Book Buzz: The Deadly Sins of Employee Retention
First off: I really liked this book. I liked The Deadly Sins of Employee Retention by Mark Murphy and Andrea Burgio-Murphy so much that I'm buying copies and sending them to some of our repeat clients.
There are not many good books out there on retention. So I was happy to give this one a read.
And retention keeps coming out as the number one issue for most small businesses. It topped the Vistage CEO survey when this book landed, and I don't see it moving.
The premise is that a lot of companies are tackling retention the wrong way. Murphy and Burgio-Murphy lay out seven things companies do that quietly kill it. Let me walk through three.
Sin: Treating Everyone Equally
Not everyone is equally valuable to the organization. That is just reality, and pretending otherwise doesn't help anyone. You need to pay attention to your most valuable employees.
Here's a statistic that stopped me: in 42% of the companies surveyed, the people with the highest performance appraisal scores had lower engagement than people with lower scores.
Why? Because we overwork our best employees. And we shouldn't.
Sin: One Size Fits All
They advocate for individual retention plans, and I could not agree more. Whenever I speak on retention, I tell small businesses this is the thing to do.
What we're really talking about is a conversation between the manager and the individual employee to diagnose what drives them — what keeps them here, and what could make them quit.
Why would you not do that? Be proactive with your best people.
Sin: Neglecting the First 90 Days
This one is so true. The first three months set the tone for everything that follows, and treating them as intentional and exceptional will keep someone at your company far longer. Forgetting that a new person is new — and needs deliberate attention — is a recipe for disaster.
And the Other Four
Not listening deeply
Overcomplicating your solutions
Letting them leave
Turning your back
How to Read It
This is a great book to read with your leadership team, then hold a couple of meetings to talk honestly about whether you're falling into any of these patterns — and to make fixing them a priority.
How much effort does it take? Not much. It's under 100 pages, and you can genuinely stay awake reading it.
Do I recommend it? Absolutely. Hands down the best book I've read on this very important topic.
Want help building individual retention plans for your key people? Grab a free 30-minute session with one of our HR experts.