Clark Ingram of People Profits on How Business Leaders Can Create a Fantastic Work Culture

Authority Magazine Editorial Staff·

Apr 30, 2026

 

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Life would be better if everyone liked their jobs. I reject certain workforce dogma that clearly doesn’t work. The world would be a better place if we agreed that they don’t work.

Asa part of this series, we had the pleasure to interview Clark Ingram.

Clark A. Ingram is the Founder and President of People Profits, LLC — a financially focused Human Capital management consulting firm. He focuses on employee turnover, chronically open positions and skills gaps. Over the previous 30+ years he was the Chief Human Resources Officer for four companies in four different industries from publicly to privately held. His new book is Churn: Proven Strategies to Overcome Failing Conventional Talent Management and Achieve Zero Turnover (People Profits, March 26, 2026). Learn more at peopleprofits.com.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Ilike numbers. I received my bachelor’s degree in finance. At the start of my career I worked in the finance department of an international industrial services company. I’d worked on several projects for the CEO with good results and shown my ability to figure things out — even when I didn’t know a lot about the topic going into the project.

One day the CEO asked me to come into his office. He asked me what I thought were the three biggest issues facing the company. I said that was easy — the backbone of our organization was our senior technicians, and we were losing them faster than we could replace them. Second, we weren’t recruiting successfully because we had high turnover, and everybody knew it. Third, due to our high turnover and our inability to recruit, our skills gap was going out of sight. The CEO asked me to “look into it.” I reminded him I was a finance guy, not human resources, to which he quickly replied, “That might be a good thing.”

What I came to learn during my journey is the three problems of employee turnover, inability to recruit/chronically open positions, and a skills gap are directly interconnected. We didn’t have three separate problems. We had one monster problem.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

Here’s a story that has happened repeatedly: I started working with a company who had ridiculously high turnover, an inability to recruit and a widening skills gap. They were exhausted and hopeless. They’d tried several initiatives, and nothing worked. I injected my process into the organization and within a couple of months, people could clearly see the changes. Within six months, turnover was down by over 40 percent, staffing was in the mid-90 percentage and the skills gap had been minimized.

Are you working on any exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?

I’m currently working with a regional hospital and healthcare provider group. When I arrived, hiring was in vapor lock and turnover was over 30 percent. Within six months we’d cut turnover by more than 40 percent, the group was staffed up to 93 percent, and it had cut temporary workers by 66 percent. Previously, the temp workers were the tail wagging the dog. The process worked! The CEO said he was surprised how fast the change happened. The hospital, a vital regional organization, is now back on its feet.

Ok, let’s jump to the main part of our interview. According to this study cited in Forbes, more than half of the US workforce is unhappy. Why do you think that number is so high?

Many workers are exhausted and have low morale due to high turnover and low staffing. Burnout is frequently mentioned. If employees don’t see any reason to think it’s going to get better, we have a bad situation.

What if, as an employee, you saw nothing being done to eliminate or minimize the root causes of the turnover? Why would you believe it will get better?

This isn’t unsolvable. The first step in stabilizing your workforce is to identify the specific causes of your turnover. Eliminate or minimize as many as you can find. The employees will immediately have a positive response. I’ve seen it many times.

Based on your experience or research, how do you think an unhappy workforce will impact a) company productivity b) company profitability c) and employee health and wellbeing?

For starters, regarding profitability, the cost of hiring and firing alone is a huge financial drain. My current client is a good example. I estimated their annual cost of employee turnover at over $2 million.

Company productivity is directly affected because employees are focused on finding another job and on constant complaining about their situation.

Employee well-being is directly affected by exhaustion and hopelessness. Negativity spirals downward.

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Can you share 5 things that managers and executives should be doing to improve their company work culture? Can you give a personal story or example for each?

1. Identify your root causes of employee turnover

Minimize or eliminate each one. Celebrate with the team when you’ve conquered each. This will immediately help with engagement. The employees see you making positive changes. You don’t have to be perfect, and it doesn’t all have to be done overnight. Just show an honest, caring desire to make things better. By doing this, you’re reworking your culture. You’ve admitted you have issues, but you’re determined to work on them. Back at my first company where I was thrown into HR, we were able to cut our turnover dramatically. More importantly we had zero turnover in the backbone of our company for the last 5 years that I was there. That company grew from $125 million to $1.4 billion in 10 years.

2. Cut your turnover to reduce the need to recruit, onboard, and train

This makes your working environment much more positive. Word will get around and you’ll start getting more and better applicants. Make sure that word gets out about the company’s turnaround. Plaster your new numbers far and wide. Tell how you did it. This will continue to move the needle on engagement. Once we addressed the turnover problem at our industrial services company, our employees became our best recruiters. We started receiving resumes from our competitors’ employees. We were able to cherry pick their talent based on how well they would fit with our company culture. We ended up acquiring one company as they simply ran out of people.

3. Address underlying turnover issues to reduce need for temporary workers

Once you’ve addressed your underlying turnover issues and have shared your turnaround, you’ll find you no longer need as many temporary workers or per diems. The extra expense is eliminated. Your people would rather work with full-time employees. It will feel like the chaos dropped a peg or two. At a hospital we cut per diems by 67 percent, replacing them with full-time employees — saving it a huge expense and bolstering staff morale.

4. Figure out in detail who you are as an employer

What makes you special? What makes you different? What are the five reasons your employees work for you? Then build your employer brand around those qualities. Make sure people know who you are by putting your brand on the career page of your website and on job postings. One of my clients didn’t have an articulated employer brand. We surveyed the staff for its five reasons to work for the company and found that several mentioned “community.” The quality was very sellable to prospective employees.

5. Have very detailed employee selection criteria

Who are you looking for? What are their values? What are their outstanding characteristics and how will they fit in your company? Will they get along with your employees, customers, and other stakeholders? What personality types are most likely to enjoy the work? We worked with a company whose main employees were salt-of-the-earth-type guys who liked working with their hands, had high mechanical aptitude, and expected to get dirty. They had families with kids that were enrolled in all the sports, they were meat and potatoes people, and they also took pride in their work. Can you visualize that guy? That’s the required level of detail.

It’s very nice to suggest ideas, but it seems like we have to “change the culture regarding work culture.” What can we do as a society to make a broader change in the US workforce’s work culture?

We must reject the idea that if we define an awesome culture, everybody will engage. Most of the time when someone talks about how awesome their culture is, it’s based on gimmicks — taco trucks, ping pong tables, and the like. However, employees have stated in innumerable studies what they really want in an employer: shared goals and values, integrity, respect, communication, transparency, employee growth, and a positive environment. Wouldn’t it be prudent to give them what they’re asking for? Why should they engage for anything less?

How would you describe your leadership or management style? Can you give us a few examples?

I’m an INTJ (Architect) on the Myers Briggs personality test. I’m someone who enjoys finding solutions to generally complex problems. I want to build a sustainable structure, implement it, make adjustments, and allow it to work. I’m also a truth seeker and like to debate intelligently. I don’t have an agenda regarding what the truth looks like. At work, I want the employees to be right in the middle of the solutions and own them. I’ve found the chance of success, then, is much higher as we’ll have input from the front lines.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My second job was with an insurance broker. That company was the model for what I shared earlier regarding the criteria for employee engagement. I’ve used for years. I trusted the CEO and other senior managers implicitly. I knew they wanted the best for me and I gave them my best in return. One year the organization did very well. The CEO and COO walked around and handed out an extra paycheck to every employee. Can you imagine how everyone felt?

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

I’ve witnessed many companies transform their workforces for the better. I’ve had countless employees tell me how much happier they are. All stakeholders enjoy a win/win/win relationship, and everyone likes that!

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote?” Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Ecclesiastes 4: 9–10, 12 — Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. …Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

I see this directly relating to my message. Management should have their employees’ back, helping them and clearing obstacles. I see too many employees who complain about an easily fixed problem. But it’s never addressed. How does that make them feel?

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I believe my message is very important and will help a lot of organizations and employees. Life would be better if everyone liked their jobs. Why is it that HR is viewed as negatively? Why has engagement been flat for 40 years when we’ve spent trillions on it? I reject certain workforce dogma that clearly doesn’t work. The world would be a better place if we agreed that they don’t work.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you continued success!

Link to article: https://medium.com/authority-magazine/clark-ingram-of-people-profits-on-how-business-leaders-can-create-a-fantastic-work-culture-61acf2fd3bfe