Globalization has led businesses and Human Resources to change and adapt to new methods of production and organization at the work place. The most challenging aspect is employee productivity, commitment and loyalty. Firms sometimes take a big hit as employee turnover causes a significant decline in productivity and sometimes overall in the business plan. The challenge for human resources is attracting and maintaining skilled workers while competing with other organizations for the best expertise in their particular field.
Job satisfaction is a vital aspect to maintain employees; this mostly consists of an employee’s general attitude towards his particular job. It is however measured according to several factors like pay, quality of the relationship between an employee and his superiors, and the overall workplace environment. If an employee is more satisfied at his work place then creativity and productivity are more likely to transpire from such an individual. In addition, this satisfaction will more likely lead him or her to stay with their current organization for a longer period of time.
In addition to satisfaction, proper training is essential. Employees require on the job training, along with development and overall education is a critical part of career growth. On the contrary, a recent study has found that lack of training and lack of promotional opportunities is one of the leading reasons for employee turnover. Finally, reward strategies in the form of bonuses, recognition and praise, help retain and motivate quality people and ultimately lead to job satisfaction and employee retention.
There is no doubt that employee turnover is very costly and a great challenge for human resource. Such costs include searching in the external labor market for new employees, selecting between competing job seekers, formal and informal training, and overall investment. Such investment is necessary so a new employee could reach the same level as an employee that quit. A high turnover rate thus affects the profitability of organizations and creates a difficult environment in which to conduct a steady and successful business operation.
Due to such growing global competition for qualified employees, altering and initiating retention strategies are necessary in order to hire and maintain talented employees. Such plans include, aligning the organization’s human capital process with its business plan. Another aspect is involving critical employees into decision making process of the workplace. This involvement gives workers personal voice and responsibility and gives them more feeling of value in the organization.
A sometimes underestimated value is work-life balance within a place of employment. This is an efficient tool since employees view the importance of life outside of work as highly important as it relieves sometimes growing work pressure.
Based on: Nwokocha1 & Iheriohanma (2012), Emerging Trends in Employee Retention Strategies in a Globalizing Economy: Nigeria in Focus. Asian Social Science 8(10). pp. 198 – 207.
