Finding and Keeping Great Employees

by Jim Harris and Joan Brannich

Book Overview

"What makes an employee great? According to Harris and Brannick, great employees are those who match the culture of the company they work for and whose personal values align with the organization's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814404545
• ISBN13: 9780814404546
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Amacom
• Length: 230 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Core Culture and Alignment

"This book reflects certain fundamental beliefs. First, we believe in people. In our view, people are the real competitive advantage of any company. Having good people decreases turnover, improves individual performance, attracts a flow of new applicants, and fosters growth in organizational profit...Second, we believe in corporate culture. Employees can find a job anywhere, but they commit to and want to remain with an organization whose culture they connect with...Third, we believe the organizations most successful in their staffing and retention practices are those that leverage their core culture to attract and retain like-valued employees. Although job fit is important, culture fit determines whether someone is highly likely to remain with and be successful with the company...Fourth, we believe in a strategic, more than tactical, approach to finding and keeping great employees...Fifth, we believe in simple, doable concepts and guidance, rather than rambling, esoteric prose...Sixth, we believe that any attempt to find and keep great employees must be flexible...Finally, we believe that this book can make a significant difference in organizations-a difference in performance, in productivity, and in profitability" (from the Preface).In this context, Jim Harris and Joan Brannick, in Chapter 2, focus on culture. They argue that aligned companies base their staffing and retention processes upon one of four forms of core culture:1. Customer Service- The underlying purpose of a customer-service culture is to create customer solutions (more detailed discussion see Chapter 3). 2. Innovation- The underlying purpose of an innovation culture is to create the future (more detailed discussion see Chapter 4).3. Operational Excellence- The underlying purpose of an operationally excellent culture is to create a process that minimizes costs while maximizing productivity and efficiency (more detailed discussion see Chapter 5).4. Spirit- The underlying purpose of a culture of spirit is to create an environment that inspires employee excellence (more detailed discussion see Chapter 6).They write that "the four core cultures are separate but equal. No one core culture is superior to another. None is more likely to quarantee outstanding financial performance than another. All are equally powerfull in driving long-term organizational success", and argue that "the key to finding and keeping excellent employees is to align your staffing and retention to the one core culture that best propels your company's succes". Then they list the benefits of alignment as following:* Alignment is strategic.* Alignment is simplifies the staffing and retention process.* Alignment strengthens the core culture.* Alignment builds strong company connections.* Alignment builds strong job connections.* Alignment builds strong personal connections.* The ultimate benefit is a unique competitive advantage: the ability to consistently find and keep to talent.Finally, they define three steps t

Practical Guidance & Breakthrough Thinking

In my work with line managers and other HR professionals, the things that are keeping them up at night are directly related to finding good people and keeping them. With labor shortages and knowledge gaps, I believe that this is the number one issue for HR professionals in the next decade. Jim Harris and Joan Brannick address this issue directly in a framework that gives the reader specific, implementable ideas to improve their staffing and retention efforts.The breakthrough thinking in this book is establishing a clear link between corporate culture and staffing and recruiting efforts. The authors encourage readers to define their culture clearly, then be intentional about matching recruiting efforts and retention programs to the culture. By providing examples of best practices that match each of four basic organizational cultures (operational excellence, customer service, innovation, and spirit), the authors provide readers with practical guidance on how to align staffing and retention efforts with the cultures at their companies.I found most helpful of all the guidance the authors provide on retention. In 25 years of work as an HR professional, I've found that the topic of retention is a lot like the weather - everyone talks about it, but nobody knows how to make it better! This book is different. The authors describe specific ways to influence retention and build a company where employees will want to stay. Immediately after reading this book, I went to work creating a retention plan built around nine specific management practices that will support my company's culture and foster retention. My counterparts on the company's leadership team are enthusiastic about the plan, and are actively at work implementing the management practices. Finally, I recommend this book because it is well written. The authors avoid jargon and buzzwords. They speak from the heart about HR practices that will engage the soul and generate employee commitment.

A book that every business owner should read.

Whether your business is large or small, two employees or two thousand, this book is full of useful information. After reading it your next step is to read new book by Donald Mitchell and Robert Metz, THE 2,000 PERCENT SOLUTION. It takes you one or two steps further in thinking about how to make your organization a winner in the millennium. Be sure to read every word. It won't be difficult.

THIS BOOK IS A "STALL BUSTER"

We have tried ads, interviewing at colleges, postings on our Web site, word of mouth, and we are still stalled when it comes to FINDING AND KEEPING GREAT EMPLOYEES. I have visited Disney and The Ritz Carlton and I continue to be envious of their screening, training and culture. Disney's emphasis on safety at the parks and the Ritz Carlton's "We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen" are great examples of the need to match values. Even in these high turnover jobs, they lead in best practices and getting employees to take ownership. That message, well stated in this book, of the need to find a good match between employees and corporate culture is ever so important, particularly in this rapidly changing world. For example, the engineering company that always hired engineers may now find that they cannot succeed without superb finance people and really good communicators. The Tradition Stall would never allow them to hire an English major! Or, the firm that always used the same headhunters might never believe they could find better people on their own. That's the Disbelief Stall If you are really interested in developing better employees, you should also read THE 2,000 PERCENT SOLUTION, by Mitchell, Coles and Meets and encourage your staff to identify their stalls, and the company's stalls, and learn how to leap over them. A gift of FINDING AND KEEPING GREAT EMPLOYEES is the sixteen best practices of companies who have discovered the secrets. Use them as a guide and checklist. You will be glad you did

Aligning people with organizational culture.

The authors' central message is that companies with great staffing and retention practices see culture as vital to organization, consequently culture forms the strategic basis for selecting and rewarding people. To build this connection between culture and people, management must seek people who fit with and will support the core culture, and retain those who presently do so. The alignment between core culture and people is the underlying theme. The authors' profile four core cultures-customer service, innovation, operational excellence, and spirit. They then examine best practices in staffing and retention. The book concludes with a six-step approach to change for achieving the culture-employee alignment. Approaching this issue of alignment strategically is not common. In many companies alignment is achieved through a 'Darwinian' process which is costly to both the organization and individuals. Too many companies go about selection and retention paying little or no heed to the issue of person-culture fit. Often, the issue of making a technical match between the person and the job requirements is so challenging that alignment with culture is totally overshadowed by need-now pressures to address immediate staffing demands. In tight labor markets this is especially true. This situation is also a logical consequence of rapid company growth. Overall, we find this book to be a perceptive and important contribution.