get the message businesses need to prioritize
growth and scalability. While those goals matter in some realms, rural small businesses often succeed through
consistency, reliability and long-term customer relationships.
When owners design work roles around sustained contribution, something shifts. Training
becomes an investment rather than an expense. This may look like asking your staff
to take a free personality test and assigning projects with personality features or
asking your team to tell you their favorite part of the job and actively aligning
their role to focus on their selection. This does not mean lowering standards or giving
in to preference. It equates to aligning expectations with reality and creating roles
that people look forward to.
Using internship programs to reduce training burden
One practical tool many small businesses overlook is structured internship or work-based
learning programs. With recent changes expanding state reimbursement from 480 hours
to 960 hours of training, businesses now have a rare opportunity to relieve the financial
and time burden of onboarding new workers for up to six months.
Instead of expecting immediate productivity, internships allow owners to train at
a realistic pace; evaluate fit before permanent hiring; reduce wage costs during the
learning phase; and build loyalty through intentional development.
When structured well, internships are not cheap labor. They are low-risk, high-return
training pipelines. Interns who are supported and mentored often become some of the
most loyal long-term employees because they understand the business from the inside
out.
For owners struggling with constant rehiring, this model shifts the question from
“How fast can I fill this role?” to “How do I grow someone to fit this role?”
Retention is built through design: quality of life benefits
Small businesses rarely win on flashy perks. Unfortunately, benefits are not usually
affordable for many Wyoming businesses. Employees value benefits. Therefore, small
businesses need to repackage autonomy and choice to be quality-of-life benefits that
have real meaning in everyday life.
Quality-of-life benefits may look like choosing your lunch and break times; professional
development opportunities (ask us about grant funds for upskilling); projects and
responsibility that match passion and interest; a health savings account or flexible
spending account; and a child care stipend or limited sick pay. You would be surprised
how affordable this can be.
Small businesses can request support building a consistent onboarding plan to support
retention and training for any industry. An adviser also can sit with you and help
you build a recruitment and selection process manual; assist you with applications
such as the Wyoming Workforce Internship or Apprenticeship Grant; and help you draft
interview questions. The mentorship, support and advising are offered to Wyoming small
businesses at no cost thanks to our funding partners, the U.S. Small Business Administration
(SBA) and the Wyoming Business Council.
Final thoughts
Workforce shortages and turnover are not simply hiring problems: They are design problems. Small
businesses that rethink work as sustained contribution create environments where people
stay longer and perform better.
With expanded training reimbursement now available, owners have a practical way to
ease the burden of onboarding while building stronger teams. The businesses that slow
down just enough to train well often find they spend far less time replacing people
and far more time committed to moving in a forward trajectory.
The Wyoming SBDC Network offers no-cost advising and technical assistance to help
Wyoming entrepreneurs think about, launch, grow, reinvent or exit their business.
In 2025, the Wyoming SBDC Network helped Wyoming entrepreneurs start 42 new businesses;
support 2,017 jobs; and bring a capital impact of $12.8 million to the state. The
Wyoming SBDC Network is hosted by UW with state funds from the Wyoming Business Council
and funded, in part, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business
Administration.
To ask a question, call 1-800-348-5194, email wsbdc@uwyo.edu or write Dept. 3922, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, WY 82071-3922.
For more information, go here.
All opinions, conclusions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.
