Employee turnover costs US businesses over one trillion dollars annually. Not billion. Trillion.
That number is so large it loses meaning. So companies ignore it. They absorb turnover as a cost of doing business. They blame the market, the generation, the economy. They run engagement surveys, launch recognition programs, and watch people leave anyway.
The Trillion Dollar Problem explains why the standard approaches fail and what actually works.
What the Book Covers
The Real Cost of Turnover
Most companies underestimate turnover costs by 50-70%. They count recruiting and training. They miss productivity loss, knowledge drain, team disruption, and the cascade effect when one departure triggers others.
The book breaks down the true cost formula and shows readers how to calculate what turnover actually costs their organization. The number is usually larger than expected.
Why Engagement Programs Fail
Annual surveys. Recognition platforms. Wellness initiatives. Employee appreciation weeks.
These programs consume budget and produce slides. They rarely move retention. The book explains the neurological and behavioral reasons why: the brain doesn't respond to annual interventions, and programs without daily manager action don't change the employee experience.
The Manager Multiplier
Seventy percent of engagement variance comes from the direct manager. Not the CEO's vision. Not the compensation philosophy. Not the ping-pong tables. The manager.
The book examines what high-retention managers do differently and why most companies promote people into management without teaching them these behaviors.
The CLOVER Framework
The book introduces the CLOVER Framework: six elements that drive employee engagement and retention when practiced daily.
Each element is backed by research and translated into specific manager behaviors.
From Framework to Action
Understanding what drives retention is necessary. It's not sufficient. The book closes the gap between knowing and doing with implementation guidance for managers, HR leaders, and executives.
Who This Book Is For
HR Leaders
Who are tired of running programs that don't move metrics. The book provides a framework that connects daily behaviors to retention outcomes.
Executives
Who suspect turnover costs more than the finance team reports. The book provides the true cost calculation and the business case for investment in retention.
Managers
Who are measured on engagement but given no tools to influence it. The book provides specific actions they can take this week.
Anyone
Who has watched good people leave and wondered what could have been done differently.
About the Authors
The Book That Started Clover ERA
The Trillion Dollar Problem isn't a marketing piece for a software product. It's the opposite. The book came first.
We wrote the book because we kept seeing the same pattern: companies investing in engagement without understanding why their investments weren't working. The research on what drives retention is clear. The translation into daily practice is where most organizations fail.
The book codifies what we learned working with organizations on retention. Clover ERA, the platform, operationalizes the book's framework into tools managers can use every day.
You don't need the platform to benefit from the book. The principles work regardless of what software you use. But if you read the book and want a system to implement its framework, that's what Clover ERA provides.
What Readers Are Saying
"Finally, a book that explains why our engagement initiatives weren't working. The CLOVER framework gave our managers something concrete to do, not just concepts to understand."
"I've read dozens of books on employee engagement. This is the first one that connected the research to daily manager behaviors in a practical way."
"The true cost calculation alone was worth the read. We were underestimating our turnover costs by over 60%."
Coming March 2026: The Neuroscience of Employee Engagement
Our next book goes deeper into the brain science behind engagement.
The Neuroscience of Employee Engagement explores how dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and cortisol create the experience employees label as "engagement" or "disengagement." It translates laboratory findings into management applications, showing exactly how daily behaviors shape the neurochemical conditions for retention.
If The Trillion Dollar Problem explains what works, The Neuroscience of Employee Engagement explains why it works at the level of brain chemistry.
Get the Book
The Trillion Dollar Problem is available now on Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats.
Want to Implement the Framework?
Reading about the CLOVER Framework is one thing. Implementing it across your organization is another.
Clover ERA provides the tools, dashboards, and daily action systems that translate the book's principles into manager behavior change.
In a 15-minute Turnover Analysis call, we'll discuss:
Which elements of the CLOVER Framework would have the highest impact for your organization
What implementation looks like in practice
How other organizations are applying the book's principles