The inability of today’s organizations to effectively train and develop managers and employees is causing high turnover rates. Employee turnover negatively affects productivity performance and the prosperity of the organization (Dardar, Jusoh & Rasli, 2012). Therefore, there is need to urgently resolve the ever increasing attrition rates in firms. The purpose of this research proposal is to integrate new trainings, as well as employee engagement programs to resolve the challenge of high attrition or high turnover rates in organizations. The intended audience includes current and future Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) & Chief Financial Officers (CFO) of the organization, the Human Resources Department, employees, and shareholders.
Problem Background
With the current fluctuating business environment, job turnover has become a big challenge to many organizations (Patro, 2013). Job turnover takes place when a worker permanently abandons a particular organization or a job and his or her services become unavailable to the organization (Dardar, Jusoh & Rasli, 2012). There are numerous reasons why employees leave their jobs or organizations. Some of these reasons are not known to human resource personnel. According to research, 70% of firm managers attribute high employee attrition to payment-related issues (Yazinski, 2009). However, Leigh Branham, a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and a strategic planning consultant, reported that 88% of workers abandon their jobs for reasons that are not necessarily related to compensation (Yazinski, 2009). Lack of job satisfaction, little or lack of employee training, and poor employee engagement are some of major causes of high turnover rates in firms.
Jon turnover can have detrimental impacts on the performance of an organization, as well as firm’s reputation. In other words, the consequences of employee turnover are extremely costly. Employee turnover is often associated with negative impacts such as inflated talent acquisition, huge financial performance losses and reduced production (Dardar, Jusoh & Rasli, 2012). A study conducted by a credible talent and career management consulting firm revealed that the cost of replacing an employee is almost three times the wage of a similar employee (Yazinski, 2009). The existing statistical evidence shows that more than 50% of employees hired in a firm will most likely leave the firm after 2 years of engagement whereas one out of every four new employees will leave the organization within 6 months (Yazinski, 2009). Approximately 70% of firms report that employee turnover has adverse financial effects because of the costs associated with recruiting and training replacement worker, as well as the overtime of the existing workers (Yazinski, 2009). More studies have found that about 70% of organizations face challenges in replacing staff and another 50% of firms encounter regular difficulties in retaining employees (Yazinski, 2009). Considering the enormous negative impacts associated with employee turnover, it is evident that it is paramount develop and implement appropriate programs to promote employee retention and reduce turnover rates.
Solution
Organization must listen to needs or workers and develop retention programs to make workers feel engaged, appreciated and valued. When employees feel valued and respected by their organizations, they develop an associative culture with the organization and this makes them stay. Consequently, coming up with effective retention programs can have a positive and great effect on firm’s rate of turnover. The proposed solution is integrating new trainings and employee engagement programs to curb high turnover rates.
Training is one of vital organizational investments that can have a tremendous influence on employee commitment. Training seeks to help workers identify with the firm, improve worker investment, constraint alternative employment choices, and increase reciprocity (Yazinski, 2009). As a consequence, training can promote commitment of employees to an organization. A firm that enhances workers commitment stands a better chance to retain its labor force and attract new talents. In 2006, Patrick Owens carried out a study to establish the association between organizational performance and training (Brum, 2010). According to study findings, Owen found that training has positive effects on turnover and commitment perceptions. Studies conducted by other researchers and scholars affirm the Owen’s study findings (Brum, 2010).
Even though training has positive effects on employee commitment, just offering training to workers is not sufficient. Unless employees accept and contribute to training program, the benefits of training cannot be realized (Brum, 2010). Consequently, a firm requires to keenly examine what it is looking to accomplish using a training program and the impact the program has on worker commitment, turnover and effort. Training programs should be relevant and satisfy the needs of target employees. Nonetheless, training becomes most successful in promoting staff commitment and job satisfaction when it is practiced in combination with other human resource approaches and policies that are commitment-based. According to research, a training that is used in conjunction with other commitment-founded human resource strategies or policies has high potential of improving employee retention and thus it can effectively reduce turnover rates (Brum, 2010). Training programs that are poorly designed are always associated with negative attitude change, high turnover and lower commitment.
Employee engagement has been cited as the most important metric of the 21st
Century firms (Patro, 2013). Factors that directly influence worker engagement include value addition experience by workers, growth of the firm, as well as the perception of employee with regard to the firm. The available literature reveals that employee engagement plays a pivotal role in improving business performance and enhancing job satisfaction. Therefore, the management team should constantly engage workers in order to identify and resolve issues facing both organizations and employees. Holbeche and Springett (2013) argue that employees’ perceptions of about an organization are obviously related to their scopes of engagement and their work performance (Patro, 2013). Workers continuously seek meaning via their job. As a result, if organizations do not offer a sense of meaning, workers are most likely to leave their jobs. A worker who is engaged is informed of business environment and performs his or her tasks with work colleagues to increase job performance for the advantage of the firm. Firms ought to develop and foster engagement which needs 2-way association between worker and employer (Patro, 2013).
Great levels of worker engagement will result in increased worker involvement and commitment towards job hence building an inspired labor force that will perform duties together to attain the shared goals of the firm. A motivated workforce tends to establish identity with an organization and this is very important in terms of employee retention and mitigating high turnover rates.
Conclusion
The existing evidence suggests that turnover can be very costly to organizations (Brum, 2010). Therefore, there is urgent need to address high turnover rates in order to increase organization’s productivity and competitive advantages. Research has found that developing and implementing effective retention programs is critical in motivating workers and retaining them (Yazinski, 2009). Incorporating motivation-building practices into organizational culture is a prerequisite of nurturing an environment that stimulates and inspires employees (Dardar, Jusoh & Rasli, 2012). Integrating new training and employee engagement programs can effectively reduce high turnover rates and improve the performance of an organization. However, the needs of employees should be considered while coming up with these programs in order to yield the best outcomes. Actually, firms should provide workers with great infrastructure and freedom to make their job more exciting (Patro, 2013).
References
Brum, S. (2010). What Impact Does Training have on Employee Commitment and Employee Turnover.[Online] Available: http://www. uri. edu/research/lrc/research/papers. Brum-Commitment. pdf.(January, 2011).
Dardar, A. H. A., Jusoh, A., & Rasli, A. (2012). The impact of job training, job satisfaction and alternative job opportunities on job turnover in Libyan oil companies. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 40, 389-394.
Patro, C. S. (2013). The impact of employee engagement on organization’s productivity. In Proceedings of 2nd International Conference on Managing Human Resources at the Workplace, Mysore, India.
Yazinski, S. (2009). Strategies for retaining employees and minimizing turnover. Retrieved from York, NY.
