Human Resources

Employee retention is the different practices incorporated by the management of an organization. The practices assist the staff to remain with the company for a longer time. Every entity dedicates its money and time to train a newbie and bring them to the required level. Even though the staff may be attracted to lucrative salaries, it remains the decision to stay. There are times that employees quit after a short time. The management then decides to step up and deal with the issue. Defining the culture of an organization facilitates identifying people who would thrive in that scenario. The paper discusses the functions of employee retention as a strategy to improve productivity.

Historical Roots of Human Resource and how Technology, Globalization, and Other Strategic Forces have Shaped its Changes

The Role of Employee Retention as a Strategy to Enhance Productivity

            In the past, being formally employed was considered prestigious. The employed could spend entire careers on one job. In the event there was a high turnover, new individuals could be recruited quickly. Additionally, the staff was loyal to the respective organizations. It was common for the employees to stay on until retirement. Consequently, employers took the role of taking care of them in paternal ways. The organizations are different today but have an increasing challenge of retention. Most of the entities are not incorporating some strategies used in the past or creative devices. In the modern world, some corporations have not created conducive environments for the staff (Collings, Wood & Szamosi, 2018). There are different reasons why an employee might decide to quit. The reason could be increased compensation or better career opportunities.

When an organization replaces a worker, it is faced with expenses. The expenses consist of new hiring costs, advertising costs, or human resource fee. Most corporations will address the retention issue when its impact is sensed companywide. An organization can handle its retention rates through benefits or performance reviews. In the event, employees are lost; a business loses corporate memory, skills, and experience. A high employee turnover negatively influences profitability, service quality, and productivity. The turnover affects work morale and relationships in an organization. The problems affiliated with replacing workers can be particularly high.

Significance of Employee Retention

Employee retention is vital in building consistency for an organization. The challenge comes when a business has its staff coming and going at a fast pace. If a company has no stability, it is impossible to achieve momentum. The top management is forced to place its attention on getting new employees and not larger goals (Buckley et al., 2019). The longer the staff stays with an organization, the more skills they acquire. An entity cannot benefit much from newbies.

 Retention facilitates maintaining ideas and talents. When the best of workers move to other places, a business loses its institutional knowledge and skills. The company now has to replace them, which translates to additional expenses. There are different strategies an organization can put in place to combat such problems. The plans include internal wikis and documentation. Moreover, employee retention establishes a sense of camaraderie among members of staff. Employees can develop strong bonds when they work together for extended periods (Noe et al., 2017). The productivity of a corporation is possible when workers can provide the support needed to help each other out. Through concentrating on staff retention, there is potential to build a closer team.

The aspect of the image is essential for any organization. For instance, if a clientele has been interacting with the staff for a long time it means that they have established a rapport with the particular set of workers. If the workers leave, it might give the customers a wrong impression. The event might compromise the future transactions and create doubt. Having employees leave an organization does not translate to confidence. The ones looking for jobs see the trend too. Employee retention deals with competition. An employee might decide to switch careers or industries. The individual might look for a post from one of the organizations competitors. Losing workers may benefit rivals directly. The reason being the competitors will benefit from the talents of the lost staff.

Strategies for Employee Retention

            Right from the stage of interviewing, it is essential to note that seeds are being sown. Hiring the appropriate individual leads to the provision of improved quality service. In the event of hiring, there should be a clear job description. The employee should have a clear picture of the role in the organization. The staff must also be conscious of the opportunities the job provides. The idea is to show the job seeker what they can do for the company on a long-term basis. Onboarding employees are another strategy to enhance employee retention. The plan includes several phases. One of the stages is presenting. Presentations are about the job and entail organizational culture. Consequently, there is planning. Planning involves assigning work mentors and preparing workstations. Mentorship programs are essential as they take new employees through the daily activities of an organization.

A company should also find out what motivates the employees. The more involved the top management is with the staff, the more increased productivity. One of the most effective methods to motivate individuals is monetary. The monetary rewards come in the form of healthcare coverage, prompt wages, or retirement benefits. The need to grow is also a source of motivation. Thus, it is the organization’s responsibility to provide opportunities to broaden knowledge.

Challenges of Employee Retention

Getting exceptional workers is one thing. Maintaining the workers is a whole other issue. One problem is the hygiene factors. Regardless of the different backgrounds of laborers, they all seek job satisfaction. Hygiene factors primarily prevent job dissatisfaction (Bratton & Gold, 2017). As a method to retain employees, an organization should scrutinize its policies. The policies should center on the environment at work. For instance, the manufacturing industry might bring in new equipment. The new material makes daily operations less stressful.

Individuals that feel they are not appreciated are bound to leave a company soon. Such people quit jobs to seek acknowledgment elsewhere. Consequently, the action might harm the organization’s productivity. Most corporations lack the frameworks for the identification of top employees. Such workers are a retention risk. Workers usually look for opportunities to develop the talents and skills. The aim is to increase career opportunities and achieve personal satisfaction. The incorporation of self-development initiatives is an efficient tool to enhance employee retention levels. Most individuals are lured by training programs, conferences, seminars, and funded education initiatives.

Factors Affecting Employee Retention

Millennials are becoming the more significant part of an organization’s workforce. Hence, there have to be rapid adaptations of technology in the organizations. Technology affects retention in several ways. Firstly, it facilitates the setting of expectations for job applicants. The last thing a job seeker wants is to join a company that does not align with the culture. Due to the availability of social media outreach and career portals, people learn more about career development options.

Every worker would like a comfortable setting to work every day. The flexibility of a job is one of the factors encouraging employee retention. Collaboration and communication are a big part of everyday activity in an organization (Guest, 2017). Technology has opened up opportunities for efficient communication in organizations. New platforms have enabled employees to stay more connected, thus improving productivity. Technology has made it easy for members of staff to access company data in secured methods.

The workers are also able to share work freely. Such kind of freedom enhances employee retention as members of the corporation feel they are trusted. They are trusted in terms of how they handle the workload. Globalization has made businesses and human resources to adapt to new methods. Adjusting and initiating retention strategies are required due to increasing global competition. Such plans include involving the staff in decision- making processes. Such involvement gives the workers a sense of value. Additionally, they get a personal voice and feel more responsible for the organization. Businesses retain the best of the staff through being the employers of choice.

Conclusion

In conclusion, employers aim to reduce staff turnover in a business environment. The intent is to decrease recruitment and training costs. Moreover, the organization curbs the loss of talent and retains its organizational knowledge. Considering the society today, corporations that focus on sustainability practices are likely to keep the employees. The retention of workers is essential in the process of attaining a perfect relationship among staff. The experience of employees is improved through the strategies of managing workstations. The leadership of an organization has the mandate of controlling different ways to retain employees. The approach is useful in the process of ensuring motivation of workers. The productivity of the employees is maintained through the right plans of hiring experienced staff. The challenges facing employee retention can be solved through effective human resource management.

References

Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2017). Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice. Palgrave.

Buckley, M. R., Wheeler, A. R., Baur, J. E., & Halbesleben, J. R. (2019). Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management. Emerald Publishing Limited.

Collings, D. G., Wood, G. T., & Szamosi, L. T. (2018). Human resource management: A critical approach. In Human Resource Management (pp. 1-23). Routledge.

Guest, D. E. (2017). Human resource management and employee well‐being: Towards a new analytic framework. Human Resource Management Journal, 27(1), 22-38.

Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2017). Human Resource Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.