The Invisible Employee

The Invisible Employee – Realising the hidden potential in everyone
Authors: Adrian Gostick & Chester Elton
Price: £13.99
Publisher: Wiley
ISBN 0-471 -77739-0

Billed as a business fable, this latest work from employee recognition specialists Gostick and Tanner combines snappy ideas with, unfortunately, toe-curling whimsy.

The snappiness comes from the insights into US corporate life, the embarrassment is triggered by the fable which introduces each chapter.

The cringe-worthy fable is about a group of people who attempt to live and work together on a mysterious island. They are the Wurc-Urs , who, guess what, toil hard for no recognition, and the Highlanders who think that the Wurc-Urs are invisible.

Now I appreciate that story-telling is making a comeback in training circles but this clumsy tale stretches the boundaries of taste too far.

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This is a shame, because the more conventional insights, which follow each part of the fable, zip through American culture. There is some great stuff on effective employee surveys (and frightening examples of how the system was abused in US and Canada) plus anecdotes and jokes that the reader could recycle for meetings and training sessions.

Readers will find 75% of this book useful – skip the fable.

Useful? 3 out of 5
Well-written? 3 out of 5
Value for money? 3 out of 5