EMPLOYEE RETENTION STRATEGIES AFFECTING JOB PERFORMANCE AND HIGH TURNOVER

RATE REDUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND

INTRODUCTION/ BACKGROUND:
Employees are the main asset of an organization. The importance of retaining skilled
employees who are mostly desired in the organization is undeniable. In this era of
competitiveness, innovation and modernisation, issues of employee retention emerge as
critical for management due to its impact. Today employee retention is the top priority of
organization due to competition in the hospitality industry. Employee management is
considered the greatest asset to the company thus retention must be efficient and productive
(Bagga, 2013). Employee retention involves taking measures to encourage employees to
remain in the organization for the maximum period of time. Hiring knowledgeable people for
the job is essential for managers. But retention is even more important than hiring. Most
organisations are looking for qualified employees. Retention is not only important to reduce
turnover costs incurred by a company to recruit and train, but also the need of retaining
employees is more important to retain talented employees from getting poached. The
competencies and skills of the worker have become an extremely vital competitive advantage
in current business scenarios. Importance of human resources has increased, firstly, because of
their scarcity and secondly due to an increasing demand by the growing number of business
units seeking quality talent. HR department has played a key role in designing the policies and
practices which can enable an organization to retain the human resources contributing
significantly to the business (Mwasaru & Kingi, 2015). For individual organisations, staff
turnover is an excellent benchmark indicator of the success or failure of the organisation's
recruitment and retention efforts. Employers with high staff turnover compared to other
similar organisations may need to question their approach in these areas.

The aim of this study is to examine strategies that improve employee retention, reduce
employee turnover and affect work performance. The specic objectives are first, to investigate
signicant talent management system and second,throw more light on factors that influence
high employee turnover. Furthermore, suggest employee retention strategy in order to
improve employee morale and to reduce turnover cost and knowledge loss that impacts
organisational efficiency and effectiveness.

This research will help in establishing the relationship of employee retention strategies on
organisational competitive advantage in the hotel industry in Bay of Plenty whre it plays key
role in the growth of tourism sector contibutes in the growth of the social economy in New
Zealand.

This study is signicant because knowing employee management of effective strategies for
reducing turnover and affecting job satisfaction is paralled. It also avoids non-monetary costs
such as the loss of expertise, experience, knowledge and relationships (Hurley and Estelami,
2007). When it comes to dealing with clients and customers, the loyalty of the customer may lie
with the employee and not with the company. Hence, the client may follow the employee to
another organization when the employee resigns (Bateman, 2009), causing the employees
original organization to lose a client and future sales.

Workforce trends point to an impending shortage of highly skilled employees who have the
requisite knowledge and ability to perform at high levels. Organizations that fail to retain high
performers will be left with an understaffed, less qualified workforce that ultimately will hinder
their ability to remain competitive

According to NZ statistic (2017) StaffTurnover Survey across the New Zealand economy
amongs public and private sector , among 248 organisations participated, producing a high
response rate of approximately 11 percent of midsize and large employers in NZ. . Data was
collected in the fourth quarter of 2017, initiated by Lawson-Williamson Specialist Recruitment
in partenership with Huma Resouce New Zealand. Thois result for the last eight years is the in
large-scale survey of turnover in New Zealand showed 16.3 percent per annum across the
country and turnover costing 50 percent to 300 percent of base salary per person leaving
(depending on the job), staff turnover is a significant financial and productivity issue for
employers.
 is confined on theoretical basis tied to the job embeddedness (Mitchell et al., 2001), that
suggest greater the number of links to the organization, thus less likely employees are to quit.
In addition, if applicants have contacts within the organization, moreover understand the
advantages and disadvantages of their position. Hence, they are better able to engage (Rynes,
1991; Wanous, 1980), because their perceptions of fit with the job and the organization (Hom
& Griffeth, 1995; Premack & Wanous, 1985) are better informed. The ability to better assess fit,
in addition to more embedded social links, will likely increase the probability that employees
will remain with the organization.

About the 2014 NZ Staff Turnover Survey The objective was to survey staff turnover across

the New Zealand economy amongst all midsize and large employers, public and private sector
and in all regions. Data was collected in the fourth quarter of 2014. 248 organisations
participated, producing a high response rate of approximately 11 percent of midsize and large
employers in NZ.

The NZ Staff Turnover Survey, undertaken for the last eight years is the only large-scale survey
of turnover in New Zealand. It is run by Lawson Williams Specialist Recruitment in partnership
with the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand.

Cost and impact of staff turnover With the survey showing staff turnover running at 16.3

percent per annum across the country and turnover costing 50 percent to 300 percent of base
salary per person leaving (depending on the job), staff turnover is a significant financial and
productivity issue for employers.

Indeed, it's a 'silent killer' and is often under-rated because it never appears on any one line
item in an employer's budget. Financial losses caused by turnover are primarily those of lost
productivity and that hits on the bottom-line total.

It's an important economic issue, with national ramifications for labour market, immigration
and education policies.