The Problem We Saw
Employee turnover costs US businesses over one trillion dollars annually. That number is so large it loses meaning, so companies ignore it. They treat turnover as a cost of doing business rather than a problem to solve.
We spent decades watching this happen.
We saw companies run annual engagement surveys that told them what they already knew, too late to act. We saw managers measured on retention with no tools to influence it. We saw executives blame "the market" or "the generation" while their best people quietly updated LinkedIn and disappeared.
The research on what drives retention is clear. The gap between knowing and doing is where most organizations fail.
Clover ERA exists to close that gap.
What We Built
The CLOVER Framework translates retention research into daily manager behaviors. Six elements, each backed by science, each actionable at the individual level:
The Clover ERA platform operationalizes this framework. It gives managers real-time signals, specific actions, and accountability systems. It gives leaders visibility into what's actually happening across their organization.
The goal isn't engagement scores. The goal is showing you which teams are about to break, so you can fix them before anyone leaves.
Try It Yourself
Not ready to talk? Use our free tools to see what we mean:
Both free. No signup required.
Who We Are
Clive Hays
Co-Founder
Twenty-plus years transforming how organizations work. Fortune 500 experience spanning technology, financial services, and industrial sectors. Specialization in organizational change, lean-agile methodology, and the human dynamics that determine whether transformation efforts succeed or fail.
Clive has seen the same pattern repeatedly: companies invest in engagement programs that don't move retention because they don't change daily manager behavior. That observation became the foundation for the CLOVER Framework.
Co-author of The Trillion Dollar Problem and Already Gone.
Based in Scotland. Prefers direct conversation over corporate speak.
Neil Hays
Co-Founder
Neil spent twenty years in the trenches of Fortune 500 supply-chain and engineering transformations. The work was technical. Lean operations. Process optimization. Flow metrics. Numbers he could measure and improve.
People were harder. The best operators would leave for reasons that seemed invisible until the exit interview. Then it was obvious. Stalled promotions. Managers too busy to notice frustration building. Growth paths that dead-ended without warning.
He started asking a different question: what if managers could see these patterns forming, not just document them after the fact? What if the data existed to prevent departures instead of just explaining them?
That question became Clover ERA.
Co-author of The Trillion Dollar Problem and Already Gone.
Chad Williams
Co-Founder
Chad Williams has spent over 20 years building and operating delivery and workflow systems in large, complex organisations, primarily within banking and enterprise environments. His background spans programme offices, operating model design, and large-scale coordination across teams.
Ella Hays
Contributing Writer
Freelance writer and storyteller. Ella brings narrative structure to complex workplace dynamics, translating research and data into stories that resonate.
Her blog contributions for Clover ERA focus on the human side of turnover: the moments that trigger the decision to leave, the manager behaviors that go unnoticed, and the patterns that repeat across industries. Her writing style prioritizes specificity over abstraction.
Contributor to the Clover ERA Blog.
Our Books
The Trillion Dollar Problem
Available now on Amazon
Why employee engagement programs fail and what actually works. The book introduces the CLOVER Framework and makes the business case for treating retention as a strategic priority rather than an HR metric.
Written for executives who suspect turnover costs more than they're tracking, HR leaders tired of programs that don't move metrics, and managers who are measured on engagement but given no tools to influence it.
Already Gone
Launching January 28, 2026 - Join the waitlist
78 short entries. No fluff. No corporate frameworks. Just the patterns behind unexpected resignations.
The moments that look like everything is fine. The conversations that seem productive. The employees who stop pushing back. This book documents what happens in the weeks and months before someone leaves, told through the stories of the managers who missed it and the ones who didn't.
Waitlist members get: Free PDF (12 Early Warning Signals), launch week pricing (Kindle $4.99, Hardcover $9.99), and first access when it goes live.
Why "Clover ERA"
The name combines the CLOVER Framework with ERA, representing a new approach to employee retention and action.
The four-leaf clover is traditionally a symbol of luck. We don't believe retention is luck. We believe it's the predictable outcome of specific behaviors, practiced consistently. The companies that keep their best people aren't lucky. They're intentional.
Get in Touch
Clover ERA is headquartered in Delaware, USA with clients across North America, UK, EMEA, and beyond.