Affiliated School;
Hypothesis; Management motivation has a positive impact on staff retention in a workplace
Abstract
Employee productivity, need to learn and eventually the time period that he stays in a particular workplace is determined by the environment in which he is exposed to. Naturally employees have a need to feel motivated and challenged; however when these two factors are absent, employees end up leaving the company (Chandrasekar. 2011). It is the role of management to ensure that employees are constantly motivated it can be by challenging them, increasing their salaries or increase in the roles that the employee plays. This gives the employee a reason to improve their performance and it will lead to staff retention in the long run.
Introduction
Staff retention is extent to which an employer can hire, train and maintain employees over a long period of time. It is highly encouraged because it increases output per worker and improves efficiency. Staff retention also improves relation with the clients as they will be accustomed to the same employees and will be able to establish a friendly relationship with them (Leblebici, 2012).
Management motivation increases the performance of employees because it acts as a form of incentive, however most of the time it is associated with financial increase in the rewards given to the employees (Govindarajulu, 2004). This leads to a mechanical relationship between management and staff and leads to decrease in innovation at the workplace. Management motivation in employees can be established through the following ways;
- Feedback
This is feedback from management on the performance of their employees. It should be done more often than annually; this is because waiting until the end of an year in order to point out the mistakes done by an employee will de-motivate them. Constant feedback will ensure immediate correction of a mistake done by an employee and will give them a chance to learn something new (Govindarajulu, 2004). It will also give a chance to the management to commend good performance by an employee immediately after they have done a positive deed.
The content of the feedback should also very well analyzed, as much as it should consist of constructive critism, there should be positive remarks that will show that the efforts of the employees are appreciated by the employer.
- Flexibility
Employees should not always be overwhelmed with roles and responsibility that will prevent them from fulfilling their personal responsibilities. This, at times, can make employees to leave their work as they will feel they are unable to meet their personal obligations (Leblebici, 2012). In this case management should adopt a method that analyzes the output per worker not in terms of the quantity of time spent at work but the quantity of output.
This will motivate employees to do more and at the same time meet their personal obligation; the employees will be able to strike a balance between their careers and personal life. The employer should also allow employees to achieve personal goals like studying to earn a higher degree or entry into a new field.
- Responsibility
When an employee feels that he plays a important role in a company, they feel appreciated and needed and will be willing to stick around more. However when employees feel they are underutilised they will be dissatisfied in their work and will leave in search for a place where they are properly utilised.
At the same time, management should ensure that there is a healthy work environment that fosters competition among the employees as it will increase performance and innovation, increasing the performance of the company.
- Compensation and Reward
A good compensation package shows employees that they are really appreciated by the company. It allows them to be able to easily meet their needs. A good compensation package also ensures that employees will not leave the company, as they will require to be awarded the same compensation in the new company. This gives the company a competitive advantage in terms of staff retention as their employees will not leave the company.
While money cannot be used to retain staff, it can give the employees a luxurious lifestyle that they may not be willing to part with. The financial increase in income can be accompanied with bonuses, medical insurance and holiday packages.
- Efficiency
Employee assignment of a particular role or promotions should be based on technical qualifications and relevant successful experience. This is mostly the role of the human resource department; it should be established from the beginning of employment. Human resource should always make the proper announcements for a job opening giving the required qualifications. Proper screening should lead to short listing of candidates who meet at lead 75% of the qualifications (Clements-Croome, 2000).
Employees who are properly qualified for a role will not have a hard time meeting the set goals and will be an advantage to the company as opposed to hiring someone who is not properly qualifies. Underperformance will make the company to fire the employee and staff retention will not be established.
Effects of poor employee retention
- Cost ineffectiveness – the entry of a new workforce will cost the company the cost of internal and external training in order for them to become efficient and to aid them in delivering as per the expectations.
- Decrease in company performance- employees who have stayed in a company for a long time can be able to perform effectively, however if the employees leave and new ones are hired, there will be a decrease in performance of the company. The new employees are not accustomed to the work culture of the company.
- Poor employee loyalty- employee loyalty increases innovation, increases the company market share control because the employees are willing to put in extra effort. Lack of employee loyalty leads to embezzlement, corruption and poor performance by the employees (Clements-Croome, 2000). The company is likely to experience financial losses as a result.
Employees will also lack responsibility and accountability; this will lead to mistakes at work that will not be corrected as no one will be ready to own up to it.
In order to ensure that management has properly motivated employees the following cycle should be followed;
- Proper interviews and hiring of qualified employees for a particular in the company should be conducted by the human resource department.
- An in-house research should be conducted in order to determine the likes, dislikes and challenges the employees are experiencing at work.
- A good and competitive compensation package should be offered to the employees.
- Non- financial compensation in terms of responsibility and role assignment especially in decision making should be given to the employees who are performing well for the company (Leblebici, 2012).
- All distractions should be removed from the workplace in order for the employees to operate at their best.
References
Chandrasekar. K. (2011). Workplace Environment and its Impact on Organizational Performance in Public Sector Organizations, International Journal Of Enterprise Computing and Business Systems, Vol:1,Issue:1
Clements-Croome, D., Kaluarachchi, Y. (2000) An Assessment of the Influence of the In-door Environment on the Productivity of Occupants in Offices Design, Construction and Operation of Healthy Buildings ,pp.6781. Govindarajulu N, Bonnie, F. Daily. (2004). Motivating Employees for Environmental Improvement. Industrial Management and Data Systems, 104 (4), pp. 364-372.
Leblebici, D. PhD Candidate. (2012). Impact of Workplace Quality on Employee’s Productivity: Case Study of a Bank in Turkey, Journal of Business and Economic Finance, ISSN 2146-7943, Volume 1, Issue , Okan University, Turkey
