The following e-newsletters and articles by Leigh Branham are organized by topic and require Adobe Acrobat for viewing.

Back issues: Keeping the People Report E-Newsletter

War for Talent:

The War for Talent: Is It Really All About the Money?

American Institute of Architects, Points of View, June 2007.

Stress Less, Work Friendly

Chicago Wellness, May/June 2007.

Dealing with the Real Reasons Employees Leave

Harvard Management Update.

What Makes A Company a Great Place To Work

Kansas City Star, July 26, 2005.

Employees don't leave a company so much as get shoved out the door. The keys to keeping and engaging employees are no big mystery, yet so many managers just don't see it. - Posted at http://www.gwsae.org - February 2005

Employee Retention Requires More Than Good Benefits

How employer-of-choice companies are winning the war for talent by putting the emphasis on soft issues, such as good management, measurement, accountability and positive culture.

Employers Of Choice Have To Give Before They Get

Companies such as the SAS Institute make Fortune’s list of the 100 best places in America to work by espousing a “give before you get” philosophy.

Honor Talent That Makes Your Business Productive

Five things that keep companies from capitalizing on their greatest competitive asset—the talent of their employees.

Recognize Results

Building a culture of informal recognition is a fundamental step toward building an employer-of-choice culture. Managers must pay heed to basic human need for appreciation and praise, which, for many, means managing differently than they themselves have been managed.

Firms Need Balanced “Campaign To Retain” IT Workers

This commentary was written before the ceasefire in the war for IT talent, but the way to retain IT workers will remain the same in good times and bad—ask them what they need and give it to them.

Employee Engagement:

Are You Engaged?

Leadership Excellence article. December 2005, http://www.leaderexcel.com.

Employee Engagement Creates Mutual Bond

Why many companies are switching from conducting satisfaction surveys to creating and administering surveys that track employee engagement, a more inclusive concept that encompasses satisfaction, commitment, and productivity.

Management’s Plea To The Employee: Engage Thyself!

With all the recent emphasis on holding managers accountable for engaging their employees, it’s about time we started challenging employees to do more to keep themselves engaged. Presents five things every employee can do.

Employee Turnover:

Employees losing faith in top-level managers

Kansas City Star, April 1, 2008 by Leigh Branham

Why employees leave: Reasons 'hiding in plain sight'

The Globe and Mail, April 27, 2005 by Leigh Branham

Employees often depart because they're pushed

Kansas City Star, February 8, 2005 by Leigh Branham

Six Factors That Push Good Employees Out The Door

Post-exit interview reveal that most employees who voluntarily leave organizations do so because of “push factors” rather than “pull factors.” This commentary covers six key factors that “push” employees out of the organization

Employment Branding:

Employers’ Two Branding Missions: Their Product And Their Workplace

How employers are branding their companies as great places to work using the same principles they have used for years to brand and sell their products and services to the right customers.

Leadership Development / Assimilation:

Prevent Derailment Of Your Company’s New Leaders

With four out of 10 new leaders failing in their first 18 months on the job, you might think more organizations would do more to smooth the assimilation of new leaders and take the necessary steps to prevent derailment.

The Best Ways To Identify and Develop Leaders

Because they don’t have enough Gen-Xers available to replace retiring Boomers, only a third of companies have the leaders they need to successfully pursue business opportunities. Presents five ways to effectively identify and develop rising leaders.

Human Capital ROI:

Employees Who Feel Important Are Important

The author responds to a local newpaper columnist who discounted the value of employee surveys and recent findings by the Conference Board that employee job satisfaction has dropped by 20 percent since 1995.

Make Your Attitude An Asset: Think Of Your Employees As An Investment

Many CEOs have changed their mind-sets about employees as expendable resources, acknowledging what human capital research has now firmly established—that the best reason to invest in the development of your employees is that it pays dividends to the bottom line.

Culture of Choice:

Cultures Of Sacrifice Hold Little Appeal At Work

Do you work in a “culture of sacrifice,” where employees are seen as fuel to be burned, or in a culture of mutual commitment, where employees are viewed as a renewable resource.

Generations at Work:

Employee Surveys:

A Dozen Deadly Sins of Conducting Employee Surveys

More than 70 percent of organizations conduct employee surveys, but many conduct those surveys in such a way that they wish they had never surveyed in the first place. Knowing these 12 most common mistakes makes it less likely you will make them.

Cross-Linked Articles:

"Educate to Optimize--100% Online Anytime Three Reasons for Staff Education", by Julie Schaefer

Published in You Manage Law, September, 24, 2008 Outlines best practices for educating law firm administrative staff and supporting their development through online education..