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Essay / Employee Retention in the Hospitality Industry
Table of ContentsIntroductionRetentionWork-life balanceJob satisfaction and career advancementCompensationTraining and developmentConclusionIntroductionThis study provides a review of past literature, dated primarily from the last two decades, providing a historical and current understanding of employee retention and how it is perceived as a challenge for the hospitality industry, while explicitly detailing the factors that contribute to employee turnover or retention within the hospitality industry. These factors include aspects of work-life balance, job satisfaction and career advancement, compensation, training and development, all of which are common and recurring themes across the vast quantity of literature relating to retention in particular and particularly for hospitality organizations. Say no. to plagiarism. Get Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original EssayRetentionEmployee retention is one of the most critical issues faced by managers in organizations due to labor shortage -skilled labor, economic growth and high employee turnover in almost all industries. It is therefore of utmost importance that managers recognize and appreciate the importance of retaining talented employees within their organization for as long as possible and develop strategies to this effect. Although employee retention is a major issue for many organizations, it remains largely understudied and overlooked. There is a limited amount of research that identifies and establishes the connection between an employee's retention and the organization's retention efforts. High employee turnover and low retention rates are a constant source of concern for organizations. They therefore require further research and interrogation among hospitality academics. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, employee retention refers to “the extent to which an employer retains its employees”. and may be measured as the proportion of employees with specified length of service (usually one year or more) expressed as a percentage of the overall workforce.” Many sources in the literature describe a similar concept of retention. Workforce Planning, Wisconsin State Government (2005); defined employee retention as “a systematic effort to create and foster an environment that encourages employees to retain their jobs, by implementing policies and practices that meet their diverse needs.” Cardy and Lengnick-Hall (2011) summarized employee retention simply as an organization's ability to retain its employees. Retention levels vary widely across industries and occupations within those particular industries. The hotel industry, however, has the highest turnover rate. Consequently, they also have the lowest retention rate, particularly and unsurprisingly within hotels. This is due to its "unattractive nature", particularly with regard to negative perceptions of the industry, regarding perceived low wages, unpleasant work, inflexible working hours and little or no employment opportunities. career advancement for its employees. by Deloitte (2015); it was identified that the hospitality and tourism sector had the highest turnover rate of around 30% in the UK. Significantly higher than thenational average turnover rate of only 13%. On the other hand, the annual retention rate within the sector is estimated to be just 70%, which is considerably lower than the UK average of 85%. Workforce firm Deputy (2018) identified the industry's low wages, inconvenient schedules, and lack of career progression as the top three indicators of low retention rates. The data reinforces the idea that organizations must focus on retaining their most valuable and talented employees. employees as it becomes increasingly difficult to recruit qualified employees even more so, due to the United Kingdom's imminent exit from the European Union. Therefore, the focus should be on managing the talent that already exists within the organization. Panoch (2001) recognizes that it is of utmost importance for organizations to secure their current skilled workforce and appreciate their value, as good employees are increasingly difficult to find. As in many industries, retention remains one of the biggest challenges for the hospitality sector. industry. It is undeniably difficult to be able to recruit and retain employees, particularly due to the demand within the industry and the need for skilled workers, the supply of which is limited due to the aforementioned negative reputation and the nature of the 'industry. In studies carried out by Mobley et al (1979), they considered a variety of factors that had a significant impact on employee retention, specifying the determining factors to include compensation and career advancement, this which documents the historical impact of these factors and the lack of progress in the hospitality industry. industry. In recent years, these boundaries have expanded to include family life and other life responsibilities outside the workplace, now widely referred to as "work-life balance." Reaffirmed by Dawson et al., (2011) occupations in the hospitality sector are generally considered to be low paid, with long and irregular working hours, a lack of job security and minimal opportunities for career advancement. career. Factors, all of which have a notable and significant impact on an employee's retention. These key factors should be the focal points of HR practitioners within these organizations, as the retention of promising talent is fundamental to organizational success and achieving competitive advantage. As the literature shows, the retention of an employee is not determined by a single factor, but a number of issues concern and impact their decision-making, regarding their retention, because management must emphasize the implementation of strategic methods. employee retention by focusing on issues that affect employee retention within the organization. Here are the factors that have been well documented and cited in the literature as being most important in identifying the causes of low retention rates. based on level of work-life balance, compensation and rewards, training and development as well as job satisfaction and perceived lack of career advancement. Work-life balance has become an increasingly interesting concept over the past 15 years, due to concerns arising from an unbalanced work life, including reduced health and performance issues for both employees and employees. employers. Work-life balance has been described as “the extent to which an individual is engaged – and also satisfied – with their roleprofessional and his family role. “Attracting and retaining talented people is becoming increasingly difficult due to demographic factors and psychological trends” implying that management within industries must take into account the needs of employees. These days, work-life balance is an increasingly important factor in employee retention. Mainstream literature on this concept has begun to grow, but this concept is not emphasized and little literature on this topic has emerged specifically in the hospitality industry. Long and antisocial working hours within the hospitality industry have also been well documented in research. than casual work and the low wages received for doing so. Often, work-life balance has been seen as a "privilege" by employers, including having adequate amounts of leave, workplace flexibility and support from superiors in favor of a balance between professional and private life. If an employee suffers from a significant lack of work-life balance, this may become evident through their work and performance, employees with busy work schedules and poor work-life balance are less focused on their work and display reduced professional performance. With work-life balance being a growing issue in society, organizations need to do more through their human resources. Ministry of Human Resources to ensure that it has practices and policies in place to support such a move for their employees, thereby reducing the number and repetition of invasive work hours, ensuring that employees are not forced to sacrifice their personal lives, their social lives and their commitments (Lewis, 2010). A survey by YouGov and Representative (2018) found that 55% of employees said greater control over their work lives and work schedules would help more workers stay in the hospitality industry. Work-life balance has been seen as a key strategy for retaining staff, particularly the most talented employees within an organization – increasingly recognized as a key retention factor. Maxwell (2006) noted that not only would implementing such strategies affecting flexible working hours, accommodations and appropriate breaks address work-life balance issues, but it would also positively influence intention to work. an employee to stay in an organization. encourages and enables an employee to be able to fully assume their responsibilities and contribute to their personal life and fulfilling these commitments increases the likelihood of employee retention. It was noted that there is a direct relationship between having a work-life balance and retention – the organization must place emphasis on creating and establishing a “harmonious” relationship between both. a constant source of concern within the hospitality industry, again it must be a constant subject of questioning for academics. It is very important to emphasize work-life balance strategies, in order to influence an employee's level of satisfaction in their professional role. The connection between work-life balance and job satisfaction is an extremely important approach to retention. his work or professional experience. It can also be explained as "the pleasant emotional state resulting fromthe evaluation of one's work as making it possible to achieve or facilitate the achievement of the values of one's job. Therefore, any dissatisfaction stems from an employee harboring negative emotional states regarding their job. This is of crucial importance in the hospitality industry, due to its existing reputation, as noted. An employee's level of satisfaction with their job is influenced by several aspects, including that of their salary, work environment, communication levels and organizational commitment instilled within the sector. employees by the organization. It has even been established in the literature on this topic that there is a distinct relationship between an employee's job satisfaction and their turnover intentions; the hypothesis being that a significantly high level of job satisfaction therefore leads to lower levels of employee intention to leave an organization. Scholars have even gone so far as to refer to job satisfaction as an important and primary determinant of an employee's intention to quit. The link between satisfaction and turnover intentions has been well documented, so it is the responsibility of human resources practitioners to recognize it. relate and address any existing dissatisfaction with operational and organizational procedures currently practiced within an organization. Again, job satisfaction is a significant indicator of an employee's intention to quit, alongside a host of other factors that include wages, hours, and other job-related variables – both of which are very important in preventing potential departures. It has been theorized that salary or (lack of) can negatively impact retention within the hospitality industry, and even lead to job dissatisfaction and consequently; even turnover. In addition to the notion of “Remuneration” in relation to the retention of an employee; another closely related influencing factor is the topic of “career advancement”. It appears that appropriate salary and salary initiatives have a great influence on staff retention, as does ensuring career development opportunities for employees. Yang (2012) found in his sample that among a large majority of employees, those who resigned did so because of opportunities for career advancement elsewhere; as well as offering much more than just career opportunities, as a strategy to attract and retain. This is supported by Rolfe (2005) who in his research observed that there is a direct relationship between an employee's career development opportunities and their retention. Highlighting the importance that personal and professional growth has on an employee and that promotional opportunities increase the likelihood and commitment of remaining in one's professional role and current organization. retention. Thus, demonstrating that compensation is another important factor to take into account when talking about employee retention. The topic of compensation, salary, reward or benefits is a theme that continually appears in the literature, with many authors having divergent opinions, which need to be explored in more detail. It has been reported by Kifle (2014) that an employee's overall satisfaction arises from their salary, and their salary relative to others, the possibility of increasing one's rank, via career advancement for example, as well as the Salary increases have a greater impact on indicating overall satisfaction with their organization. Echoing this sentiment, Jung and Yoon (2015) are.