This book, which is intended to assist human resource professionals and line managers in the United Kingdom, is a practical guide to retaining key employees. Discussed in the introduction are the relationship between downsizing and retention, problems that retention difficulties pose for human resource management, and the effects of retention problems on labor market buoyancy. The next four chapters are devoted to the following topics: understanding why retention is a concern (external influences, consequences of turnover); determining whether retention is a problem (measuring labor turnover, making external comparisons, identifying key people and key posts, calculating the costs of labor turnover); understanding why people leave (voluntary resignations, isolation of reasons for leaving, reasons often given for leaving); and determining what can be done (recruitment and selection, induction and training, job design/content, job satisfaction, career progression, development opportunities, supervision and management, pay and benefits, retention bonuses, different deals, examples of action taken by employees). The final chapter is a case study of how one information technology company worked to improve its retention of key employees. Appended are the following: checklist for determining the costs of labor turnover, form for analyzing retention risk, and exit interview questionnaire. Contains 16 references and useful addresses. (MN)