literature review on employee retention strategies

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It’s Time to Reimagine Employee Retention

• Helen Tupper
• Sarah Ellis

Three ways to increase the chance that top talent sticks around.

According to Gartner, the pace of employee turnover is forecast to be 50–75% higher than companies have experienced previously, and the issue is compounded by it taking 18% longer to fill roles than pre-pandemic. Increasingly squeezed managers are spending time they don’t have searching for new recruits in an expensive and competitive market. Unless efforts are refocused on retention, managers will be unable to drive performance and affect change. Leaders need to take action to enable their managers to keep their talent while still being able to deliver on results. Managers need help with three things. First, they need help shifting the focus of career conversations from promotion to progression and developing in different directions. Second, they need help creating a culture and structure that supports career experiments. Finally, managers need to be rewarded not for retaining people on their teams but retaining people (and their potential) across the entire organization.

This is a challenging time for managers. Alongside their day-to-day roles, many are facing a never-ending cycle of reskilling and recruiting on their teams. The need to reskill isn’t new, with the OECD estimating that 1.1 billion jobs are liable to be radically transformed by technology in the next decade. However, managers are now being asked to close the skills gap at the same time as they’re responding to pandemic-prompted resignations.

• Helen Tupper is the co-founder and CEO of Amazing If , a company with an ambition to make careers better for everyone. Together with her business partner Sarah Ellis, she is the author of two Sunday Times bestsellers, The Squiggly Career  and Y ou Coach You . Sarah and Helen are also hosts of the podcast Squiggly Careers, which has had 4m downloads, and their TED talk, The best career isn’t always a straight line , has been watched by almost 2m people.
• Sarah Ellis is the co-founder of Amazing If , a company with a mission to make careers better for everyone. Together with her business partner Helen, she is the author of two Sunday Times bestselling books, The Squiggly Career and You Coach You. Sarah and Helen are also hosts of the podcast Squiggly Careers, which has had 4m downloads, and their TED talk, The best career isn’t always a straight line , has been watched by almost 2m people.

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Employee Retention: A Review of Literature

Related Papers

Delvycx Baladad

Employees are the most valuable assets of an organization. Their significance to organizations calls for not only the need to attract the best talents but also the necessity to retain them for a long term. This paper focuses on reviewing the findings of previous studies conducted by various researchers with the aim to identify determinants factors of employee retention. This research closely looked at the following broad factors: development opportunities, compensation, work-life balance, management/leadership, work environment, social support, autonomy, training and development. The study reached the conclusion that further investigations need to be conducted regarding employee retention to better comprehend this complex field of human resource management .

Yokesh Hari

Retaining the key employees (assets) has always been a matter of concern for organizations which deals into any of the sector such as retail, IT, education, Construction, Leather etc, as the success & failure depends on the employees of the organization. Today HR Managers are facing a pivotal challenge pertaining to their employee's turnover rate which could be reduce by applying necessary strategies which restrict them to stay in the organization. The purpose of the study is to examine the various factors affecting employee retention in different sectors of business along with identifying competitive strategy and human resource management practice to retain competent employee. This review paper reveals that factors such as supervisory support & employee commitment, compensation packages, Job satisfaction, Attractive rewards and recognition, annual performance appraisal and training opportunities, career propagation chances, organizational culture, motivation, development and challenging work environment have direct/ indirect impact on employee retention. The paper also compiled with a theoretical framework of employee retention based on relevant literature. Copy Right, IJAR, 2015,. pAll rights reserved

Publishing India Group

Earlier research studies indicate that employee retention is a challenging task for the organizations in todays scenario of competitive business environment. Manpower became a powerful tool for the growth of the organization and sustainability. Proper human resource management initiatives should be adopted by the organizations in order to decrease the employee turnover. The importance and trouble faced by the organizations in attracting the skilled employees and efforts to retain the skilled are the same. This paper explains the importance of employee retention in the growth of the organization and achieving the competitive advantage over the competing firms. The retention strategies should be formulated in such a way that the organizations grow with greater efficiency and innovation and achieve long lasting strategic business objectives. When an organization loses a talented employee there is a huge negative impact on innovation and services provided. The standard of the services provided by the organization declines which in turn affects the organizations growth and profitability. The impact of employee turnover affects the other HR functions like manpower planning, recruitment, selection training etc. It is observed from the past studies that when employees are satisfied with the organizations retention strategies they are more dedicated in doing their jobs and work for the organizations growth and sustain the advantage of competitiveness over the rivals.

Diwakar Singh

Employees are the most important, valuable and productive asset of an organization and retaining them is one of the toughest challenges for the managers. As the replacement cost of key employees involves huge turnover, there is a need to develop a fully integrative retention policy to tackle such type of problems. The objective of this study is to critically analyze the various works done in the field of employee retention and highlight factors responsible for employee departure and retention initiatives followed to retain them. As the study is descriptive in nature, a number of secondary sources are explored to synthesize the fragmented knowledge and present the literature review in a concise format. As the ever-changing technology, stiff competition, and globalization has brought human resources at the forefront in organizational roles, no organization wants to lose their talented employees. The literature review will present traditional retention techniques followed as well as contemporary techniques used to retain the employees. Also, more emphasis will be put on the factors such as leadership style of superiors, ability to exercise control with respect to decision-making and problem-solving, desire for career advancement and skills development, flexible working and ever increasing aspiration on retention of key employees.

Online International Interdisciplinary Research Journal, {Bi-Monthly)

Harish Kumar Padmanabhan

Employee Retention has become a key issue in today's global market scenario. The retention of employee depends on both tangible and intangible variable that determines the level of job satisfaction. The hospitality industry always faces a major setback on retention of talented and skilled employee due to various factors. This paper highlights the major determinants of employee turnover in hotel industry. The present study reviews literature and research work carried out on employee retention and the factors affecting employee retention and job satisfaction in various industry or sector. The employee job satisfaction and employee retention relies on the best HR Practices followed in industry depending upon its nature and size as a universal solution.

Journal ijmr.net.in(UGC Approved)

In the modern business competitive world, employee retention became an important element which has to be considered by every organization because due to increasing opportunities in the market, the employees are skittering from one organization to the another where better position and salary are offered. Employee retention refers to the ability of an organization to retain its employees. Generally, employee retention is considered as an employer's attempt to retain the employees in their organization. In this view, retention considered as strategy more than an outcome. This article contains the description about the concept of employee retention, different retention strategies used in the organization. It includes the notion of employee turnover and its factors. It also includes best practices like recruitment, socialization, training and development, employee engagement, compensation and rewards for the retention of employees. Objectives  To study the retention strategies to reduce employee turnover.  To know how to hold back the employees by providing good compensation and rewards within the organization.  To learn about the factors leading to the employee turnover and various best practices to avoid turnover and increase retention

Journal of Human Resources Management Research

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iaeme iaeme

Alexander Decker

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Small Business Resources is now the Center for Business Empowerment.

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Eight employee retention strategies for small business owners

July 10, 2023 | 5 minute read

Maximizing employee retention is one of the best ways to make sure your small business thrives. Unfortunately, staying fully staffed can be challenging in today’s business environment. According to  Bank of America’s 2023 Small Business Owner Report , 52% of small businesses say labor shortages are currently impacting their businesses. Of those feeling the brunt, one in five have even lost customers as a result.

What is employee retention?

Employee retention refers to the strategies and processes you can use to hold on to your workers and minimize turnover. Many businesses strive to retain employees by creating a positive workplace culture, promoting engagement, expressing appreciation to employees for their contributions, making sure their pay and benefits are competitive, and promoting a healthy work-life balance.

Why is it important for small businesses to retain their employees?

Retaining employees can help you avoid the disruptions that come when they leave and you must find replacements. You also don’t incur onboarding and training costs if your existing staff stays in place. Replacing employees costs one half to two times their annual salary, meaning that if someone earns $50,000, the cost of replacing that employee is $25,000 to $100,000, according to Gallup. 1

Other benefits of employee retention for small business owners include:

• Higher productivity.  When employees leave, it can take a while for their replacements to match their output.
• Better morale.  Staying fully staffed can help you avoid putting pressure on your existing team, which can lead to burnout.
• A more consistent customer experience.  If you’re working with a skeleton crew, customer service and satisfaction may deteriorate.
• A vibrant culture.  Many employees enjoy coming to work because they’ve become friends with their teammates — and if these friends leave, work may be less inviting to them.
• Better profitability.  Thanks to the higher productivity and lower hiring expenses that come with a stable team, many small business owners find that higher retention rates protect profits.

Common reasons employees leave their jobs

Retaining employees starts with being sensitive to their concerns and responding to them before you find yourself in an exit interview. Here are some common reasons employees quit:

• Compensation/benefits.  Low pay was one of the top reasons workers leave their jobs, according to a Pew Research Center survey, 2 with 63% of workers who quit a job citing this reason.
• Lack of opportunities for advancement.  In addition, 63% of workers who quit their jobs did so because they felt it was not possible to get ahead at their current job, the Pew Research Center found.
• Bad managers.  A recent Gallup study 3 found that the biggest source of burnout was unfair treatment at work, and that the manager’s effect on a workplace was significant in this regard.
• Not enough flexibility.  According to the Pew survey, 45% of employees cited an inability to choose their work schedule as a reason for departure.
• Overwork. Being overloaded is the top cause of work-related stress, according to one recent poll, 4 and can be a big motivation for quitting.
• Lack of recognition.  This can contribute to burnout in many employees, according to a recent survey. 5

Eight approaches to improving employee retention

1. a thoughtful, intentional onboarding process.

Don’t cut corners when it comes to onboarding new hires. Your process for welcoming and acculturating newbies will set the tone for their experience afterward.

2. Promotions and professional development

Promoting from within shows employees that there are advancement opportunities at the company. Discussing their career goals during regular feedback sessions and providing access to professional development opportunities and coaching can improve not only productivity but also loyalty.

3. Competitive pay and perks

Evaluate pay regularly to make sure you’re offering competitive compensation or other incentives, like bonuses or revenue sharing. You can also  offer valued perks , such as remote work options.

4. Public recognition

Being acknowledged for their contributions is a top priority for employees. Regularly showing appreciation of their hard work, whether with a casual comment in a meeting or a formal “employee of the month” award, sends the message that hard work is appreciated.

5. Work-life balance and flexibility

Many employees seek a healthy work-life balance and want managers to respect their lives outside of work. That means making sure there are boundaries to the workday while also offering flexible work schedules.

6. Constant communication and continuous feedback

Employees will have a greater sense of purpose if you keep them in the loop on the business’s key goals and initiatives and how they can play a part. Making time for one-on-one meetings where you discuss short- and long-term goals and  provide feedback  can deepen your relationship with your team.

7. Diversity, equity and inclusion

Employees that feel accepted and valued as individuals report higher levels of work satisfaction and engagement. Key ways to create an inclusive environment include promoting pay equity, providing career development, acknowledging cultural holidays, and encouraging open communication.

8. Teamwork

Encourage collaboration among your employees and introduce regular team-building activities.

How to calculate your employee retention rate

There’s a simple way you can measure your company’s retention rate for a given period, such as quarterly or annually.

• Divide the number of employees who have stayed by the number who were employed at a given time. For instance, let’s say you have 40 employees on January 1. Five team members leave by the end of the first quarter, and 35 have stayed. If you divide 35 by 40 you get 0.875.
• Multiply that by 100 and you get an 87.5% retention rate for that quarter.

Trade publications in your industry can give you a sense of what the average retention rate in your industry is, so you know if there’s room for improvement.

Bottom line

Retaining the great people on your team takes time and effort, but it is critical to your profits and workplace culture. The good news is that if you make a concerted effort, you won’t have to worry about losing key people when you need them most.

Explore more

How to research benefit options for your employees

The top employee perks and benefits that matter most

1. Gallup, “The ‘Great Resignation’ is Really the ‘Great Discontent,’” July 22, 2021.

2. Pew Research Center, “Majority of workers who quit a job in 2021 cite low pay, no opportunities for advancement, feeling disrespected,” March 9, 2022.

3. Gallup, “State of the Global Workplace 2022 Report,” 2022

4. JobSage, “Survey: More Than 1 in 4 Have Quit a Job Because of Their Mental Health,” April 1, 2022.

5. SimpleTexting, “An Overview of Employee Burnout Statistics & Quit Rates in the U.S.,” May 13, 2022.

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