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Frontline Retention Series

Book One: Frontline Employee Retention

Book Two: Supervisor's Guide to Keeping Good Employees 

THE FRONTLINE RETENTION SERIES  ·  BY GREGORY KERN

Two books on keeping good frontline employees

Employees do not suddenly decide to leave. They gradually decide whether to stay - and that decision is made on ordinary shifts, in the hands of the people who run them.

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Why frontline retention is different

Businesses that run on hourly employees lose people for reasons that rarely show up in an exit interview. The pay was competitive. The policies were reasonable. The person left anyway.

What changed was the daily experience of the work: whether someone was welcomed on a first shift, whether a schedule change was explained, whether effort was noticed, whether a question got a straight answer. Those moments belong to supervisors, and most supervisors were promoted for being good at the job rather than trained for the one they now have.

The Frontline Retention Series is two books, written for the two groups who together decide whether good employees stay. One is for the people who set the conditions. One is for the people who create the experience.

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Book One

Frontline Employee Retention

How to Earn the Commitment of Good Employees

Written for owners, operations leaders, and HR in businesses that run on hourly employees.

Drawing on twenty-five years inside hundreds of organizations, this book shows leaders where employees actually decide to stay — not in policy, wages, or engagement scores, but in the ordinary experiences of a shift. It covers what turnover really costs, what makes good people leave long before they resign, and what an organization has to change to keep them.

Inside

  • Why employees almost never tell anyone before they go
  • What turnover is actually costing you, with a worksheet to find your number
  • What happens when a supervisor leaves, and why turnover follows
  • The six practices that earn commitment, and how to spot the ones you are missing
  • A stay-interview guide and self-assessment, ready to use this week

Your copy also includes printable versions of the self-assessment and the stay-interview guide, a set of one-page reminder cards for your supervisors, and a short guide to putting the second book to work.

Get Book One on Amazon Paperback · 202 Pages · Published September 11, 2026 · SYG Leadership Press · ISBN 979-8-952963-00-9
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Book Two

Supervisor’s Guide to Keeping Good Employees

Daily Habits and Hard Conversations for Shift Leaders of Hourly Teams

Written for the people who run the shift and lead hourly teams.

Your employees decide whether to stay in dozens of ordinary moments, and most of those moments belong to the supervisor. This book is written for that person. Eighteen short chapters, each built around a shift they have already worked, showing what the situation looks like, what employees are reading into it, and what to do the next time it happens.

Inside

  • What employees remember, and what quietly drives them away
  • The first 90 days, when new employees decide whether to stay
  • How to say no, and still be someone people come to
  • How to spot trouble before it becomes a resignation
  • Eighteen Practice Cards, one per chapter, free to print

Short enough to read on a break, written to be handed out. It is the book an operations leader gives to a supervisor when they want something to actually change on the floor.

Get Book Two on Amazon Paperback · 135 Pages · Published September 11, 2026 · SYG Leadership Press · ISBN 979-8-952963-01-6

Why two books instead of one

Most retention advice is written for one audience and delivered to another. A leader reads a book, agrees with most of it, and passes the conclusions down through a meeting or a memo. By the time it reaches the floor it has become a slogan, one more form, or nothing at all. That is not a failure of effort anywhere in the chain. It is what happens when the people who decide and the people who deliver have read nothing in common.

Both books describe the same problem and point to the same behaviors. They differ only in what they ask the reader to do. You can hand the second one to a supervisor without translating anything, and you will already know what it says.

An owner reads the first book and concludes that the first ninety days are where most of the loss happens. A supervisor reads the companion and finds a chapter on exactly that, ending with one thing to try on the next shift and a card to keep. Nobody had to turn strategy into instructions, which is where most retention efforts quietly fail.

Neither book will repair a staffing model that does not work, or pay that is not competitive. What they do is make sure the things you control are actually being done by the people closest to your employees, on every shift rather than in the month after the meeting.

Either book stands alone. Together they close the gap between deciding what to do and having it happen on the floor.

Buying for a team?

Most organizations buy one copy of Book One for the leadership team and a copy of Book Two for every supervisor. If you need bulk quantities, or want to talk through rolling the two books out together, get in touch directly.

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Free tools for readers

Both books come with printable material at no cost. Readers will find the links inside their copy.

The Retention Leader’s Workbook

A printable version of the self-assessment and the stay-interview guide from Book One.

How to Give the Guide to Your Supervisors

A short guide to handing out Book Two so that something actually changes.

Eighteen Practice Cards

One card for each chapter of Book Two, printable and free to copy for the supervisors in your organization.

Common questions

Which book should I read first?

If you set pay, staffing, or policy, start with Frontline Employee Retention. If you run a shift, start with Supervisor’s Guide to Keeping Good Employees. Either stands alone, and neither requires the other.

Do I need both books?

No. Each is complete on its own. Most organizations buy both because they are written for different people: one for the leaders who set the conditions, one for the supervisors who create the daily experience.

What kinds of businesses are these written for?

Any business that runs on hourly employees working shifts — restaurants, retail, warehouses, manufacturing, distribution, healthcare, and hospitality among them.

How long are they?

Book One is a full treatment of the problem, written for a leader who wants the evidence and the numbers. Book Two is deliberately short, with eighteen brief chapters meant to be read on a break.

Can I copy the Practice Cards for my supervisors?

Yes. Permission is granted to print and reproduce them for use by supervisors and managers within your own organization, at no cost and with no limit. They may not be sold or distributed outside your organization.

Do you offer bulk or quantity pricing?

Yes. Contact SYG Leadership Press at press@select-your-gift.com for quantity pricing and availability.

Who wrote them?

Gregory Kern is the founder of Select-Your-Gift Employee Recognition and has spent his career helping companies recognize, retain, and motivate their people. He has worked alongside hundreds of employers in restaurants, warehouses, hospitals, manufacturing plants, and distribution centers since 2001.

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