The Research Problem
Employee turnover is studied extensively. We know why people leave. We know what makes them stay. The research has been clear for decades.
The problem isn't knowledge. It's application.
Academic findings sit in journals. Gallup publishes annual reports that executives skim and forget. HR teams attend conferences, take notes, and return to organizations where nothing changes.
Clover ERA exists to close the gap between what research proves and what managers actually do.
What the Research Shows
Three bodies of research inform our approach. Each is well-established, extensively validated, and largely ignored in daily management practice.
Manager Impact Research
Gallup's workplace research, spanning decades and millions of employees, consistently finds that managers account for 70% of the variance in employee engagement. Not compensation. Not company culture. Not mission statements. The direct manager.
This finding has been replicated across industries, geographies, and time periods. It's one of the most robust findings in organizational psychology.
The implication: If you want to reduce turnover, you have to change manager behavior. Programs, policies, and perks are secondary.
How Clover ERA applies this: Every element of the CLOVER Framework translates into specific manager behaviors. The platform provides daily actions, not annual training.
Turnover Prediction Research
The Work Institute's retention research documents why employees actually leave, based on analysis of hundreds of thousands of exit interviews.
The consistent finding: most turnover is preventable. Employees leave for reasons their managers could have addressed, if they had known about them in time.
Career development, manager behavior, and work environment drive the majority of voluntary departures. Compensation ranks lower than most executives assume.
The implication: Turnover signals exist before resignation. The question is whether anyone is watching for them.
How Clover ERA applies this: The platform tracks leading indicators across six dimensions (the CLOVER elements), surfacing risk before it becomes resignation.
Neuroscience of Engagement
Research on workplace neuroscience, including work by scientists like Paul Zak on organizational trust and oxytocin, demonstrates that engagement isn't a feeling. It's brain chemistry.
Daily workplace experiences trigger neurochemical responses. Dopamine flows when employees make progress toward clear goals. Oxytocin releases during genuine connection with managers and colleagues. Cortisol spikes when the environment feels threatening or unpredictable.
These aren't metaphors. They're measurable biological states that shape behavior, performance, and retention decisions.
The implication: Daily micro-interactions matter more than quarterly initiatives. The brain responds to consistent patterns, not episodic programs.
How Clover ERA applies this: The CLOVER Framework is designed to trigger positive neurochemistry through daily manager behaviors, not periodic interventions.
Our upcoming book, The Neuroscience of Employee Engagement, explores this research in depth. Available March 2026.
The CLOVER Framework
The CLOVER Framework synthesizes retention research into six actionable elements. Each is backed by evidence. Each translates into specific manager behaviors.
Communication
Research consistently shows that information flow predicts engagement. Employees who feel informed feel valued. Employees who feel surprised feel threatened.
The science: Predictability reduces cortisol. Regular updates create psychological safety.
The application: Weekly manager updates, proactive sharing before employees have to ask.
Learning
Career development is the top driver of voluntary turnover in most industries. Employees who aren't growing are preparing to leave.
The science: Dopamine releases during skill acquisition. The brain rewards progress.
The application: Ongoing development conversations, not annual reviews. Visible growth paths.
Opportunity
Employees need to see where they're going. Unclear career paths create the uncertainty that triggers departure decisions.
The science: Future orientation activates different neural pathways than present-focus. Hope is neurologically distinct from satisfaction.
The application: Career conversations before employees ask. Proactive opportunity mapping.
Vulnerability
Psychological safety research, particularly Amy Edmondson's work at Harvard, demonstrates that environments where leaders acknowledge difficulty outperform environments where they project false confidence.
The science: Leader vulnerability triggers oxytocin in team members. Trust is a neurochemical state.
The application: Managers trained to acknowledge challenges, not just project optimism.
Enablement
Friction is a turnover driver. Employees who can't do their best work because of obstacles they can't control become employees who leave.
The science: Frustration elevates cortisol. Chronic elevation leads to burnout and departure.
The application: Regular friction audits. Manager accountability for removing obstacles.
Reflection
The research on check-ins is clear: frequency matters more than duration. Brief, consistent connection outperforms occasional deep conversations.
The science: Consistent attention signals value. Sporadic attention signals neglect.
The application: Daily micro-reflections. Weekly pulse tracking. Continuous signal, not periodic measurement.
How We Apply the Research
Most organizations know this research exists. They cite Gallup in board presentations. They reference Work Institute data in HR strategy documents. Then they return to annual surveys and hope for the best.
Clover ERA operationalizes the research differently:
From Annual to Daily
Research shows engagement fluctuates based on daily experiences. Annual surveys measure remembered averages, not actual states.
The Clover ERA platform tracks signals continuously. Bi-weekly reports show trends. Daily micro-actions create consistent intervention.
From Knowledge to Behavior
Knowing that manager behavior drives engagement doesn't change manager behavior. Training sessions create awareness without accountability.
The Clover ERA platform provides specific actions, tracked completion, and visible outcomes. Managers don't just know what to do. They do it, and the results are measured.
From Organization-Wide to Individual
Aggregate engagement scores hide the variation that matters. A team with 70% engagement might have one manager at 90% and another at 50%.
The Clover ERA platform enables manager-level analysis. Which behaviors correlate with retention? Which teams show declining signals? Where should intervention focus?
From Reactive to Predictive
Exit interviews explain why someone left. They can't prevent the departure.
The CLOVER elements are leading indicators. Declining scores predict turnover before resignation. The platform creates intervention windows that exit interviews miss.
The Books
Our approach is documented in two books that synthesize the research into practical application.
The Trillion Dollar Problem
By Clive Hays and Neil Hays — Available on Amazon
Employee turnover costs US businesses over one trillion dollars annually. This book explains why standard engagement approaches fail and introduces the CLOVER Framework.
The book covers:
- The true cost of turnover (most companies underestimate by 50-70%)
- Why engagement programs don't move retention metrics
- The manager multiplier effect
- Practical implementation of the CLOVER Framework
The Neuroscience of Employee Engagement
By Neil Hays, Clive Hays, and Chad Williams — Coming March 2026
The brain science behind why daily manager behaviors shape retention outcomes.
The Research We Reference
We don't conduct primary academic research. We synthesize and apply research conducted by established institutions.
Gallup
Decades of workplace research. Millions of employees surveyed. The source for the "70% manager impact" finding and ongoing State of the Global Workplace reports.
Work Institute
Annual retention reports based on hundreds of thousands of exit interviews. The source for understanding why employees actually leave versus what they say in exit interviews.
SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management)
Industry data on turnover costs, replacement timelines, and HR practices. Benchmarking data that informs ROI calculations.
Academic Research
Peer-reviewed findings from organizational psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral science. Including Amy Edmondson's psychological safety research, Paul Zak's work on organizational trust, and meta-analyses of engagement interventions.
We cite sources. We link to original research. We don't claim findings as our own or fabricate statistics.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes Clover ERA's approach different from other engagement platforms?
Most platforms measure engagement. Clover ERA changes manager behavior. The platform translates research into daily actions with tracking and accountability, not just scores and dashboards.
Is the CLOVER Framework based on original research?
The CLOVER Framework synthesizes existing research into an actionable methodology. We apply established findings (Gallup, Work Institute, neuroscience research) rather than conducting primary academic studies. The framework's value is in operationalizing what's already proven.
How do you measure effectiveness?
Through the outcomes that matter: turnover rates by team and manager, leading indicator trends, and manager behavior completion rates. We track whether the actions that research says prevent turnover are actually happening.
Do you have peer-reviewed publications?
Our books (The Trillion Dollar Problem and the upcoming The Neuroscience of Employee Engagement) document our methodology. We reference peer-reviewed research throughout but are practitioners applying science, not academics conducting it.
How is this different from annual engagement surveys?
Annual surveys measure remembered averages, arrive too late for intervention, and create data without action. Clover ERA provides continuous signals, actionable insights, and daily manager behaviors. The difference is frequency, specificity, and accountability.
See the Science in Action
The research is clear. Manager behavior drives retention. Daily signals beat annual surveys. Specific actions outperform general awareness.
In a 15-minute Turnover Analysis call, we'll discuss how these principles apply to your organization:
Which CLOVER elements show the highest risk in organizations like yours
What manager behaviors would have the most impact
How to move from measuring engagement to preventing turnover