CAUSES AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS OF EMPLOYEE TURNOVER WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT HOSHIAPUR (PUNJAB): AN EMPIRICAL STUDY Abstract Lalita Kumari (JRF), Guru Nanak Dev University The success of any organization is highly dependent on how it attracts recruits, motivates, and retains its workforce. Organizations invest a huge amount on employee s growth and development through training and job assignments. The organization faces at loss when the employees leave their job once they are fully trained and skilled. Employees are competitive edge in today s cut throat competition world. So the aim of this study was to find out why do employees leave an organization; what are the proposed solutions to retain the employees; and to test whether there is any significant difference between male and female respondents perception regarding the job retention policies. The result showed work life imbalance, job satisfaction and job security are the main causes of job turnover. To compare the perception of men and women teachers about the job turnover and to study the impact of designation on job turnover Chi square test was used. To know the relationship between job satisfaction and job turnover Karl Pearson coefficient correlation was used. There is no significant relationship of Gender and job turnover and designation and job turnover but the negative relationship between job satisfaction and job behavior was found. The results of this study may have some importance to HR managers to frame their employee s retention policies. Introduction Employee turnover refers to the number or percentage of workers who leave an organization and are replaced by new employees. Measuring employee turnover can be helpful to employers that want to examine reasons for turnover or estimate the cost-to-hire for budget purposes. Blanket references to turnover can be confusing; therefore, specific definitions and 225
calculations for employee turnover may be useful to human resources practitioners. Many factors play a role in the employee turnover rate of any company, and these can stem from both the employer and the employees. Wages, company benefits, employee attendance, and job performance are all factors that play a significant role in employee turnover. There are types of turnover as explained below. Involuntary Turnover Employee termination for poor job performance, absenteeism or violation of workplace policies is called involuntary turnover. Voluntary Turnover When an employee leaves the company of her own volition, it's called voluntary termination. Employees give a number of reasons for leaving their jobs. Desirable and Undesirable Turnover Turnover often has a negative connotation, yet turnover isn't always a negative event. For example, desirable turnover occurs an employee whose performance falls below the company's expectations is replaced by someone whose performance meets or exceeds expectations. It's desirable because poor job performance, absenteeism and tardiness are costly -- replacing a poor performer with an employee who does his job can improve the company's profitability. Desirable turnover also occurs when replacing employees infuses new talent and skills, which can give an organization a competitive advantage. Conversely, undesirable turnover means the company is losing employees whose performance, skills and qualifications are valuable resources. In today's tight labor market, the ability to attract and retain employees is a major concern for employers of any size organization. Statistics indicate this labor shortage will continue for the foreseeable future. One projection noted that by 2008 there will be a job gap of 5 million more jobs than available workers in the United States. The following is a list of possible reasons why employees terminate their employment. This list was compiled from various survey results and showed below in form of a table. 226
Table 1 List of causes of job turnover 1. Difficulty balancing work/life issues 4. Ineffective management 7. Non-competitive compensation/benefits package 10. Worried about job security 13. Return to school (learn new skills or change careers) SAMZODHANA Journal of Management Research 2. Low job satisfaction 3. Lack of appreciation 5. Conflicts with supervisors 6. Quit to take job or co-workers that will help 8. Perceptions of unfair treatment 11. Conflicts with organization's mission or values 14. Relocation to follow spouse/partner advance career 9. Internal pay inequity 12. Childcare issues/elder care issues 15. Health-related issues 16. Burnout 17. Retirement Source: Taken from an article by: Dave Laber, PHR, Helena Job Service Workforce Center Table 2 Zheng et al. (2010) has given the following major causes of job turnover 1.Job satisfaction : The degree to which individuals like their jobs 2.Extrinsic rewards: The amount of pay, benefits, or equivalents distributed in return for service 3.Constitution attachments :The degree of attachment to individuals associated with the organization such as supervisor, coworkers, or customers 4.Orgnizational commitment :The degree to which individual s identify with and are involved in the organization 5.Orgnizational prestige :The degree to which the organization is perceived to be reputable and well-regarded 6.Lack of alternatives :Beliefs about the unavailability of jobs outside of the organization 7.Investments: Perceptions about the length of service to the organization 8.Advancement opportunities :The amount of potential for movement to higher levels within the organization 9.Location : The proximity of the workplace relative to one s home 10.Orgnizational justice: Perceptions about the fairness of reward allocations, policies and procedures, and interpersonal treatment 11.Flexible work arrangement: The nature of the work schedule or hours 12.Non-work influences Source: http://www.academicjournals.org/ajbm/pdf/pdf2010/29dec/zheng%20et%20al.pdf 227
Job satisfaction and turnover intentions are the reflection of the viewpoint that employees have about their organizations in which they work. Employees generally show high levels of job satisfaction and lower turnover intentions, when their working environment helps them to satisfy their needs (Muhammad Imran Malik, 2010). The researchers found that the work conditions were the most influential on the job satisfaction and turnover intentions of employees. The work conditions included were the non monetary characteristics of their work mainly including good social relationships with their colleagues and supervisors, promotion opportunities, professional development opportunities, and participatory management strategies (orzaga, C., & Tortia, E. (2006; Ellickson, M. C. 2002; Forsyth, S., and Polzer-Debruyne, A., 2007; and Wright, B. E., & Davis, B. S. 2003). Objectives of the study To study the main causes of employee turnover; To compare the perception of men and women teachers about the job turnover; To study the impact of designation on job turnover; To study the relationship between job satisfaction and job turnover; and To suggest some measures to reduce job turnover and retain employees Hypothesis H(0) 1 There is no significant relationship between Gender and job turnover H(0) 2 There is no significant relationship between Designation and job turnover H(0) 3 There is no relationship between job satisfaction and job turnover. Research Methodology This study was restricted to Ludhiana district of Punjab (India) only. The sample size was 50 employee respondents of private schools. For the purpose of selection of respondents, convenient sampling technique was used. Quota was fixed before getting the questionnaire 228
filled that ratio between men and women would be 1:3. Fifteen items were used to data collection of QWL in terms of job satisfaction and all statements were positive. A five-point scale with 1 being strongly disagree and being 5 strongly agree was used. To compare the perception of men and women teachers about the job turnover and to study the impact of designation on job turnover Chi square test was used. To know the relationship between job satisfaction and job turnover Karl Pearson coefficient correlation was used. Data analysis A total of 50 respondents participated in the survey (Table 3). Majority of the respondent were married (36), majority of respondent were getting salary upto Rs. 20,000, Majority of the respondent were from urban stratum (33), Majority of the respondent had respondent were professional degree. Mostly the respondents were of < 25 age group and most of them (21) have been working from 16-25 years. Table 3 respondent Profile Educational Graduate 15 Tenure 0-5 18 Qualification Post graduate 9 6-15 20 Professional degree 26 16-25 21 Urban 33 Income <20,000 35 Stratum Rural 17 21,000-30,000 15 Age <25 18 Marital Married 36 25-30 9 status single 14 30-40 17 Gender Female 25 >=40 6 Male 25 From the table 4 it was cleared that work life imbalance is the main cause of employee job turnover followed by job satisfaction the second major cause of turnover among all the ten factors. Job security is the third major cause followed by the other causes. The reason behind it may be that in India employees have to play multiple roles as child/elder care, household work and some extra work of schools and like western countries in India there is no job security in 229
private sector. The main reason of job dissatisfaction may be that in private schools the salary is not given according to the skill and ability. Table 4 Causes of job turnover among School Teachers Variables Frequency % age Variables Frequency % ag e Job satisfaction 15 30 Job security 5 10 Job involvement 4 8 Work life imbalance 9 18 Location 2 4 Organisation s reputation 3 6 Lack of motivation 3 6 Family issue as child/elder 4 8 care Unequal treatment 3 6 Poor relations with colleagues 2 4 Source: Primary data from survey. Relationship between gender and job turnover (Table 5 and 6 Inference) Relationship between gender and job turnover using Chi Square Test H(0) 1 There is no significant relationship between Gender and job turnover. Table 5 showed that to know the impact of gender on job turnover, chi square Test was used. The formula of Chi Square Test was used to know the expected values as: Calculation of Chi Square Test: Level Of significance =5% Degree of freedom= (r-1)*(c-1) = (5-1)*(2-1) =4*1=1 Table Value=9.49 Calculated value= 7.878 (see Table 6) Decision: As the calculated value is less than the tabulated value so Null hypothesis is accepted i.e. there is no significant relationship between Gender and job turnover. 230
Table 5 Relationship between Gender and Job Turnover SAMZODHANA Journal of Management Research Gender Male Female Total QWL Strongly agree 3(4) 5(4) 8 Agree 4(3) 2(3) 6 Neutral 3(1.5) 0(1.5) 3 Strongly Disagree 8(10) 12(10) 20 Disagree 7(6.5) 6(6.5) 13 Total 25 25 50 *significant value at 95% level of significance Table 6 calculation of Chi Square value Observed frequency (O) Expected Frequency(E) (O-E)2/E 3 4 1 4 3 1 3 1.5 1.5 8 10.4 7 6.5.039 5 4 1 2 3 1 0 1.5 1.5 12 10.4 6 6.5.039 Calculated Value 7.878 Relationship between gender and job turnover (Table 7 and 8Inference) Relationship between Designation and job turnover using Chi Square Test H (0) 2 There is no significant relationship between Gender and job turnover. Similarly as in the above hypothesis researcher had used Chi Square now again Chi square had used to test the H(0) 2. Table 7 showed that to know the impact of gender on job turnover, chi square Test was used. Calculation of Chi Square Test: Level Of significance =5% Degree of freedom= (r-1) *(c-1) = (5-1)*(2-1) =4*1=1 Table Value=9.49 231
Calculated value= 4.5926 (see Table 8) SAMZODHANA Journal of Management Research Decision: As the calculated value is less than the tabulated value so Null hypothesis is accepted i.e. there is no significant relationship between designation and job turnover. Table 7 Relationship between Designation and Job Turnover Mistress Lecturer Total Designation QWL Strongly agree 3(2.5) 2(2.5) 5 Agree 2(1.5) 1(1.5) 3 Neutral 3(1.5) 0(1.5) 3 Strongly Disagree 10(11.5) 13(11.5) 23 Disagree 7(8) 9(8) 16 Total 25 25 50 Table 8 calculation of Chi Square value Observed frequency (O) Expected Frequency(E) (O-E)2/E 3 2.5.1 2 1.5.17 3 1.5.17 10 11.5.19 7 8 1 2 2.5.1 1 1.5.167 0 1.5 1.5 13 11.5.1956 9 8 1 Calculated Value 4.5926 Relationship between job satisfaction and job turnover (Table 9) Relationship between job satisfaction and job turnover using Karl pearson coefficient correlation. H (0) 3 There is no significant relationship between job satisfaction and job turnover. Table 9 revealed that there is strong negative relationship between job satisfaction and job turnover; it showed that if employees will satisfy from their job they will never leave the organization. So null hypothesis that there is no relationship between job satisfaction and job 232
turnover is rejected, this result was consistent with a previous research study conducted by Muhammad et al. in 2010. Table 9 Pearson s Correlation Matrix Job Satisfaction Employee Turnover Job Satisfaction 1-0.878 Employee Turnover -0.878 1 Significant at 0.01%. Recommendations 1. To increases the job satisfaction level of employee s salary should be according to the ability, skill and work load of the teacher. 2. Flexible work options and crèche facility should be provided to the teacher within the campus. 3. Management should treat the teacher as they are the internal part of the school and should motivate them. Never remind them that they are working in a private institute where they have no job security because under this pressure they can never perform well. 4. The employees should involve in decision making in the matters where the decisions are concerned to the employee s life. 5. The is strong negative relationship between job satisfaction and job turnover so management authorities should find all means by which it can satisfied it s employees. Conclusion Performance of a school depends on the quality, skills or expertise of its teacher. A committed, loyal and skilled worker may be an asset for any organization. If a teacher who is master in his subject, popular among teacher, has better knowledge of child and teaching pedagogy leave the school the cost will be very high. The results showed that job satisfaction is the major cause of job turnover followed by work life balance and job security and rest of the causes. The 233
perception of men and women respondent was same about their job turnover causes and designation had no impact on the job turnover causes. The results also revealed that there was strong negative relationship between job satisfaction and job behavior. So management authorities should be alert the factors that increase the level of job satisfaction and they should also assure the employees about the job security because nobody would like to remains at a place where he/she has no security of job whenever they see a better opportunity before them they would immediately go for this without much thinking. Flexible work life balance policies should also provided to the employees for their better adjustment in the organization. References 1. Borzaga, C., & Tortia, E., 2006, Worker motivations, job satisfaction, and loyalty in public and nonprofit social services, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Vol.35, PP.225-248. 2. Ellickson, M. C., 2002, Determinants of job satisfaction of municipal government employees, Public Personnel Management, Vol.31, PP.343-359. 3. Forsyth, S., and Polzer-Debruyne, A., 2007, The Organisational Pay-offs for Perceived Work Life Balance Support, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, vol. 45, No.1, PP.113 123. 4. Muhammad et al.,2010, Examining The Relationship Ofwork Life Balance, Job Satisfaction and Turnover In Pakistan, Oida International Journal of Sustainable Development Vol.2, No.01, PP. 27-33 5. Wright, B. E., & Davis, B. S., 2003, Job satisfaction in the public sector: The role of the work environment, American Review of Public Administration, Vol.33, PP. 70-90. 6. Zheng et al., 2010, A critical review of employee turnover model (1938-2009) and development in perspective of performance, African Journal of Business Management Vol. 4, No. 19, pp. 4146-4158, December Special Review, 2010. 234