All-Day Seminar

Leigh Branham, Keeping the People, Inc.

Engage and Retain!  Linking Individual Choices to Your Employer-of-Choice Action Plan

About the Workshop:

Surveys of managers reveal that almost nine in ten believe employees leave for “pull” reasons such as “more pay” or “better opportunity.”  Yet, in post-exit, third-party interviews, when employees are asked what first caused them to think about leaving, 88% cite “push” factors related to poor management practices or dysfunctional cultures. 

Leigh Branham’s presentation will offer insights into why conventional exit interviewing doesn’t work to uncover what research reveals as the root causes of employee disengagement and turnover, and what organizations can do to fight the root causes while holding managers more accountable for keeping their employees engaged.

The seven “hidden” reasons were identified based on an analysis of 19,700 exit surveys from employees in 17 different industries conducted by Saratoga Institute from 1998 through 2003.  This research also provided support for Branham’s recently published book—The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave (AMACOM Books, 2005).

Leigh will define and discuss the seven hidden reasons employees disengage and leave:

1. Unmet expectations vs. reality of the workplace
2. Job-person mismatch
3. Lack of coaching and feedback
4. Perceived lack of career growth opportunity
5. Feeling devalued and unrecognized
6. Stress and burnout due to overwork and life/work imbalance
7. Loss of trust and confidence in senior leaders

The good news is that the actions required to prevent and correct these root causes are all within the power of managers and executives to control or influence and they are inexpensive to implement.

Leigh’s presentation will also cover the steps and phases involved in employee decisions to leave, and will include ways to recognize the signs that key employees are disengaging. He will introduce a wide range of proven tools and innovative best practices for re-engaging, re-recruiting, and retaining valued talent.

Speaker Biography:

Leigh Branham, SPHR, is Founder and Principal of Keeping the People, Inc., Overland Park, Kansas, a talent management consulting firm which helps organizations analyze root causes of turnover and employee disengagement, then develop and implement employer-of-choice strategies.  His previous experience includes serving as Leader of the Talent Management practice for Right Management Consultants’ Heartland region.

In cooperation with the Saratoga Institute, Branham wrote The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It’s Too Late (AMACOM Books, 2005)--about the root causes of employee disengagement and turnover, based on post-exit surveys of more than 19,700 employees in 17 industries conducted from 1998 through 2003.  Released in January, 2005 this book was recently selected by businessbookreview.com as one of the top 30 business books of the year and was released in audio summary form by Executive Soundview.

His first book, Keeping the People Who Keep You in Business, was published by the American Management Association in 2001 and featured hundreds of leading-edge employee retention best practices.  It was named by the Harvard Management Update as one of the top three books on the topic and has been published in several foreign-language versions.

Leigh received a bachelor's degree in English Literature from Vanderbilt University, has two master’s degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia.  He has 25 years experience in human resource consulting, and speaks frequently on the topics of employee engagement/retention, career development in organizations, employment practices, workforce trends, leadership, and management development. 

He has been interviewed on National Public Radio, and quoted in Business Week, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, and many others through The Associated Press, as an expert on employee engagement and retention.  He publishes a quarterly e-newsletter—Keeping the People Report, and writes a periodic commentary on managing talent for The Kansas City Star.

Leigh Branham in his own words:

"If there is one thing that I've learned in my business career and in my research into what works to motivate, engage, and keep the right people, is that good management, a positive culture, and caring leaders are far more important than pay and benefits.  I get tremendous satisfaction from helping leaders and managers identify and implement the employee engagement practices that best align with their business objectives, talent marketplace, and current workforce."