Rating: 
Summary: There's a whole lot of bosses who need to read this.
Review: Are you in a position to hire people? Are you looking for the best employee possible? Are you looking to find out how to become a great boss and at the same time maintain a positive working relationship with your co-workers? Then this book is one you might want to spend some time reading.Written by people who know what they are talking about this book gives you insight into the business world and how tough it is to find the best employees. What this book taught me is that being the boss isn't what I thought it was. The authors give real world examples of what has and is working with other companies. The book is not only for the bosses but also for employees to help them find the best places to work. You'll read about what you need to look for in the workplace as well as the person you'll be working for. Whether you are the employee, the boss the HR Manager or the owner, there is something for everyone in this book. This under 225-page wealth of information is a starting point to a better more productive work place and even more important, happier employees.
Rating:
Summary: Success at employee retention
Review: Becoming an Employer of Choice makes it Easy to hire and retain employees! The book is written in a step by step approach with common sence applications for ALL employers. Specifically, my wife is a Sales manager at a quick printer. Since implementing techniques in the chapter "meaningful work" and "growth and opportunity" employee turnover has dropped to 1% from 15%! As a business consultant, I am always searching for applicable techniques for companies to implement in retaining employees. This book is an excellent resource for any company that is seeking a competitive edge in attracting and retaining employees. Benifits and training techniques are featured that are both Non-financial and financial, along with easy to implement benifits for the divirsity of todays workforce.
Rating:
Summary: A Must-Have
Review: Despite the "employers' market" created after thousands of layoffs since the tragedy of September 11, companies must work harder than ever to become an "employer of choice." Herman and Gioia have developed what is sure to become a standard for how to get and keep your most valuable employees. With case studies from a variety of organizations that include actual accounts of what works--and what doesn't, Herman and Gioia have managed to walk the fine line between research and reality. In simple, everyday language, this practical, hands-on how-to guide explains the process of developing an "employee-centered culture" that allows employees and their businesses to thrive.
"How To Become an Employer of Choice" is a must-have for any business seeking an edge in today's ever-competitive marketplace. Dianna Booher
Author of communicate with Confidence, E-Writing, and Get a Life
Rating:
Summary: El-Speedo Trip to Employee Attraction & Retention
Review: Herman & Gioia's EOC is a virtual quick-trip to understanding how the EOCs have achieved their elite status. Easy reading, practical advice supported by diverse cases from leading companies. The summaries of best practices alone are worth reading. Readers wanting more detail can refer to the chapter notes citing specific bibliographic sources. The chapters on Culture and Enlightened Leadership contain insights into what leaders personally and specifically can do to create the kind of organizational environment that is attractive to employees. Those chapters would be useful to those leaders who sincerely want to "walk the talk." The chapters on Growth and Opportunity and Compensation & Benefits provide poignant "how-to" tips for addressing some of the key advancement, development and pay-related reasons that younger employees are defecting to other competitors. The chapters on Care of People and Meaningful Work would be useful to HR officers wanting to improve employee relations and job design to help reduce the skyrocketing cost of undesirable turnover. In sum, Herman & Gioia's book is a cornucopia of pithy, actionable suggestions based on relevant EOC case examples. Any leader "worth his/her salt" should reap a significant ROI by effectively implementing even a few of those ideas to help attract and retain talented people.
Rating:
Summary: Complete and Practical
Review: Herman and Gioia have done an excellent job of outlining successful strategies based on their own experience as well as the experience of successful organizations. Their simple, but complete, list of critical components for becoming (or remaining) an employer of choice provide a valuable guide. I particularly like the inclusion of examples and quotes from organizations that use these approaches and techniques. This is a complete "how to" guide. A must read...and, a must use book.
Rating: 
Summary: Solid, timely, easy to follow suggestions for success
Review: How to become an employer of choice is a well organized compendium of timely suggestions for things organizations can do to attract, retain and motivate high quality employees in this volatile labor market. The authors use clear, straightforward langage to identify the business rationale for creating and maintaining a work environment that invites and rewards the best and the brightest, and encourages them to stay, even in the face of other offers. The suggestions the authors make don't require a major overhaul or reorganization of your company. Instead they present common sense alternatives to the traditional business model that are relatively easy to implement. Good ideas here for all kinds of companies and other organizations.
Rating:
Summary: Useful whether times are tough or not!
Review: How to Become an Employer of Choice was published in a year when the biggest problem most companies had was hiring and retaining talented people. Reading the book today it strikes me as a shame that companies are not as eager to pursue the excellent advice given in this book on building strong devotion to your company in the workforce. The problem may seem very far from your mind right now, but being an employer of choice has a tremendous value even when the labor market is easy. The book starts with a good explanation of why you would want your company to be an employer of choice. One of the nice things in this book is that each chapter is peppered with sidebar anecdotes about real world examples of the concepts being discussed. Most of these anecdotes come from Herman and Gioia's personal research and consulting work, and they are quite helpful. In the next chapter, there is a survey of the attributes of a company that is an employer of choice. This is probably the least prescriptive of the chapters, but it does offer useful ideas. The succeeding three chapters, on culture, enlightened leadership and care of people give very specific advice about things you can do to work on your company from the inside. There is a wealth of practical material here, and I find much of it as useful for smaller companies as for large ones. The chapter on growth and opportunity gives excellent advice on nurturing your best people through education. I like the fact that the chapter gives an appropriate balance of suggestions about using both internal and outside educational resources. The chapter on meaningful work emphasizes the usefulness of measurement and the use of culture to help employees get a sense of satisfaction from their jobs - no matter how small. In the chapter "Compensation and Benefits" Herman and Gioia offer a wealth of ideas that go beyond the obvious "pay for performance". In particular, the ideas about making the benefits package fit well into your employees' lives are well founded. The whole chapter is a really good survey of ideas for rounding out your benefits package that I have found useful both for my own company and for my strategy clients. The chapter on "Making a Difference" focuses on community involvement. This creates a strong sense of pride in the companies that do it, and the chapter has a number of excellent ideas for companies of any size or budget. The last chapter, "Getting Started", unfortunately offers the least practical advice. This is a shame because I think for most of us, the challenge of applying the great ideas in this book will be daunting. Fortunately, there is a great appendix with some techniques for measuring your performance as an employer of choice, so we are left with what I would consider the most important tool for getting started. Overall, this is a super book with good concepts, supporting anecdotes, and a treasure trove of useable, practical advice on becoming an employer of choice. Even if you are having an easy time with hiring right now, you will be much better off for applying the great stuff in this book! (Robert Bradford is CEO of the Center for Simplified Strategic Planning and co-author of Simplified Strategic Planning: A No-Nonsense Guide for Busy People Who Want Results Fast)
Rating:
Summary: Useful whether times are tough or not!
Review: How to Become an Employer of Choice was published in a year when the biggest problem most companies had was hiring and retaining talented people. Reading the book today it strikes me as a shame that companies are not as eager to pursue the excellent advice given in this book on building strong devotion to your company in the workforce. The problem may seem very far from your mind right now, but being an employer of choice has a tremendous value even when the labor market is easy. The book starts with a good explanation of why you would want your company to be an employer of choice. One of the nice things in this book is that each chapter is peppered with sidebar anecdotes about real world examples of the concepts being discussed. Most of these anecdotes come from Herman and Gioia's personal research and consulting work, and they are quite helpful. In the next chapter, there is a survey of the attributes of a company that is an employer of choice. This is probably the least prescriptive of the chapters, but it does offer useful ideas. The succeeding three chapters, on culture, enlightened leadership and care of people give very specific advice about things you can do to work on your company from the inside. There is a wealth of practical material here, and I find much of it as useful for smaller companies as for large ones. The chapter on growth and opportunity gives excellent advice on nurturing your best people through education. I like the fact that the chapter gives an appropriate balance of suggestions about using both internal and outside educational resources. The chapter on meaningful work emphasizes the usefulness of measurement and the use of culture to help employees get a sense of satisfaction from their jobs - no matter how small. In the chapter "Compensation and Benefits" Herman and Gioia offer a wealth of ideas that go beyond the obvious "pay for performance". In particular, the ideas about making the benefits package fit well into your employees' lives are well founded. The whole chapter is a really good survey of ideas for rounding out your benefits package that I have found useful both for my own company and for my strategy clients. The chapter on "Making a Difference" focuses on community involvement. This creates a strong sense of pride in the companies that do it, and the chapter has a number of excellent ideas for companies of any size or budget. The last chapter, "Getting Started", unfortunately offers the least practical advice. This is a shame because I think for most of us, the challenge of applying the great ideas in this book will be daunting. Fortunately, there is a great appendix with some techniques for measuring your performance as an employer of choice, so we are left with what I would consider the most important tool for getting started. Overall, this is a super book with good concepts, supporting anecdotes, and a treasure trove of useable, practical advice on becoming an employer of choice. Even if you are having an easy time with hiring right now, you will be much better off for applying the great stuff in this book! (Robert Bradford is CEO of the Center for Simplified Strategic Planning and co-author of Simplified Strategic Planning: A No-Nonsense Guide for Busy People Who Want Results Fast)
Rating:
Summary: There is no magic pill
Review: How to Become and Employer of Choice is a well-structured book that can be used as a referene guide or discussion guide for "lunch learning meetings". It is well segmented and easy to read with an abundance of references and examples to explore. For those who are serious about becoming an employer of choice, this book provides specific ideas and helps you to dialogue about the underlying philosophies and beliefs that are required to make it a reality. For those who are looking for sustainable improvement, this book provides a systemic look at many of the systems and variables that must be fostered, created, deployed and maintained within the organization. I've been a part of an EOC and can testify to the constant work that is required to become one, as well as the constant work it takes to remain one. Sometime EOC's fall prey to the belief that they are one of the best and begin to believe what others are telling them. This is when it begins to fall apart and the organization needs to revisit such books as "How to Become An Employer of Choice". Keep it on your shelf if you are attempting to become and EOC, and/or if you are riding the crest of being an EOC at the present time. This book will serve as a reminder that without condstant vigilance, you can rapidly loose the wave, and become one of the many mediocre firms when it comes to attracting, maintaining and retaining top performing employees.
Rating:
Summary: Finally - a sensible, practical book on this topic!
Review: The phrase "employer of choice" is being bandied about as if everyone knows what it means, and knows how to achieve it. Nothing could be further from the truth. The biggest contribution Herman and Gioia make in this book is to de-mythify and de-jargonize the idea of making your organization the kind of place where people want to work and do their best. An indication of the book's value can be found in the wording of virtually every sub-heading - all of which are phrased as action terms. The book is about taking action - not just strategizing or philosophizing. Best of all, their approach goes far beyond the one-dimensional and overly-simplistic prescriptions we've seen in the past, e.g., "make sure your salaries are competitive" or "create a fun working environment." The authors scrutinize every single aspect of the employment experience and come up with practical, realistic tips and guidance for making improvements. Most important, they don't dwell on the methods that cost lots of money. Any employer can throw money at the staffing and retention problem, but it takes much more skill to apply a range of solutions. Herman and Gioia provide just that, complete with plenty of real-world examples and case studies about how successfully their methods will work. This book is a winner!
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