Job Training and Employee Retention - Research Paper Example

Job Training and Employee Retention Name: Lecturer: Course name: Course code: Date: Executive Summary The desire to retain employees and improve their productivity will be a huge consideration. Occasions necessitated by economic downturns brings about cost cutting in departmental cost centers which affects training and development. Most companies in the recent times have cut back on employee training and wellness conferences and seemed poised to reduce other expenses. Well performing companies continue to invest in employee training and development, an investment that will see them come out way ahead of their competitors with sole management strategy of cutting, slashing and burning. From the results, it shows that current employers have not opted yet to empower their employees through creation of learning organizations. Few employers are keen in communicating their anticipation for continuous learning which regularly occurs within their employee-base. These organizations offer work time support for employee learning, and undertake online reading and learning as a requisite to every employee’s ordinary day-to-day job responsibilities. They should show that commitment to their employees is by giving them the opportunity of building a strong academic background required to increase the productivity and effectiveness in their airline markets. In turn, their employees will supported these organizations by ensuring their survival even in difficult times in the country’s history. Table of Contents Executive Summary 1 Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Statement of the problem 5 Objectives 5 Research questions 5 Literature Review 6 Research Methodology 10 Research Design 10 Population and Sampling 10 Data Collection and Instrumentation 11 Pilot Test 11 Data Analysis and Presentation 11 Summary of the Findings 11 Respondents Demographic Profile 12 Employee Retention Strategies 12 Employee Training 13 Regression Analysis 13 Conclusion 14 Recommendations 15 Reflection 15 Introduction In recent months, corporate and small business units underwent belt-tightening in a bid to cut down on training and development costs. The desire to retain employees and improve their productivity will be a huge consideration. Occasions necessitated by economic downturns brings about cost cutting in departmental cost centers which affects training and development. Most companies in the recent times have cut back on employee training and wellness conferences and seemed poised to reduce other expenses. Well performing companies continue to invest in employee training and development, an investment that will see them come out way ahead of their competitors with sole management strategy of cutting, slashing and burning. Hiring and recruiting workforce is a lengthy and often expensive procedure requiring an organization to look for employees who will be productive, involved, committed, and effective in their roles.  However, not every organization comprehends the idea of working hard to building a strong and competent workforce. It demands a lot of commitment and planning accompanied by viable strategies and policies. Organizations investing and developing their workforce, often have well tested human resource strategies like providing and assembling tools for improving their new employees’ productivity. They have defined competencies at every management strata and advanced development channels to increase uptake of the competencies. They challenge and build employees with new opportunities by investing in their confidence. In addition, they leverage on improving interpersonal, managerial skills, provoke continuous skill development and career growth by encouraging team synergy and collaborative team effort. Employees regard development opportunities to top their agenda, since they ponder on their next step in their career that determines their intention to stay with their current employer or move elsewhere. Investing in the future of employee is of great significance and improves employee retention. better productivity and continued employee loyalty to the organization is a result of continuous employee development, since employees desires to remain in the organizations that is caring, considerate and self fulfilling for them, in situations more favorable and difficult as well. Training play enormous roles as organizations build strategies to develop and create opportunities for their employees.  Effective and timely employee training provides big return on investment to the employers. Employers find it easier to increase their productivity, raise commitment levels, empower through knowledge and cultivate loyalty from their workforce. Companies have the obligation to plan for different types of trainings based on the options which gives them big payoffs. Orientation on new hiring helps employees to get acclimated with organizational procedures and comprehend the company culture better. Training in legal and compliance engenders good corporate citizens. Similarly, effective training on tools and technology increases their productivity. There is also need to train on new company products to keep up abreast with pace of change. In addition, classes, seminars, workshops are important for opportunities and development. Hence, training should be critically considered for continuous development, retention and success of employees. Supporting continuous learning and development of employees creates and fosters an organization’s wide learning environment. It offers support for learning inside the organization as well as providing access to knowledge repositories, tuition reimbursement and professional library activities etc. Statement of the problem Companies have unraveled that human capital investment by means of training and development produces high returns. They have defined competencies at every management strata and advanced development channels to increase uptake of the competencies. However, challenges ensue on how to retain valuable employees and become one of the greatest concerns plaguing organizations in the competitive marketplace. Since the economy recession has began to settle out as additional positions open within emerging companies, employees are at crossroads to making informed decisions like shifting companies in search of greener opportunities. As a result, many employers are reflecting and reviewing their actions in a bid to attract, and more significantly retain, the top talent fortunate enough to be intact during recession. Objectives 1. To establish the reasons behind high employee turnover rate in the service industry during 2008-2009 economic recession 2. To establish the influence of work place environment on employee turnover in the service industry during 2008-2009 economic recession 3. To assess ways to reduce high employee turnover rate in the service industry Research questions 1. What are the reasons behind high employee turnover rate in the service industry during 2008-2009 economic recessions? 2. Who influence does work place environment have on employee in the service industry? 3. Are there ways to reduce high employee turnover rate in the service industry? Literature Review Employees desire an opportunity continue growing and developing job and career enhancing skills. It is one key factor in employee motivation and retention. Many employees have a number of needs and expectations from company training and development opportunities. Training and development opportunities are not only availed through external seminars and training classes, but are what employees require from training and development opportunities. Also in the offing is an opportunity to create determined, loyal, and growing employees who endear to benefit from the organization and self-enrichment through training and development opportunities. Job content and responsibilities provide training and development options critical in impacting training and development. It is possible through the responsibilities in an employee’s present job. Expansion of the job description constitutes taking new and higher level responsibilities, reassigned to the employee whether they may like or find them as routine. This option provides increased authority for the employee to make decisions and self-manage. Many companies invite the employee to contribute to greater significant, function or planning, and company-wide decisions. They provide greater access to relevant and desirable meetings and conferences that give more information by comprising the employee on individual mailing lists, in organizational briefings, and their confidence. Opportunity is offered by companies in establishing goals, measurements and priorities. Similarly, there are various ways of improving employee communication like assigning reporting staff members to a leadership or supervision position. He or she can be assigned to lead projects or teams as this enables the enables the employee to take more time with his or her boss. It also provides the employee with the opportunity to cross-train in different roles and responsibilities. Besides, training and development options are vital for internal training and development since employees easily appreciate the opportunity to grow and develop their skills and knowledge without having to leave work or abandon their workplace. Internal training and development engenders an additional plus with instances like terminology, and opportunities reflecting on the environment, culture, and needs of the employee workplace. Employees should be allowed to attend an internally provided training session which can be through a co-worker in a field of their expertise or by an external presenter or trainer. In addition, an employee can train other employees owing to the information obtained at the training session or seminar. During a departmental meetings or lunch, offers can be made to discuss and outline the information gained or present it to others. It should be seen as an expectation at all instances where employees attend outside training and conferences. All activities identified before, during, and after a training session need to be performed to ensure that the transfer of learning to the employee’s job. Other ways are for the organization to procure business books for the employees. In some cases, organizations sponsor an employee to a book club out of which employees can discuss and apply concepts of a current book to the company. Regularly needed training can be offered through information on an intranet, which is an internal organizational website. Training can also be provided by either knowledgeable employees or an external trainer in a brown bag lunch format. Every employee takes lunch and obtains knowledge on valuable topics like investing in a 401(k), varying and balancing investments, concepts on public speaking, getting along with the boss and new products updates which makes work easier. There are unlimited opportunities obtained by conducting an employee survey that pinpoint areas of interests. Interested employees and developers of a client company can put on a daylong conference sufficient with lunch and the trappings of an external conference at a conference center which can be attended by interested employees. Some of the conference sessions may be taught by internal staff covering topics of interest to internal audience which is an exciting experience for a daylong conference that triggers a golden opportunity. Employees can be astonished beyond belief as they learn and enjoy the day as they gain new respect for the coworkers on their knowledge and skills. In a related study carried out in 2011, the American Management Association (AMA) conducted a survey of 352 HR executives. It sought to confirm that certain enhancement issues carried top importance to employees and in their retention. The objective of the survey was to establish whether investing in the future of employees is more important than immediate compensation. Programs which increase work skills and career development in future are particularly effective. The survey identified some skill enhancement techniques and the proportion of organization employing them as a retention strategy for skill enhancement issue in the companies. It was found that external conferences/seminars had 78.1%, tuition reimbursement gave 67.3%, managerial training was 66.8%, company support for degree stood at 62.2%, interpersonal skills training was 56.8%, while technical training gave 54.5%, and employability training was as low as 35.2%. A major benefit of employee training is that it incorporates the employee feelings and what he or she needs to learn and not just what the curriculum demands. This focus on the employee learner improves the effectiveness of both training itself and the employee retention rates. Indeed, the better company employees understand its products and services, the greater their effectiveness to educate their customers and provide them with more value. Rewarding employees by certification and other incentive programs is very important since it connects the training directly to the organizational objectives. It is also crucial to identify the right methods required for training as they are key factors in ensuring that the sizeable investment companies create in employee training currently contributing to their baseline results. Research Methodology This chapter constitutes data collection, sampling, instrumentation research design, data analysis and interpretation. The data was collected by aid of a survey questionnaire and presented in descriptive graphs. Inferential and regression analysis will help in determining the logical relationship of variables. Research Design This research used descriptive method as it sought to describe the training and employee turnover rate scenario in some organizations in the service industry, using variety set of independent cluster of variables. Descriptive research is valuable point of research as it enables sourcing information, regarding the present phenomenal status by establishing and describing what exists, in relation to circumstances or variables in a situation (Mugenda and Mugenda, 1999). Population and Sampling The study involved a survey of Southwest Airlines and Guardsmark, the service industry in Australia, targeting the larger employee population in the service industry on which the findings were generalized. The study population was employees of Southwest Airlines and Guardsmark. A sample size of 1440 was obtained through stratified random sampling. This was obtained from the total 4800 employee of the entire study population in the two companies. It was necessary to stratify the sample since the variables under investigation were connected to training, employee retention and motivation as it considers the different employee cadres. This is equivalent to 30% sample size. The sampling frame was the list sourced from the Resourcing departments of Southwest Airlines and Guardsmark. Data Collection and Instrumentation Semi structured questionnaire comprised the primary data collection process. Besides, the questionnaires were presented to the respondents to fill and those who were not able to fill or interpret the questions were guided through the questions. Secondary data was done by reviewing of the empirical and theoretical literatures sourced from books and conference papers, journals, internet etc. Pilot Test A pilot study was done to establish the reliability questionnaires as a powerful data collection instrument. It constituted selecting 25 respondents from every stratum to be administered with questionnaires. Questionnaires were able to provide valuable data as a result of evaluation and response identification using the formula by Kunder-Richardson 20. Data Analysis and Presentation Descriptive statistics method was significant in the analysis of qualitative data given that the results were scored by computing the means and percentages. Linear Regression, by the aid of SPSS software showed the relationship between research variables. Using both structured and open end questions, qualitative data analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data gathered. Summary of the Findings The questionnaire response rate was 87% of the administered questionnaires which was found to be adequate as Mugenda and Mugenda, (2003) recommends at least 70% in descriptive studies, is a good response rate. Respondents Demographic Profile Majority of the respondents (54%) fall between 30-40 years, 20% fall within the age bracket of 19-30, while 16% were aged over 41 years. On education levels, most airline employees showed (83%) of which was the majority with a university education. 17% of them had at least a college education. On the job experience, most of the respondents (56%) had working experience of 5-9 years, 21% had 10-14 years, and 12% said that they had 15-20 years experience. Interestingly, 11% had a less than 4 years working experience. On the job training, most of the respondents (46%) had undergone on-the-job training and professional development, while 54% had not had any training on the job but expected to begin continuous professional development. Employee Retention Strategies Majority of the respondents (67%) showed the organizations were lacking strategies for effective employee retention while 33% held an opposite opinion. The 65% were of the opinion that the management did not know retention strategies. These findings agrees with those of Ruth (2004) that managers with greater understanding of employee turnover causes, provides avenues of employing effective employee retention strategies that serves to retain most skilled and competent employees. In addition, 81% of the respondents were of the opinion that strategies employed do not reduce employee turnover. The Likert scale rating employed interpreted as 4: 1: Not Effective, 2-Moderate Very Effective, and 3: Effective. Approximately (48%) rated the effectiveness employee retention strategy as moderate, 22% not effective 18% Effective, and 12% as very effective. It can be deduced that most employee ratings gave average values. From the findings of Baker (2004) shows that, organizations lacking effective employee retention strategies, have the likelihood of high employee turnover rates that amounts to competent and skilled employee loss. The small standard deviation shows that there was inconsequential error incurred in the analysis. The deviation results show that respondents gave similar answers as the resulting deviation was closer to another. From the findings, overall lack of effective employee retention strategies easily constitute to high employee turnover rates in the given service industry-the airlines. Employee Training A greater majority (81%) of the respondents had the feeling that their work environment was not favorable owing to job related stress and misunderstanding of the roles and techniques required. However, 19% said it was conducive since they had proper skills and training. About 82% conceded that the lack of training and poor work environment resulted to increased employee turnover. The Likert Scale employed was; 1- not at all 2-small degree 3-moderate degree 4 -great extent 5: very great extent. Many of the respondents (68%) concurred that work place environment was a consequence of employee turnover to a very high degree, 15% to a large degree, 12% small extent 5% and moderate extent and not at all respectively. A mean value of 1.33 showed that service industry work place environment was not favorable as a result of poor training. Likewise, a mean value of 1.82 showed that work place environment resulted in high employee turnover rate as a mean of 4.36 showed the lack of training opportunities contributing to employee turnover to a larger extent. A dismal variance and a very small standard deviation show that results given by the respondents were precise. Regression Analysis A regression equation was used to determine the relationship between the dependant variables (workplace environment and employee retention) and independent variable (job training) was derived; X = a + βY1 + βY2 + βY3 + βY4 + e= αt2 The resulting values for β0, β1, β2, β3 and β4 are 0.536, 0.278, 0.074, 0.154and 0.131 hence the equation given below; X = 0.536+0.278+0.074+0 .154 +.131 This establishes that there is a very strong relationship between job training, work place environment, employee retention, and employee turnover. In addition, a coefficient of .131 shows that job training assists in making favorable workplace environment due to skills and expertise disposition assists in lowering employee turnover by 0.131. Conclusion From the results, it shows that current employers have not opted yet to empower their employees through creation of learning organizations in the wake of economic recession of 2008-2009. Few employers are keen in communicating their anticipation for continuous learning which regularly occurs within their employee-base. These organizations offer work time support for employee learning, and undertake online reading and learning as a requisite to every employee’s ordinary day-to-day job responsibilities. Employers are using external training resources and are dispatching employees to off-site training functions which train both management and employees on how to co-exist. Many offer college tuition reimbursement and register for professional association memberships thus enhancing additional employee engagement in the organization’s commitment to learning. Employees will be empowered with crucial training most helpful ongoing development of an organization through employee retention, providing favorable environment. In conclusion, a better way to retain the organizations top talent is to grow them to become more talented contributors to the improvement and growth of the business. Recommendations These companies in question - Southwest Airlines and Guardsmark – will have to consider employee training as an investment in organizations growth and stability in spite of biting economic downturns. Instead of reducing on their training budgets on these hard times, these companies should chose to invest in the creation and development of knowledge and new skills within the workforce. They should show that commitment to their employees is through giving them the opportunity of building a strong academic background, required to increase the productivity and effectiveness in their airline markets. In turn, their employees will supported these organizations by ensuring their survival even in difficult times in the country’s history. Reflection I find training and employee empowerment as exciting topics that have been revisited many times in the recent decades. Employees have become the key to many organizations success and therefore deem their efforts as indispensable. Corporate and huge conglomerates are investing in their employees as a way of appreciating their continued input into the productivity and profitability of the company. I find this scenario rather intriguing when employers value certain stakeholders, especially the shareholders. They rush to satisfy their ego when employees who have contributed to the entire profits and reputation are not brought into the picture and rewarded. I agree with modern thinking of many organizations that have put employees as a function requiring support and recognition. I salute those who have enrolled their employees on continuous improvement and professional development, since loyalty and devotion to work is a result of stability of employees mind to work. In addition, employees have specific skills which when empowered raises the performance of the company a great deal. It is the priority of the top management in the service industry to handle employees equally as they treat their customers. It is important to note that current employers experiencing economic recession always run into cutting back expenses on their employees terming them as unnecessary cost centers. In effect, they force employees to work in the conditions unlikely to bring out their talent or skill hence, working in the shadow of mediocrity. References Ambrose, D 1996. Healing the downsized organization. New York: Three Rivers Press. Bridges, W 1991. Managing transitions-Making the most of change. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books. Cascio, W F 1991. Costing human resources: The financial impact of behavior in organizations. Boston: PWS-Kent Publishing. Dibble, S 1999. Keeping your valuable employees-Retention strategies for your organization’s most important resource. 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