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The industry for many years has suffered with the overhanging reputation for a very high level of Barbour turnover. In 1993 the Hotel and Catering Training Board (WHICH) published its report Manpower Flows in the Hotel and Catering Industry. It found the following gross turnover rates: managers 1 9%, supervisors 94%, craftspeople 55% and operatives 65%. Cafe’s and public houses had the highest rates of losses, caused largely by young people using the sector as an interval between school and full time work (Bella and Goes-Turner, 2013).
Goes-Turner (2002) Wrote in his Managing People guide that the estimated costs of labor turnover are a graphic illustration of the hidden financial ruder of having to replace an employee. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CUPID), in its report on labor turnover published in 2007, has fixed this at a minimum of E 1000 for an unskilled manual worker, up to EYE for a qualified, experienced managerial employee. One of the main determinants predicted to have a significant role in an individual’s decision to leave an organization is that of the turnover culture.
This variable has often been alluded to in the literature on labor turnover, but has been largely untested. This is quite surprising given that the hospitality industry has en characterized in terms of high turnover rates, a part-time and casual workforce, an absence of an internal labor market – I. E. Low job security, promotional opportunity and career development, plus low wages and low skills levels. Turnover culture is best characterized as the acceptance of turnover as part of the work- group norm.
That is, it is a normative belief held by employees that turnover behavior is quite appropriate. The concept is grounded in both the absence culture literature (legend and Hollowness, 1977; Mortician, 1994) and the organizational culture research (Cooke and Rousseau, 1988). Turnover culture can have an impact on the organization in a negative way by acting as a counterculture to the organization’s main objectives (Cooke and Rousseau, 1988). This is especially true when objectives such as quality of service and reduced costs are used as sources of competitive advantage (Iverson, 2007).
Many smaller employers cannot offer careers or career progression so employees naturally move from one job to the next although they generally remain within the industry, which can be described as ‘transient workers’. Some refer to this as ‘Circulation’ as opposed to ‘Turnover’, due to the employees not being lost to the industry (Bella and Goes-Turner, 2013). There has been a significant amount of research into the causes and impacts of high levels of labor turnover, much of the discussion debating the advantages as well as the disadvantages or dysfunctional of such levels.
In many cases, employers recruit directly from the secondary labor market, I. E. Workers who are not committed to a particular industry. Many workers such as school leavers, students and ‘long- term tourists’ are seeking short-term employment, or sometimes just to earn loudly money or to learn the language, before starting their studies or returning home. Among some employers, particularly in the fast food sector, there is very high level of turnover, often attracting candidates experiencing their first entry into the job market, but labor turnover is anticipated and can be managed (People 1st, 2011).
It is important to note that there can be some advantages of a healthy level of labor turnover, such as labor market regeneration, skills development and the ‘fresh blood’ argument. There can be many causes of high turnover exemplified by pay and conditions, lack of ointment, lack of job satisfaction; Robbins and Coulter (1996) stated that job satisfaction is employees’ general attitude toward their jobs. A number of studies have shown that new employees’ expectations Of the job itself, whether met or unmet, influence their subsequent job satisfaction (Greenhouse et al, 1983; Wantons et al, 1992).
Job satisfaction is found to be a significant predictor of organizational commitment (Knops, 1 995; Vandenberg & Lance, 1992) and an important factor for turnover intentions among employees (George & Jones, 1996; Olin & West, 1993). Another study assumed that job satisfaction affects organizational commitment and that organizational commitment affects turnover intention (Brown & Peterson, 1993). Having said that, the direction of causation among these is the subject of debate (Mathieu & Jack, 1 990; Teat & Meyer, 1993).
Regarding the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment and turnover intention, lack of training and career. Development, work related stress and the plain inevitability of high turnover due to the transient nature of many hospitality workers (Bella and Goes-Turner, 2013). Management and heir style and competencies, are not exempt from blame, although managers are certainly increasingly aware of the potential costs and service quality problems associated with high turnover (Rowley and Purcell, 2001).
There is also evidence that rates of turnover vary between sectors in the industry (Deem 2002). Developing an employee retention strategy is one step organizations can take to avoid high levels of turnover. As well as keeping costs under control, best practice retention objectives that support resounding and business goals will also strengthen the internal employer brand and Hereford contribute to the organization’s ability to attract new talent.
Overall, organizations reported having the same level of employee retention difficulties as last year: 80% versus 78% in the 2006 survey. This high level Of retention difficulties is reported across industry sectors (CUPID, 2008). Organizations that enjoy low labor turnover often employ formal ordainment strategies. The objective of one such strategy is to hire the right individual with the right skills, attitude and knowledge for the job.
To accomplish this, enhanced recruitment practices are used (Go et al, 1996). Many successful companies are aware that recruitment errors, because they lead to high staff turnover, can be very costly towards the business. Thus these firms seek to reduce the turnover and its related costs by investing significant resources to ensure that appropriate recruits are selected (Beam, 1996). Some organizations manage employee turnover by employing active strategies designed to keep employees satisfied and motivated.
Such strategies include; offering attractive rewards and benefits, including loyalty and performance bonus payments, providing good employees with promotion opportunities wrought training and development, maintaining positive and supportive working environments to enhance employee motivation, maintaining positive and supportive working environments to enhance employee motivation, creating flexible employee orientated working conditions, reducing stress through appropriate job design, providing good welfare and social support systems, implementing effective communication and interpersonal interaction systems and developing rapid and effective conflict resolution processes (Bella and Goes-Turner, 2013). Performance appraisal refers to he assessment of employee performance. It is an essential part of organizational life, regardless of type of the organization or sector. In the hospitality industry, performance appraisal has not historically been treated as an integral part of HARM (Deere, 2002). Those organizations that have engaged in performance appraisal at all have usually done so only on a subjective basis.
However, today, performance appraisal is recognized as a crucial part of the total HER system, which includes job analysis, preparation of job descriptions, provision of feedback through performance reviews and training. Managers have become more aware Of the close link between performance appraisal and the issue of how to retain skilled and committed employees (Go, 1996). When discussing career opportunities employees should be given the chance to relate to their employers their ambitions how and they view their futures within the organization (Bella, 2005). Employee input in conjunction with the employees performance ratings and the projected human resource needs of the organization, should for a basis for establishing the career paths of those individuals who wish to advance in the organization (Beam, 1996).
Managers in progressive service-orientated companies in the hospitality and tourism industry recognize and respond to the need for effective and equitable performance appraisal systems in their HARM strategies. They know that performance appraisals are effective tools that can help them achieve such goals as; allocate resources effectively, reward employees and managers for their individual contributions, give employees and managers feedback about their work, maintain fair relationships within groups and organization, coach and develop employees and comply with equal employment opportunity legislation where appropriate. Thus these managers strive to design appropriate reward systems and conduct performance appraisals that are positive, regular and equitable (Beam, 1996).
After reviewing other retention strategies within the hospitality industry to reduce employee turnover, some general conclusions can be drawn; An organization must first specifically identify the nature of the turnover problem before implementing any tactics to deal with the problem, Organizations in the hospitality industry could pay more attention to recruitment and selection thereby ensuring that the organization has the ends of human resources that have a high probability of being and staying successful within the organization, Strategies that have been implemented to reduce turnover need to be better evaluated, The hospitality industry can learn from the examples taken from other industries,