Introduction
Employee retention refers to the various policies and
practices which let the employees stick to an organization for a longer period
of time. Securing and retaining skilled employees plays an important role in
this process, because employees’ knowledge and skills are central to companies’
ability to be economically competitive. The employer should take special
interest in the employee and the work they do.
According to Wall Street Journal notes a high employee
turnover rate can cost “twice an employee’s salary to find and train a
replacement.” No matter the size of the business or at what stage the business
is at, when the employees leave it is bad for the business.
As we can understand that employee retention is important for
the functioning and competitiveness of a company, I looked in some online
research articles to discuss more about employee retention.
Factors for employee retention
·
Low
employee morale
Unhappy employees can lead to reduced productivity, poor
customer services and problems with employee retention.
·
Absence
of a clear career path
Most employees who are at the same job without any change are
more likely to the current job for another better offer. If employees feel they
aren’t learning and growing, they feel they are not remaining competitive with
their industry peers for promotion opportunities and career advancement. Once
top employees feel they are no longer growing, they begin to look externally
for new job opportunities.
·
Financial
insecurities
When the employees are unable to meet their needs with the
salary they get, they become insecure about the financial benefits of the job.
·
Lack
of satisfaction
For an employee job satisfaction is important. If the company
turnover is high but the employees does not feel satisfied in their job, they
are likely to leave the job.
Analyzing employee retention
According to the present study by Eva Kyndt, Filip Dochy, Maya
Michielsen and Bastiaan Moeyaert; factors such as organizational and personal
factors have an influence on employee retention. On the organizational side
employees will be determined according to the gap and appreciative approach. In
the research paper the authors analyzed that the appreciative approach had a
positive influence and the gap approach had a negative influence to employee retention.
They also investigated the influence level of education, number of
children, seniority, age, and gender on employee retention. According to this paper
we can take note that high potential employees have higher employee retention
rate because they are more responsible, they have more experience and they have
career opportunities. Other than that level of education was also to have a
negative relation with employee retention as education is a higher commitment
to the organization.
Data collection and discussion
The authors of this research paper
collected data using questionnaire and interviewing. The sample contained total
349 employees from 57 different companies in private sector. Among them 50% (N=174) were male and other 50% (N=175) were female. They were categorized
as 86.2% full time employees, 8.9% part-time employees, 2.4% had a temporary
contract and the remaining 2.6% were employed under another type of contract. Apart
from these 11 respondents who have a full time contract; 6 male and 5 female
were interview as a qualitative research.
A multiple stepwise linear
regression was used to determine the relation between the independent variables
and the dependent variable of employee retention. The participants each responded
differently. An important additional element that came out of the qualitative
data and that is not reflected by the single factor is that some respondents
made a distinction between commitment to the company and commitment to the
field of work. . A high level of either type of commitment is positively
related to employee retention.
According to the results (t=16.054,
p<.001, β=.670).><.001, β=.670) there was a higher significant positive
influence of appreciation and stimulation on employee retention. The work
pressure shows a negative influence on the employee retention (t=−4.159, p<.001, β=−.190)><.001,
β=−.190). Next is leadership skills and learning attitude, which are associated
with high potentials. Among them leadership skills has a positive influence on
employee retention (t=3.45, p<.01, β=.145) h><.01, β=.145) but learning
attitude (t= −2.044, p<.05, β=−.089)><.05, β=−.089) has a significant
negative influence on employee retention. Finally it is the level of education
and the relation between seniority. It shows that seniority (t=2.907, p<.01, β=.139).><.01,
β=.139) has a significant positive influence on employee retention whereas
level of education (t=−2.436, p<.05, β=−.110)><.05, β=−.110) has a
significant negative influence on employee retention. (Kyndt, Dochy, Michielsen, & Moeyaert, 2009)
Conclusion
Findings of these study shows the
importance of both personal and organizational factors when investigating
employee retention. It also shows that the individual differences can enhance
or reduce employee retention. Apparently the key to employees leaning towards
their job is the duration of their job. The longer they are in the job the more
they lean towards staying.
References
Kyndt, E., Dochy, F., Michielsen, M., &
Moeyaert, B. (2009). Employee Retention: Organisational and Personal
Perspectives. Vocations and Learning, 1-14.