HRMT20024 Employee Retention Assignment Sample
Here’s the best sample of HRMT20024 Employee Retention Assignment, written by the expert.
Introduction
The success of an organisation depends to a great extent upon how well it attracts and retains its employees. To a great extent, factors such as the theories and the motivational factors, the level of job satisfaction, organisational performance among others have a great impact upon the ability of an organisation to attract and retain its employees. For big industries such as the telecommunications sector, the retention of the employees for as long as possible is among the vital considerations that they need to make.
The aspect of employee retention has, for over decades, been among the prime interests for the researchers all around the world. In this essay, we will be talking about the various factors which are necessary with respect to employee retention, the strategies which need are used or need to be used for attracting and retaining employees in the telecommunications sector, factors which influence the motivation levels of those employees along with the level of job satisfaction of those working in the telecommunications sector.
This study would also take into consideration various research works which have been conducted by authors over the years in relation to this study.
Retaining the employees in any organisation, particularly the telecommunications industry, requires the employees to carry out systematic efforts in order to foster and create an environment which is preferable for the employees in order to stay with the organisation. They must also employ such practices and policies which address the various requirements and needs of the employees. When an employer inspires its employees to excel and make great accomplishments, they also help the employees in being more focused as they are clear about the tasks they have been assigned with and also the objectives that they have been entrusted to achieve (Abassi et al., 2000).
A company must not just ensure that its employees are being given the best treatments possible so as to retain them but most also keep its eyes open to look out for those companies who incessantly try to poach their talented employees. If the retention strategies of an organisation are in place, it would benefit the organisation by reducing the overall expenses in the turnover, reducing the loss in the knowledge of the organisation, lesser hurdles in providing services to the customers, maintaining its level of efficiency as well as maintaining its own goodwill in the market.
The attraction and the retention of the employees is influenced by several factors such a satisfaction levels of the customers, the sales of the products, the satisfaction levels of the reporting staff as well as the co-workers, good succession planning and also the knowledge base of the organisation. Issues related to the organisation such as the amount of money and time invested towards training a particular employee, the knowledge which is lost along with the employee can cost heavily to an establishment. Several estimates have shown that when a mid level manager quits a company, the company ends up losing to up to a hundred percent of that employee’s salary while at the same time the loss of a senior level manager is way more costly.
It might therefore be said that among the prime issues that organisations deal with all over the world is the issue of employee retention as it has a lot to do with the sustenance of companies in the long run.
Literature Review
Employees, in the current day and age, leave their organisations primarily for a variety of reasons. Some of the most common reasons include being assigned with too many responsibilities which they employee had not anticipated. When those responsibilities are not anticipated, it eventually leads to the employees being dissatisfied with their job and eventually leaving it. A person is more likely to show more interest towards a certain task if it in line with his or her character or personality. When a person ends up with a job which does not fall in line with his or her personality, then that person would naturally not perform the tasks well and he or she would look out for various reasons in order to quit that particular job. Also, when there are very little growth opportunities in a particular job, then it would end up making the job of the employee as well as his or her career very stagnant. Among the other reasons why employees quit their jobs include imbalances in the personal and professional lives, overload of work leading to stress and also the lack of support, appreciation and trust from the management, seniors as well as the co-workers. One study which was conducted had noted that when a particular employee is lost, then it takes around 70 to up to 200 per cent of the annual salary of that employee in order to replace that person. Some of the main issues organisations face while filling the positions of the former employees includes expenses that they incur in the training, orientation, recruitment and advertisements, diminished level of productivity of the company till the time that the new employee reaches a certain level of efficiency and speed in his or her job. Organisations have to invest heavily to merely find, recruit and train the employees.
A group of researchers, in their study concluded that there are several factors which assist in the purpose of retaining employees in the organisations and those include the balance of life and work, the working environment, support of the supervisors as well as the factor of career development (Muhammad and Muhammad, 2011).
Another researcher, in his work, argued that the organisations now need to rethink the whole concept of retaining employees. The researcher suggested that the organisation now must move over from simply thinking about the initiatives of retention towards those initiatives which require the participation of the entire management and turn the organisation into a more performance oriented one (Finnegan, 2010). Today, organisations must quit using the carrot and stick style of management which was used back in the early days of the industrial revolution as they are no more relevant for the businesses in the current era. Today, the employees hold the factors of purpose, mastery and autonomy as being more important than money which offered merely as an incentive for the employee to survive inside a workplace which clearly is unfavourable. It has also been seen that the employees’ expectations have shifted drastically particularly in those sectors which are linked globally.
One researcher, in his study, stated that the market of talents has turned into a playing field in which different organisations fight to get their best talents and also get to decide which talent gets to do which job. The issue is much more prominent in off shoring sector in which the average time that an employee lasts is said to be around eight months whereas retaining the top level executives is way more challenging (Schiemann, 2009).
Furthermore, another researcher argued that the rate of turnover might differ from one organisation to another on the basis of the culture and the structure of the organisation. Generally, employees look at three different aspects while considering a change in their jobs and those include the level of job satisfaction in their present job, the level of job satisfaction which is expected from the alternative job as well as the investment that he needs to do in order to be in either jobs (Harries, 2000).
Another research which was conducted on a group of organisations showed that the amount of money which is spent in the recruitment procedure of just one employee is around 50 to 60 per cent of the remuneration in the first year and could even go up to 100 per cent in those jobs which require a high amount of skill (Hale, 2018). Another study showed that organisations lose an average or around $ 1 million every time the top level employees leave the establishment (Fitzenz, 2017). The same study also showed that after all the indirect and the direct costs have been looked into, the total cost of turnover of a current employee would range in between a minimum of one to two years of his yearly remuneration.
Another study was conducted upon a public sector unit Telecommunications Company based in India – MTNL. In this research, the researchers concluded that the company must have to understand its employees from a sensitive standpoint and said that it must also take into consideration factors such as flexibility in the arrangement of the work, a good support system, promotion based bonuses or incentives, creating a balance in between the personal and the private lives of the employees, taking steps in order to upgrade the skills of the employees so that they can take on newer challenges, wellness and health programmes, facility of education for the children of the employees, decision making rights among others must also have to be incorporated and considered in order to retain employees (Das et al., 2012).
Factors affecting the retention of employees
Opportunities for career development: Development of the career is an aspect which is a planned, formalized and an organised effort towards attaining a balance in between the workforce requirements of the organisation and the career requirements of the individual (Leiboiwitz et al., 2006). The growth in the level of awareness in the market has made it clear that the people can help in giving the firm its leading edge in the market. The main challenges which the HR professionals in the telecommunications sector have is to ascertain the strategies of development which would motivate the employees towards working for the firm in line with the values and the missions of the firm such that the organisation manages to have a competitive advantage over its rivals (Graddick, 2008).
An organisation which wishes to tighten its ties with its workforce has to also invest keeping in mind the developmental interests of the employees in their minds (Steel et al., 2002; Klein and Tang, 2003). This includes providing the requirement developmental and growth related training and workshops within the organisation itself and creating a scope for the workers to gain promotions within that particular company (Butler and Waldrop, 2001). Career development is also equally essential since it is beneficial for both the workers as well as the organisation (Hall,2002).
Supervisor Support: Another essential aspects which greatly influences the retention of the employees is the relationship which exists between the supervisor of that telecommunication industry and the employees. The manner in which an employee sees the organisation in which he is working in is greatly influence by the kind of treatment he receives from the supervisors of that establishment. When workers get the due amount of support from the supervisors of that organisation, they are less likely to quit their jobs and would be more engrossed and motivated towards their jobs as well (Greenhaus, 2007). The supervisors help in managing and harmonizing the external as well as the internal working environments. If the supervisors fail in their jobs, then the employees are more likely to look towards other organisations for employment. It might also be said that the role of a supervisor in an organisation is so significant that it can be argued that the employees do not leave their jobs but their bosses (Ontario, 2004).
In the organisations of the current era, diverse workforces are put to use and this raises the need for the relationship between the employees and the supervisors for the purpose of retention. Another study which was conducted in this regard also stated that employees generally seek for those supervisors whom they can trust, understand and also treat them with respect and without bias (Borstorff and Marker, 2007).
Work environment: Various studies have been conducted in the past which primarily dealt with the issue of the retention of employees, commitment towards an organisation, involvement in the job, job satisfaction as well as the turnover of the employees (Sjöberg & Sverke 2000). The environment in which the employees work is among the major reasons which influence the decision of the employees to remain in the same establishment (Zeytinoglu & Denton, 2005).
A researcher had argued that the environment within which work is carried out is normally talked about in the perspective of the industry with emphasis upon the physical aspects like the toxic materials towards which the workers are exposed to, the noise, the heavy lifting among others (Hytter, 2008). However, the environment of work in the services sector is a lot different from that in those sectors which are basically engaged in the manufacturing process since one is required to interact with the clients rather than manufacture products (Normann, 2006). The interactions will be more or less on the basis of the type of the industry in which a person is employed under. It is essential that the changing requirements of the employees are acknowledged so that the establishment can provide the kind of work environment which is required (Ramlall, 2003).
Rewards: Rewards are basically the incentives which are given to the employees of an organisation – either in monetary form or in kind – to the employees as an acknowledgement for the contributions which the employees have made towards the organisation by working diligently and efficiently. The rewards might be either in the form of bonuses or even in the form of naming a particular employee as the “employee of the month” which would make the person feel appreciated and this would encourage that person to worker harder towards achieving the objectives of that organisation. A company might ensure the retention of its employees by offering free trips, free merchandise, awards of recognitions, cash bonuses among other such rewards. All such efforts have a good impression upon the mindset of the employee and it makes them feel valued in the organisation (Silbert, 2005).
Work Life Policies: The studies which have been conducted in the past have showed that the employees generally have work life values and ethics endowed in them. Several researches have been conducted in the past with regard to the impact of the family and work benefits and those include parental leaves, childcare services and flexible schedules. It has been seen that when employees are provided with such facilities, they are more likely to have more commitment towards the organisation (Grover and Crooker, 2005).
Among the major concerns which exist in the businesses is the issue of flexibility. It is evident that money alone is not enough in order to retain employees, a company must also take into note that they are not over pressurising their employees in order to produce better results. Pressuring can result in the person being discouraged towards his work and might end up contemplating about quitting his job. Employers need to take due consideration in this regard.
Conclusion
From the extensive research which has been conducted above, it might be said that a good employee attraction as well as retention strategy must be among the priorities of all companies much more so for the telecommunications sector where a person is required to provide services and might have to deal with the queries, abuses and insults of a lot of customers who are looking to get their problems solved. The employers must ensure that their employers are being trained adequately in order to be able to recover all profession related setbacks and also acknowledge the efforts that they are providing towards achieving the objectives of the organisation.
References
Abassi, S. M. & Hollman, K. W. 2000. Turnover: the real bottom line, Public Personnel Management, 2(3): 303-342.
Butler, T. en Waldroop, J. (2001). Job sculpting: The art of retaining your best people. Harvard Business Review on finding and keeping the best people (pp. 179-203). Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Das, T., Giri, P., Verma, R., Das, S. (2012), Key Factors And Challenges For Retention Of Employees In A Public Sector Telecom Enterprise: A Case Study Of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, Delhi, AIMA Journal of Management and Research, Vol.6(2/4).
Finnegan.R.P(2010),Rethinking Retention in Good times and Bad, Bostan, Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
Graddick, M.N. (2008), Corporate Philosophies of Employee Development, Career Growth and Human Resource Strategies: The Role of the Human Resource Professional in Employee Development, London, M. & Mone, E.M. (Eds), Quorum Books, Westport, CT.
Greenhaus, J.H. (2007). Career Management. The Dryden Press, Fort Worth, Texas.
Griffin, M.A., Patterson, M.G., & West, M.A. (2001). Job satisfaction and teamwork: the role of supervisor support. Journal of Organizational Behavior.22, 537-550.
Grover, S. L. & Crooker, K. J. (2005). Who appreciates family-responsive human resources policies: the impact of family-friendly policies on the organizational attachment of parent and nonparents. Personnel Psychology, 48(2), 271-289.
Hale, J. (1998), Compensation & Benefits Management, Summer 1998, Vol.14(3), pp.39-50
Hall, D. (2002), The Career Is Dead, Long Live the Career: A Relational Approach to Careers, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, CA.
Hytter, A. (2008). Dark Side Leaders, Work Environment and Employee Health. Retrieved from Växjö University, Studies in Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Organization Website: hvxu.se/ehv/forskning/hofreseminarier/2008/080514%20DarkSide%20Final%20version.pdf
Muhammad, U. & Muhammad A. N. (2011), Employees Retention (Human Capital) in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Industry in Pakistan, Global Journal of Management and Business, Vol.11(3).
Normann, R. (2006). Service Management. Strategy and Leadership in Service Business. Chichester: Wiley.
Ontario, (2004). Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (Report No. Learning series; booklet 4). Long-term care facility worker retention. Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, recruitment & retention tactics for the long-term care facility sector, Recruitment & retention tactics for the long-term care (127.3K).
Ramlall, S. (2003). Managing Employee Retention as a Strategy for Increasing Organizational Competitiveness, Applied H.R.M. Research, 8(2), 63-72.
Silbert, L.T. (2005). The effect of Tangible Rewards on Perceived Organizational Support. Management Sciences. Website: uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/bitstream/10012/872/1/lsilbert2005.pdf
Sjöberg, A., & Sverke, M. (2000). “The interactive effect of job involvement and organizational commitment on job turnover revisited: A note on the mediating role of turnover intention”. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 41(3), 247-252.
Steel, R. P., Griffeth, R. W., & Hom, P. W. (2002). Practical retention policy for the practical manager. Academy of Management Executive, 18(2), 149-169.
Zeytinoglu, I.U. & Denton, M. (2005). Satisfied workers, Retained Workers: Effects of work and work environment on Homecare workers’ Job satisfaction, Stress, Physical Health, and 18 Retention.
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