Leigh Branham isn't so much concerned with boosting retention or reducing turnover in general. His focus is on "keeping the people who keep you in business"--the title of one of his books (AMACOM, 2000). That is, it's OK to lose poor performers, but it's not OK to lose those on whom your organization depends.

Generational differences are key. Branham spoke at a recent Society for Human Resource Management conference, titling his presentation "The Seven Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It's Too Late." That's the title of his latest book (AMACOM, 2005); he is founder and principal of Kansas consulting firm Keeping the People.

Branham perceives big differences in employee attitudes according to age. Dividing the workforce into Traditionals, Boomers, Xers, and Millennials, he urges older managers to treat employees the way they were never treated. That is, Traditionals and Boomers were likely given little feedback, little training, and little career advice by their supervisors. Continual feedback and continual learning, through both training and special assignments, are crucial to younger workers--even more for Millennials than for Xers, he believes. So if an organization wants to keep high performers, especially younger ones, it must learn how to nurture them.

Branham points to a study in which both employees and managers were asked why workers either quit or become disengaged. The majority of managers--89 percent--said the problem is that such employees feel they're underpaid. But only 12 percent of employees cited poor pay as what turned them off. Says Branham, "HR knows why people leave, but managers clearly don't, so they'll keep badgering HR to enhance compensation and benefits. And that's not the problem."

Why do employees disengage? Branham's seven "hidden" reasons are these:

1. The job isn't what the employee expected (in fact, he says, 40 percent of turnover happens in the first 6 months of work).
2. The job isn't a good fit for the employee's talents and interests.
3. There is little or no coaching or feedback from supervisors.
4. The employee sees no opportunities for advancement.
5. The employee feels devalued and disrespected.
6. The employee is overworked and overstressed. (This lack of work/life balance is the top reason women quit or disengage.)
7. The employee doesn't trust management or the organization's leadership.

The younger workers are, the more important career advancement will be to them. And although disrespect involves many kinds of treatment, poor pay can be a factor in making employees believe that they are not valued. To further illustrate his seven reasons, Branham asserts that all working people have four basic on-the-job needs: to trust their employers, to be appreciated for their work, to feel competent to do their jobs well, and to have reasons to hope they have a future with the employer.

What can be done about disengagement? It's a serious problem: Only 25 percent of employees are fully engaged, while 15 percent are actively disengaged. Sadly, some employers believe that state of affairs can't be changed. They have what Branham calls "a replacement mindset," in which turnover is acceptable as a cost of doing business. In a "retention mindset," every "regrettable departure" needs to be identified and understood.

Here are Branham's seven best practices to counter the reasons people leave:

1. Give every candidate a realistic preview of the job, especially in high-turnover positions such as bank tellers and call center employees. If necessary, arrange for candidates to sit with an employee for a half day.
2. Hire for fit, and never hire in a hurry.
3. Train supervisors to provide timely, specific, and constructive feedback.
4. Give employees the tools and training to manage their own career paths, such as encouragement to seek lateral transfers to different jobs.
5. Continually seek employee input; listen to it, and respond.
6. Put employee needs first and try to meet them. (Branham says if employers treated their customers as badly as most do their employees, they'd be out of business.)
7. Adopt an attitude of servant leadership, in which managers work to keep employees happy, not vice versa.

For more from Branham, see his website, www.keepingthepeople.com.