Book excerpt: Why do people quit their jobs? Not surprisingly, about half the people who quit do so because of their managers. The average cost of employee turnover in a company can be up to two times an employee’s yearly salary. High employee turnover is also costly to morale, the customers’ experience, and the overall revenue of a business. So, how can managers retain and engage their employees? The answer is simpler than might be expected. Ultimately, employees do not stay at their jobs because of fancy perks, costly value-adds, or even super-high salaries. They stay because they feel their manager respects them. And respect costs a manager nothing but a relatively small investment of time. In this book, you will learn the seven steps to solving retention and engagement issues in the workplace, with RESPECT at their core. 1. Develop a Relationship with the people on your team. 2. Have Empathy for those with whom you work. 3. Support the members of your team. 4. Promote the ideas of your team members. 5. Empower your team members to be great on their own terms. 6. Have Consideration for their feelings. 7. Trust them, and be trustworthy yourself. By utilizing the powerful tool presented in this book, these seven steps can be implemented immediately, and managers can improve just about any situation related to employee engagement and retention.