Name: The Team That Stays
Author: Srđan Mihailović

What this book does differently

Thirteen measures. Four of them have been measured.

Open any text about turnover in hospitality and you get a list of ten to twenty measures, all written in the same tone and all equally sure of themselves. Nothing in that list separates a measure that was measured from one somebody wrote down because it sounds reasonable. Chapter 11 splits them into three groups and says which group each one is in.

The three groups the thirteen measures are sorted into, and how every figure in the book is given
The group	What it means in the book
Group 1 — measured, and the effect is there	Four measures. The quality of the manager, not undermining a new person in the first weeks, pay, and not cancelling shifts or posting the schedule a day ahead. Each one with where it was measured, on whom, and what the figure does not say.
Group 2 — measured and it did not work, or there is no measurement	Clopening: the only measurement that examines it finds no significant link with turnover. A predictable schedule: the one randomized experiment raised sales and left turnover where it was. Tip pooling and a retention bonus: not one study measuring the effect on turnover.
Group 3 — reasonable, without evidence	Given as the author’s own opinion out of the trade, and labelled as that — not as evidence. The stay interview sits here, and the book says so even while recommending it.
Every figure	Carries who it was measured on, where and when: hotels or restaurants, an experiment or an observation, which year’s money. Anything unconfirmed is marked as unconfirmed.
The sources	Every source opened, with the date of access, listed at the back of the book. Where there is no evidence, the text says there is none instead of filling the gap.

The restaurant in the examples is Acacia — a fictional restaurant, the same one as in the other books in this collection. The people and events are made up so the arithmetic and the method can be shown in full; they promise no result.

What the book covers

Fifteen chapters, four parts, one decision followed to where it is made.

Every chapter opens with a scene from Acacia or a voice from the trade, then what actually happens, then what of it can be seen in the data the operation already has — and ends with one thing to do in your next shift. A figure appears only where the column on the right shows one.

The fifteen chapters in four parts, with what is in each and the figure that closes it
No.	Chapter	Chapter figure	What is inside
Part One · What actually happens
01	Two Numbers, Twelve Times Apart	2.2 years	Why an operator does not know his own turnover · monthly and annual rates · the unit trap · one formula you can work out in five minutes · why over a hundred percent is normal
02	What One Departure Really Costs You	52%	First what you can see, then what you cannot · 54 to 80 working days at half strength · the cost by position · 27–30 percent of the wage · how to work it out for your own house
03	Five Faces of the Same Problem	—	Front of house · the bar · the kitchen · the dish pit · rooms · around the house and the short stays · why the highest turnover and the least attention sit on the same positions
Part Two · The four decision points
04	The Schedule: “What the Restaurant Needs, Not What Fits Into Your Life”	—	It is not the number of hours but the impossibility of planning · a canceled shift and notice shorter than three days have been measured · clopening, which the whole trade curses, did not show up as significant
05	Respect: People Leave Over What Happened to a Colleague	—	The breaking point is often someone else’s · working sick · raised voices · harassment · what you do about it
06	Money: What Has Been Measured, and What Gets Claimed	—	Pay works, but less than people think · with tips it is the amount and not the percentage · on tip pooling there is not one single study, and the book says so · what people themselves say about money
07	Advancement: “Topped Out”	—	What the ceiling looks like by position · a promise is worse than nothing · what has been measured about training and mentoring · three steps that cost nothing
Part Three · Where the decision is born
08	Exhaustion: The Thing Nobody Complains About	—	The one decision point that has no words · the strongest figure in the whole subject, and the qualification that has to stay attached to it · what can be done in this trade and what cannot
09	The First Thirty Days	×3	Support declines week by week, and that can be seen · undermining by the supervisor predicts departure, by colleagues it does not · why thirty days and not ninety · one thing you can measure tomorrow
10	The Manager Is the Strongest Lever That Has Been Measured	−60%	“People leave managers, not companies” has no source — and the thing it claims has been measured · what “a good manager” means in actions, not in traits · why this is the owner’s problem
Part Four · What you do
11	An Honest List: Proven, Unproven, Reasonable	4 of 13	Group 1, measured and the effect is there · group 2, measured and it did not work or there is no measurement · group 3, reasonable and given as an opinion · how to read the chapter when somebody is selling you something
12	Measuring Without Lying to Yourself	72%	Three numbers a month are enough · quits and layoffs kept apart · regretted and non-regretted departures · four ways to lie to yourself · why a house compares itself with itself
13	Thirteen Signs Before the Resignation	×6.5	Lateness, sick days and vacation are not signs — that has been measured · a change from what is usual for that person is · the thirteen items word for word · the limits, so this is not made bigger than it is
14	The Exit Interview and the Stay Interview	—	Why nobody tells the truth on the way out and what can still be done with it · the five questions for the people who stay, transcribed from the source · the call a year later
15	Rules That Work in Your Favor	EU · US	EU: written terms within seven days, a probationary period of no more than six months, no ban on a second job, the right to refuse a shift outside reference hours, compensation for a late-cancelled shift · US: no federal rule — one state and nine cities, each with its own threshold

Introduction · 15 chapters · epilogueAppendices A–D and the sources

Appendices A–D

A · Cost of one departure — an Excel calculator: a hard-cost block built on the international HR standard, with every estimate block explicitly marked as an estimate
B · Monthly turnover tracker — an Excel sheet with the unit written into every heading that holds a rate, six position groups, a supervisor column and a change column
C · Two interview forms — the exit interview and the stay interview, each on one sheet, with who runs it, when, and what is said at the start
D · Thirteen signs — one sheet per person for the immediate supervisor, filled in once every two to three months in a single fifteen-minute sitting

The same shape on every page

A scene from Acacia — or a voice from the trade, before the explanation starts
What actually happens — the thing itself, in the words it is spoken in
What can be seen in your own data — out of what the operation already has, without buying anything
One thing for your next shift — at the end of every chapter, and it is not a number to measure
The chapter figure — only where there is one, with its unit and where it comes from
Sources — all of them at the back, with the date each one was opened

Look inside

Four pages, exactly as they are printed.

Click a page to see it full size.

Opening page of Chapter 1, Two Numbers Twelve Times Apart: a dark page with the number 01, the list of sections in the chapter, and the chapter figure, 2.2 years median tenure, the lowest of any industry — **Chapter 1 · Two Numbers, Twelve Times Apart**Every chapter opens the same way: what is coming, and the one figure that closes it.

Page from Chapter 2 with a table of the cost of one departure by position, from a room service server at 1,332 dollars to a big-city hotel front desk at 11,609 to 12,882 dollars — **Chapter 2 · What one departure costs**The cost by position, with the year of the money and the size of the sample stated.

Page from Chapter 13 listing the thirteen signs before a resignation, each quoted word for word from the research, with what it looks like in the dining room and in the kitchen — **Chapter 13 · The thirteen signs**Quoted word for word, with what each one looks like on the floor and on the line.

Appendix D, Thirteen Signs, a sheet for the supervisor: fields for the name, position and date, the thirteen items with no, somewhat and yes columns, and the rule that this is not a performance review — **Appendix D · A sheet for the supervisor**One page per person, and one rule in bold: this is not a performance review.

What comes with the book

Two tools that count, and two forms that ask.

The two appendices that do arithmetic come as spreadsheets rather than printed pages, because they are made to be used and not read. The two that are filled in with a pen are typeset in the book.

01

The book

The Team That Stays, 2026 edition, PDF, 88 pages: an introduction, 15 chapters in four parts, an epilogue, appendices C and D, the author’s page and the sources.

02

Appendix A · Cost of one departure

An Excel workbook with four sheets — Input, Output, Annual cost of turnover and Notes. The hard-cost block follows the international HR standard; every estimate block says on the sheet that it is an estimate.

03

Appendix B · Monthly turnover tracker

An Excel workbook with five sheets — month by month, the annual calculation, a comparison, charts and notes. Every heading that holds a rate carries its unit, so the monthly and the annual number cannot be confused.

04

Appendix C · Two interview forms

The exit interview and the stay interview, each on one sheet: who runs it, when, what is said at the start, the questions in the same order every time, and the one thing you will do because of it.

05

Appendix D · Thirteen signs

One sheet per person for the immediate supervisor. The thirteen items in plain words, three columns to tick, and what to do with the answers — with the rule that a change is not a violation.

06

The sources

Every open source used, with the date it was opened. Anything the sources do not settle is marked as unconfirmed in the text, in the place where it would otherwise be claimed.

The two workbooks are built with formulas rather than typed-in results, and they run in Microsoft Excel, in the free Google Sheets and in LibreOffice. Neither of them needs a figure you do not already have: they are filled in from the payroll and the schedule.

Price

One book, one price, bought once.

The licence covers your business and your team: print it, fill it in and use it on every one of your premises.

E-book · 2026 edition

The Team That Stays

88 pages, PDF, with both Excel tools.

~~€39~~€27.30−30% for early buyers · one-time payment

Get the book

What you get

The book, 2026 edition, PDF, 88 pages
15 chapters in four parts, with an introduction and an epilogue
Chapter 11: the thirteen measures sorted into proven, unproven and opinion
Appendix A: the cost-of-one-departure calculator, in Excel
Appendix B: the monthly turnover tracker, in Excel
Appendix C: the exit interview and the stay interview, one sheet each
Appendix D: the thirteen-signs sheet for the immediate supervisor
Every source with the date it was opened, and the unconfirmed ones marked
A licence for your business and your team, on every one of your premises

Checkout is through Gumroad: once you pay, the download link arrives in your inbox right away. Gumroad opens soon — until then, this page is a preview of the book.

Who it is for

For the operator who knows his trade and does not know why his people leave.

This book is for you if

you run a place with eight people or a hotel with eighty, and there is no HR department between you and the crew
you see the day of the resignation and the trigger of that day, and you cannot see what came before it
you want to know what one departure costs you, with your own figures and not somebody else’s average
you have been sold a measure against turnover and you want to know whether anyone has ever measured it
you work under EU rules or under US rules, and you would rather know which of them already work in your favour

What this book does not do

it is not a collection of motivational advice and it is not an HR manual
it does not promise a result: no measure in it has been tested in your house, and the book says so where the evidence stops
it is not legal advice — chapter 15 states the regulations as published, with the source and the date, and the national text is the one you comply with
it does not give US law state by state: there is no federal predictable-scheduling rule, and the book names the one state and the nine cities that have one
it does not turn the thirteen signs into a performance review — Appendix D says that in bold, on the sheet itself
it is not written for a wall: the forms are filled in by a person who then goes and talks to another person

About the author

Srđan Mihailović

More than thirty years in hospitality: in top hotel kitchens and restaurants and on cruise ships. He has worked and lived on four continents and knows both sides of the business — the one at the stove and the one at the owner’s desk.

He is the founder of Gostíno.ai. The Team That Stays is the eighth book in the collection and the second in the People series.

The same job is bound by the same problems everywhere.

Questions

Before you choose

What format is the book?

An 88-page PDF, 2026 edition. It reads on a phone, tablet or computer. Appendices A and B come with it as Excel workbooks, because they are made to be filled in and not read.

What language is it in?

English. The same book also exists in Serbian — the link is at the top of this page.

Is this research, or is it experience?

Both, and the book keeps them apart. Where a claim rests on a measurement, the text says who was measured, where, in what year and by what method. Where it rests on the author’s own experience, it says that too. Where there is no evidence at all — tip pooling, a retention bonus — the book says there is none instead of filling the gap.

Will it work in my restaurant?

Nobody has measured that, and the book does not claim it. Most of the measurements in it were made in hotels, in retail or outside hospitality altogether, and each figure says where. What the book gives you is the evidence as it stands, and a way to measure your own house against itself rather than against someone else’s number.

Which rules does chapter 15 cover?

European Union and United States rules. For the EU it reads the directive on transparent and predictable working conditions, and it says plainly that a directive does not bind you directly — the national law does. For the US it says there is no federal predictable-scheduling rule and names the one state and the nine cities that have one.

Do I need Excel for the two appendices?

No. Both workbooks are built with formulas and run in Microsoft Excel, in the free Google Sheets and in LibreOffice.

Is Acacia a real restaurant?

No. Acacia is a fictional restaurant, the same one as in the other books in this collection. The people and events are made up so the arithmetic and the method can be shown in full.

How do I get the book after I buy it?

Checkout is through Gumroad: once you pay, the download link arrives in your inbox right away. Gumroad opens soon — until then, this page is a preview of the book.

From the same collection