How ‘sticky’ is your organization?

It’s not enough to get good people through the door: the crucial question is how long they’ll stay. When you lose hard-to-replace colleagues to competitors, self-employment, retirement or ‘a better life’, your business can quickly come unstuck.

As a leader, it’s your job to retain and motivate the people with the skills, expertise and commitment your business needs to win. So how do you create a ‘sticky’ organization that makes your most valued employees want to stay?

You give them freedom.

Helen Beedham unpacks this paradox in this insightful guide for CEOs, COOs, CPOs and any leader who wants to fuel growth and reduce risk and costs by retaining talented people. She shows how businesses that enjoy stellar rates of retention have freedom in their DNA and how you can develop this low-risk, win-win approach too.

Discover:

• The four freedoms that your organization should be offering.
• The anti-freedom forces at work that weaken your glue.
• How to measure your performance on the Freedom Index.

“A vital read for the evidence-led leader. People Glue is chock full of the best data and research to inform and inspire your workplace culture.”

Bruce Daisley, author of The Joy of Work

“An essential read for any business leader focused on retaining talent as a competitive edge… reveals the real reasons why people leave and what makes the difference in organizations who get it right.”

Sinéad Keenan, Chief Innovation Officer, EZRA Coaching

“An original and powerful take on retention, at a time when attracting and retaining the best talent is a crucial driver of adaptation and resilience… A practical framework for shaping a work culture that combines both freedom and purpose.”

Thomas Roulet, Professor of Organisational Sociology and Leadership at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, and co-​author of Wellbeing Intelligence

Introduction

Part I – Sticky organizations

Chapter 1 – People glue

Chapter 2 – Why people stay

Chapter 3 – Why retention matters

Part II – Freedom at work

Chapter 4 – The freedom evolution

Chapter 5 – Freedom unpicked

Chapter 6 – Anti-freedom forces

Part III – The four freedoms

Chapter 7 – Autonomy

Chapter 8 – Growth

Chapter 9 – Self-expression

Chapter 10 – Meaningful work

Part IV – Operationalising freedom

Chapter 11 – Freedom framework.

Chapter 12 – Leading freedom.

Chapter 13 – Managers as freedom coaches

Chapter 14 – Overstaying

Chapter 15 – When freedom fails

Conclusion: Taking freedom forward

Appendix: Q&A

FORMAT / ISBN / PUBLICATION DATE / RRP

Hardback / 9781788607773 / January 27, 2026 / £24.99

Paperback / 9781788607780 / January 27, 2026 / £14.99

Ebook / 9781788607797 / January 26, 2026 / £7.99

Paperback and eBook Bundle / £15.24

Helen Beedham

Helen Beedham is an organizational expert, speaker, and host of The Business of Being Brilliant podcast. Her first book The Future of Time: How ‘re-working’ time can help you boost productivity, diversity and wellbeing was named People, Culture & Management Book of the Year at the Business Book Awards, and she regularly comments on the future of work in national, business and HR press.