The Talent Retention Code
by Sylvia Abbeyquaye
Genre: General Fiction / Business
Print Length: 108 pages
Reviewed by Jaylynn Korrell
An inventive delivery of priceless information about maintaining a positive work environment and keeping your staff for the long haul
You’ve been there: stuck in a PowerPoint-heavy orientation for a job you’re not 100% sold on. There’s got to be a better way to deliver the information we need. Right?
The Talent Retention Code is a novelization of helping managers overcome the common pitfalls of running a nursing and rehabilitation center. With a fictional twist, this book provides proven techniques to not only keep your staff, but to keep them happy.
The Talent Retention Code follows a few employees at Oakshire Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. When Derrick Mann, an administrator at the community, realizes that the center is struggling, he doesn’t hesitate to take action. He and his management team quickly implement changes that they feel will make a difference in the lives of their staff.
But these changes aren’t enough to inspire permanent change and retain their newest employees. With nothing left to lose, he decides to take his team to a conference on staff retention that he hopes is the answer to his problems. There, a talented speaker and a few new ideas lead him down a bright pathway to success. With inspiring prose and insider information, Abbeyquaye paints a picture of perseverance and managerial success.
The staff at Oakshire attempt some classic techniques to keep and attract new employees: a job fair, offering a higher salary. But nothing can keep employees working in a toxic environment with no support. Abbeyquaye creates characters that are spot-on depictions of their positions to learn from. These are great examples of how these roles can go and evolve.
One of my favorite and most realistic examples is Diane, an older woman who has been a nurse for a long time. While she is considered to be a great worker, she is also an unfriendly colleague and a demeaning trainer. During a time of struggle, it feels like the management at Oakshire can’t afford to lose her, but with the right direction they could change the environment and go in a new, positive direction. The situation is relatable, an important feature in this type of business fiction. Abbeyquaye lays out the ways to change.
It’s hard not to see the clear direction of this book: sharing with conference attendees almost like a more entertaining handbook. Abbeyquaye does a great job laying the groundwork to the most important bits—like how to evoke the change you’re seeking. The story is a fun, unique form of teaching experience.
The Talent Retention Code is tailor-made for people working in the nursing home industry, especially those working in management positions. I left the book feeling like most people in many service industries could take something away from this book, but I wouldn’t recommend it to the common fiction reader.
As a resource, this book could help foster positive change in any struggling workplace and boost the momentum of a staff looking to further their success.
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