04. Causes affecting the turnover decision.

  

 In a previous article about the HRM issues, I have mentioned the causes for employee turnover in the global context 

( Read the article from this link:  Prevailing HRM issues in the printing industry  )

In this Article I will discuss those causes further with regard to the Sri Lankan Printing industry.

Employee turnover and retention.

    Attracting and retaining talent is a significant employment issue in many organizations. The factors influencing employee turnover and job retention for business growth have been considerably researched. Frequent staff turnover can cause problems such as low performance and organizational instability, and it wastes financial resources. It has been established that job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention affect the job retention rate. Many ways to improve job satisfaction, and thus influence job retention and employee turnover, have been identified. Psychological factors, performance inducements, and financial rewards have all been used to avoid or reduce frequent employee turnover.

Herzberg's two-factor motivation theory

     Motivating employees can help create a pleasant and productive workplace and increase job satisfaction which ultimately leads to employee retention. The Herzberg theory states that certain elements within a workplace lead to job satisfaction, while others lead to dissatisfaction. Herzberg developed the theory to understand an employee's attitude better and drive toward the job. He interviewed workers about their experiences at work, both positive and negative, to learn what made them happy and what made them unhappy. He proposed that two categories of factors, motivators and hygienic factors are related to an individual's level of job satisfaction.

The two factors in this theory are

• Motivators: Which can encourage employees to work harder.
• Hygiene factors: These won’t encourage employees to work harder but they will cause them to become unmotivated if they are not present.
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So, What's really affecting the turnover decision in Sri Lankan Printing industry?

• Lack of purpose and Limited space to career advancement.

    The majority of printing establishments considered in this study operate with a limited number of employees. Most of the time, they just have one employee for a specific job role. With these limited conditions the advancing of the job role or position is almost impossible. Employees have to stay at the same job for a very long time. Salaries and other benefits could improve over the time but the rate will be lower than expectation.  As a solution to this, employees with some experience and skill keep looking for opportunities with higher benefits at other companies.

 

• Excessive workload.

    This could happen due a number of reasons

• Not having enough number of employees.
• Poor workload management.
• Lack of skill of the them or supporting staff.
• Lack of enthusiasm of the team members.
• Pressure form the customers. 

    Workload management is a crucial part in this context. It is the process of assigning work to a team in a way that distributes the load optimally among the available resources.

    Excessive workload can lead to many problems, both in terms of physical health and mental health. The physical deterioration is only one of the end results. Employees that have an excessive workload experience poor work-life balance, increased stress, and poor employee performance. 

• Working environment conditions.

    The physical location, and immediate surrounds of a workplace (including characteristics such as air quality, noise level, and so on) as well as the perks and rewards associated with an employment, can be considered as the work environment.

Physical conditions 

    This is a factor that is frequently overlooked in most Sri Lankan factories. Particularly in mid- and low-level establishments. Keeping a clean, safe, and appealing workplace is not regarded as priority for the proprietors.

    If we take a closer look at the printing workshops, we observe that the machinery is inevitably noisy. Workplaces that are strewn with excess ink residue, empty containers, cut off and defective material, and oil and grease residue may make the work environment less and less inviting to employees. Chemicals used for cleaning the machinery, diluting or developing  inks, sometimes ink itself can be be hazardous to workers if not handled and stored properly. Keeping these in order is essentially the duty of the staff, but the initiation, necessary training, and regulating remain as the responsibility of management.

Psychological conditions

    Psychological conditions include elements affecting employees' general wellbeing. as well as the trust and bond between the employee and the organization.

• Remuneration and benefits

    This includes not only the base salary but also any bonuses, commission payments, overtime pay, or other financial benefits provided by a company. Extra benefits may or may not be included in employee compensation. In printing industry there isn't any standard predefined salary rate for any of the jobs. Employee compensations may vary depending on the state and capacity of the company.

• Relationship with management

    A smooth employer employee relationship also plays a remarkable role in shaping the future of both parties. It is not difficult to maintain a fair bond and understanding in smaller businesses with a limited number of employees. It may take a little time to build up but will definitely lead to Increased productivity as well as a healthy and conflict free work environment.

• Feedback and recognition

    Offering recognition not only makes employees feel accomplished and appreciated, but it also reinforces good performance and encourages employees to continue repeating the actions that led to the high performance. 

References:

Herzberg's motivation theory – two factor theoryif(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[336,280],'expertprogrammanagement_com-box-3','ezslot_6',176,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-GPT-ad-expertprogrammanagement_com-box-3-0'); (2019) Expert Program Management. Available at: https://expertprogrammanagement.com/2018/04/herzbergs-two-factor-theory/ (Accessed: December 5, 2022).

Herzberg's theory: A guide for boosting employee motivation (no date). Available at: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/herzberg-theory (Accessed: December 4, 2022).