Hire Right, Fire Right: A Leader’s Guide to Finding and Keeping Your Best People

The title definitely captures the essence of this book, but the subtitle gives a better hint toward the content. Retaining employees that an organization has spent time and money to hire and train is a common conundrum for managers; possibly second only to hiring the best and the brightest candidates. Hewertson (Lead Like It Matters) focuses on those topics in the book’s first two sections—hiring and retention—presented in the form of roadmap diagrams that move through recommendations in each area. The section on hiring is effectively a workbook for the search process. The retention section walks readers through the lifecycle of employee development, from on-boarding to succession planning. Rather than following a roadmap, the section on firing offers suggestions for handling three types of departures: involuntary, voluntary, and layoffs. Each section is bolstered by multiple pages of worksheets and templates in the resources section.