Keeping the People Who Keep You in Business: 24 Ways to Hang on to Your Most Valuable Talent

Help has arrived in the form of KEEPING THE PEOPLE WHO KEEP YOU IN BUSINESS. This compelling new book gives readers a battle-plan for victory, offering 24 strategies for retaining valuable people. The strategies are grouped in four basic "keys":

1) Be a company people want to work for 2) Select the right person in the first place 3) Manage the joining-up process 4) Coach to maintain commitment.

These practices will help readers: Make their organization an "employer of choice" * Clearly define the talent needed * Make new employees feel welcomed, valued, prepared, and challenged * Facilitate employees' career growth and advancement, and more.

KEEPING THE PEOPLE WHO KEEP YOU IN BUSINESS is also loaded with specific examples, how-to guidelines, models, and planning aids--proven tools from an expert who knows that money alone won't keep the employees you can't afford to lose.

Amazon.com
Today's worker shortage is painful enough, but compounded by other employment realities--resignations on short notice, sudden disappearances by new hires, through-the-roof recruitment costs, associated customer and staff disruptions--it's enough to make anyone handling personnel feel as if they're in a war. That's exactly the premise advanced by employee-retention specialist Leigh Branham, whose Keeping the People Who Keep You in Business offers a very workable plan for victory in a workforce battle with no immediate end in sight. It details 24 Retention Practices that Branham developed and organized around the principles of attracting ("be a company that people want to work for"), selecting ("select the right people in the first place"), integrating ("get them off to a great start") and coaching ("coach and reward to sustain commitment"). Each, from "Adopt a 'Give-and-Get-Back' Philosophy" to "Have More Fun," recommends specific programs to help achieve its stated goal, and offers real-life examples of these activities in action at both megacorporations like Charles Schwab and Mirage Resorts and smaller firms including a Charlotte, North Carolina, print shop and a San Francisco architectural firm. "Reducing turnover takes commitment," as Branham says, and this book includes a useful collection of techniques and tools that actually could make it happen. --Howard Rothman

---

All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Motivated People Move Faster, 2008-04-23
Leigh Branham has done an admirable job writing a practical manual for keeping good employees. I believe any employer will find scores of proven tactics they can apply at once. As Joe Bosch of Pizza Hut says: "If a company implemented just four or five of these practices, they would be significantly better at retaining talent." Gee. Making more money because your employees are motivated. What a concept.

Doni Tamblyn is author of Laugh and Learn: 95 Ways to Use Humor for More Effective Teaching and Training and The Big Book of Humorous Training Games (Big Book of Business Games Series)


4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Clear, Readable, Valuable, 2006-02-16
Keeping the best employees is a goal that is not often met in today's changing and fluid new economy. Leigh Branham introduces four key strategies designed to help an organization keep the employees it wants. These solid practices are designed to have a positive impact on an organization's best workers by increasing motivation, performance and satisfaction. These four key points are organized in parallel with an employee's life cycle in an organization:

Key #1: Be a company people want to work for.
The leadership of the organization must create an environment where three essential elements are put into place: adopt a "give and get back" philosophy, measure what counts and pay for it, inspire commitment to a clear vision and definite objectives.
Key #2: Select the right person in the first place.
Poor recruiting decisions today result in the poor performers of tomorrow. An organization must claim responsibility for recruiting to ensure it not only chooses the right candidate, but also stays connected to the external business community, and thereby having access to the full diversity of the talent pool.
Key #3: Get them off to a great start.
Knowing that between 50 and 60 percent of employees change jobs within the first seven months, it is seasoned experienced manager and leaders that focus on this critical period to the organization keeps its best employees. The keys elements during this period: communicate how their work is vital to success, get commitment to a performance agreement, and give autonomy and reward initiative.
Key #4: Coach and Reward to maintain commitment.
To sustain an employee's commitment to the organization, his relationship with his manager is a critical element. It is said that 50 percent of satisfaction at work is determined by an employee's relationship with his or her manager. Managers should: proactively manage the performance agreement, recognize results, and give employees tools to take charge of his or her career.


2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Outstanding!, 2005-10-23
I read the book as part of an MBA mid-term project and would recommend this to any line manager or human resource practitioner who wants real, proven ideas and thoughts about attracting, retaining and developing quality employees. The book is very well structured and easy to read, yet a no-nonsense approach and in depth look at retaining valuable people.


5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

How to Avoid the Prohibitive Cost of Losing Human Capital, 2005-09-08
If at all possible, this book should be read in combination with Branham's subsequently published book, The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It's Too Late, and preferably read first. That is desirable but not imperative. Either book can firmly stand on its own merits and both are "must reading" as competition for talent becomes increasingly more aggressive. That said, the subtitle of this earlier book correctly indicates what it provides: "24 ways to hang on to your most valuable talent." Branham carefully organizes his material within eleven chapters and focuses on four "Keys," providing with each several "retention practices." Too many business books are bloated with theory but wholly impoverished in terms of practicality. For that reason, I commend Branham on the fact that he devotes most of his attention to explaining HOW to establish and then increase the appeal of an organization that people want to work for, how to hire the right people in the first place, how to get new hires off to a great start, and how to use effective coaching and appropriate rewards to sustain their commitment. Well done!



2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Finally!, 2003-05-09
Finally an employee retention resource from an outstanding consultant that combines practical step by step instructions with theory AND excellent examples from top companies. Keeping outstanding employees should be a top priority for every business, but unfortunately retention often runs a distant second to recruitment. Leigh Branham takes the mystery out of keeping top employees by providing business owners, managers and consultants proven retention tips. After introducing each retention practice, Leigh provides a questionnaire to evaluate your company's effectiveness. Plus the appendix is filled with surveys, checklists and evaluations you can start using today! As a consultant and coach, I am using Leigh's material with companies and individual clients and getting excellent feedback.

Price is accurate as of the date/time indicated. Prices and product availability are subject to change. Any price displayed on the Amazon website at the time of purchase will govern the sale of this product.