Professional Documents
Culture Documents
BY
QADRIA ALKANDARI
I
EMPLOYEES RETENTION IN PRIVATE SECTOR
BY
QADRIA ALKANDARI
Project paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of
master of business administration
II
Open University Malaysia
(2009)
DECLARATION
We hereby declare that this project paper is the result of my own work,
except for quotation and summaries which have been duly acknowledge.
III
QADRIA ALKANDARI MBA 2009 OUM
AMANI ABDULLAH HAMMAD MBA 2009 OUM
IV
APPLICATION TO CONDUCT RESEARCH PAPER
I
RESEARCH PAPER SUBMSSION FORM
Director
Open University of Malaysia (OUM)
Bahrain Branch
Dear Sir,
Attached are the following documents of your evaluation and approval
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Chapter 3: Research Method
Chapter 4: Data and Analysis
Chapter 5: Discussion
Chapter6: Summary and conclusion
References
Appendixes
We have thoroughly checked my work and we are confident that it is free from major
grammatical errors, weaknesses in sentence construction, spelling mistakes,
referencing mistake and others. We have checked with OUM MBA program
guideline for writing project paper and we are satisfied that the project paper
proposal satisfies most of its requirements.
Thank You,
We have read the student's research proposal and we are satisfied that it is line with
the OUM MBA program guideline for writing project proposal. It is also free from
major grammatical errors, sentence construction weaknesses, citation and others.
Supervisor's Signature:
II
DEDICATION
III
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
First and foremost, we would like to thank to Dr. Eisa Al-Jeran, without
his senior advices such work could not have been accomplished. Finally,
the interviews.
IV
ABSTRACT
development and the accomplishment of the organization’s goals and objectives. The
primary aim of this study is to explore the main factors that affect private sector
workforce retention in the state of Kuwait. 125 surveys distributed to private sector
The result of the study shows that benefits factors such as salary and compensation
were rated as most important to the private sector workforce in the state of Kuwait
followed by leave benefits and differed compensation. The three strategies rated most
reduction in Work schedule and alternative work schedule were rated as least
important. The culture of private sector organizations in state of Kuwait are based
on openness and trusts, effectively communication and good deal of time spent from
supervisor listening to employees ideas and suggestions. finally The result employees
career plan shows that high percentage of private sector workforce had no plans to
V
TABLE OF CONTENT
• ABSTRACT
CHAPTER 1
(INTRODUCTION)
• PROBLEM STATEMENT
• RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
• ORGANIZATION OF STUDY
CHAPTER 2
• LITERATURE REVIEW
CHAPTER 3
(RESEARCH METHODOLOGY)
• DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES
• METHODS
VI
CHAPTER 4
(DATA RESULTS)
DATA ANALYSIS
A. BENEFITS
B. STRATEGIES
C. ORGANIZATION CULTURE
E. CAREER PLANS
CHAPTER 5
(DISCUSSION)
CHAPTER 6
FUTURE STUDIES
REFERENCES
APPENDIX 1 - SURVEY
VII
LIST OF TABLE
VIII
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1:
Gender
Figure 2:
Age
Figure 3:
Years of Service
Figure 4:
Career plans
Figure 5:
Benefits
Figure 6: Strategies
IX
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
the nature of the present study and its objectives and purpose. It is divided into four
sections. The first section presents Background of the study the, the second part
presents the problem statement, the objective, purpose and significant of the study
reviled in the third section. The final section presents how this study is organized.
This study attempted to explore the main factors that contribute to employee
retention existing in the private sector in Kuwait. The next paragraphs discuss the
background of the study by clarifying the theoretical framework for the main
Today, changes in technology, global economics, trade agreements, and the like
the cornerstone of that relationship. The loss of talented employees may be very
detrimental to the company’s future success. Out standing employees may leave an
1996), and while trying to retain employees within the organization they may
present other challenges as well. They may demand higher wages, not comply with
1
organization practices, and not interact well with their coworkers or comply with
may take credit for the successes and deflect failures to other employees. This is
punish employees for an organization out come for which they had no impact (Kerr
1975).
selection by them (Gross man & Hart 1986). The better employees may move to
other organizations for better opportunities. The coworkers who cannot improve
their positions are more likely to stay. This is especially possible when due to
and productive workers end up receiving the same or nearly the same
distinguish talented employees from the rest of the labor force in the organization.
The problem of attempting to keep talented members of the work force is further
asymmetric in formation where both the manager does not know the information
for which to ask from the employee and the employee does not know what to
provide. Therefore, productive workers cannot distinguish them selves from non-
productive coworkers.
2
Even if an organization is fortunate enough to retain talented employees, the
company may still have to cope with agency costs resulting from them and their
gather, the employee may be motivated to act in his own interest which may
diverge from the interest of the organization. This divergence of interests results in
of job responsibilities and poor in vestment decision making. Jensen and Meckling
shirk job responsibilities of the firm if they are not sole owners of the organization.
Employees may also be enticed to make suboptimal in vestment decisions for the
firm. Since most company employees have their wealth tied up in the organization
for which they work, employees may at tempt to make in vestment decisions which
are less risky than the stock holders of the firm would prefer. This is done to
reduce the risk of failure by the company, which protects the no diversified
employee from loss of wealth. This in vestment strategy may also reduce the re
turn on investment that the diversified owners of the firm desire (Murphy 1985).
The employees or agents of the organization may also use a short sighted approach
The employee can signal the labor market his superiority through the selection of a
fast starting project, which may fizzle out later for the firm. This strategy may
cause the firm to miss profitable long-term projects or much needed research and
development. Employees may also at tempt to in crease the size of the firm through
acquisitions and project selection regard less of the effect on company profitability
3
Another area contributing to decreased employee satisfaction is that of a
company’s motivational style. For example, Weinberg (1997) states that “Most
companies relied in the past on two traditional strategies for managing turnover.
First, they raised wages until the situation stabilized. If that did not work, they
increased training budgets for new hires and first-level supervisors. These solutions
PROBLEM STATEMENT
and Schon, 1978). It is the understanding of the situation that provokes an action
through his or her own mental model, creating his or her own world; a reality of
the second order thus arises (Watzlawick, 1976) that is in some way imperfect
(Senge, 1990).
Many studies concerning employees retention have been conducted in mainly U.S
and Europe to determine the main factors that contribute to their satisfaction and
motivation to exist, few of these researches have conducted in Middle East, thus,
highly justifiable. One of the regions that lack such studies is the Gulf region
(Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Oman and Bahrain). It is
one of the most prosperous regions in the world (Azzam, 1989). In Kuwait, the
retention of private sector employees has not been fully addressed. Many questions
related to private sector workforce retention have not been reported yet. For
4
example, how are the private sector workforce aware of any retention efforts in
their agency? What make private sector workforce think about leaving their work?
How do private sector workforce feels unique about their agency’s retention
situation? Does private sector organizations discuss with the workforce specific
reasons why they were leaving or not? Do private sector workforce in know of
workforce?
Thus, the present study aimed to enhance our understanding and improve the
shortage of literature by focus on the state of Kuwait to explore the main private
sector workforce retention factors that lead to their existing in their work place.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
Thus, the present study aimed deepens our understanding and improve the shortage
summaries as follows:
• Explore what types of benefits those are most important for the private
• Explore the future plan of Private sector workforce that contribute to their
retention.
5
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study derives its significant from its potential contribution at two primary
levels: theoretical and practical. At the theoretical level, the present study is
employee's retention in the state of Kuwait. For the practical contributions, this
This paper aims to attempts to determine employee's retention in the private sector
in the state of Kuwait. The study designed to explore the main retention factors for
Private sector employees. The paper attempts to deepen our understanding about
ORGANIZATION OF STUDY
This study comprises six major chapters. Chapter I provide a discussion of nature,
background and problems of the study and its objectives. Chapter II presents an
extensive review of the literature on employee's intention for the purpose of laying
out the theoretical foundation of the study. Chapter III presents research
questions of the research and instrumentation. Chapter IIII presents the finding and
result of data analysis. Chapter V reveals the discussion of the study. Chapter VI
6
CHAPTER II
In this chapter, the previous studies for employee’s retentions are presented to be
employee’s intentions.
and recent definition for the concept of retention is “customer liking, identification,
first four being emotional-cognitive retention constructs, and the last two being
behavioral intentions” (Stauss et al., 2001). Studies have indicated that retention
The above mentioned definitions explain many situations in our contemporary life
while many employees are no longer having the sense of organization loyalty once
they leaved. Increasing numbers of organization mergers and acquisitions have left
employees feeling displeased from the companies that they work and haunted by
concerns of overall job security. As a result, employees are now making strategic
career moves to guarantee employment that satisfy their need for security.
On the other hand, employers have a need to keep their stuff from leaving or going
to work for other companies. This is true because of the great expenses associated
with hiring and retraining new employees. The adage, good help is hard to find, is
even truer these days than ever before because the job market is becoming
7
Literature of employees retaining again show that attracting existed employees
costs less than acquiring new talents as organizations know their employees and
what they want, and the initial cost of attracting the new employees has already
been expended (Davidow and Uttal, 1989). Employees retention also attain
1995), lower price sensitivity, positive word-of-mouth, higher market share, higher
intentions to exist, for example Eskildsen and Nussler (2000) in their research
maintain a successful business. In the same bases, Mark Parrott (2000), Anderson
and Sullivan (1993) and Rust and Zahorik (1993) believe that, there is a straight
satisfaction has been associated to retention of both customers and employees. The
literature of employee retention clearly explain that satisfied employees who are
happy with their jobs are more devotion to doing a good job and vigorous to
Denton 2000). Employees who are satisfied have higher intentions of persisting
with their organization, which results in decreased turnover rate (Mobley et al.,
1979). Fishbein and Ajzen’s (1975) attest the theory of reasoned action as the heart
retention of both the employee and the customer links between satisfaction and
behavior.
Potter-Brotman (1994) in his research explained how service could affect retention
providers, with the capability to enhance interaction with customers rather than
8
endanger them. In the same research, the authors recommended that firms should
focus on hearing customers unique voices as result to find out what kind of service
The earlier efforts of Desai and Mahajan (1998) in examine the concepts of
must continually develop their products and services so as to meet the evolving
needs of customers. Desai and Mahajan (1998) assumed that retained customers
are in fact satisfied, and not simply retained because of habit, indifference or
inertia. Included in retention strategies are the development of new products and
services to meet and satisfy the evolving required of the customers; thus
customer's satisfaction and their retention clarifying that such relation is very weak.
by isolating them from each other, but rather by examining the relationship
between them. Gerpott et al. (2001) in his research attest Johnston (2001) as he
distinct, but causally inter-linked constructs. Rust and Subramanian (1992), in their
study, link quality to customer satisfaction and argue that this has a direct effect on
customer retention and market share. In the same bases Athanassopoulos (2000)
customer satisfaction cues in retail banking services in Greece. The fining of his
study shows that product innovativeness, convenience, staff service, price and
9
business profile are dimensions of customer satisfaction. The authors also
mentioned that customers do not consider switching banks until they have
Heskett et al. (1994) and Schneider and Bowen (1999) suggested that, in some
cases, service suppliers may be unable to retain even those employees who are
satisfied. Thus, satisfaction itself may not be sufficient enough to ensure long-term
and trust (Hart and Johnson, 1999). This explanation is consistent Morgan and
Hunt (1994) research on marketing channel, which shows that organizations often
look beyond the concept of satisfaction to developing trust and ensure long term
principle that once trust is built into a relationship, the probability of either party
Other studies have proposed that the cost of replacing lost talent is even higher, as
Expanding on these thoughts, the EPF (2004) stated that “for a firm with 40,000
full-time employees, the difference between a 15- percent turnover rate and a 25-
percent turnover rate is over $50 million annually. The divergence between a 15-
percent turnover rate and a 40-percent turnover rate is over $130 million
annually”.
Abundant studies have hypothesized and empirically validated the link between
and word of mouth (e.g. Anderson and Sullivan, 1993; Rucci et al., 1998, Bansal
and Taylor, 1999, Cronin et al., 2000). Indeed, this link is essential to the
10
marketing concept, which holds that satisfying employee’s needs and wants is the
key to exist in the organization (Kotler et al., 2002). Further, the importance of
measure satisfaction at the industry level using large sample surveys to predict
and training of the new employee, decreased productivity until the new employee is
up to speed, and loss of customers who were loyal to the departing employee”. The
costs and expenses mentioned above open another area of concern which is
with large numbers of employees who have not accomplish full productivity. This
Numerous studies explain the importance of high employees involvement and how
it could enhance their retention (Arthur 1994; Huselid 1995; Koch and McGrath
however, only a small share of the workforce takes advantage of them (Perry Smith
and Blum 2000). as earlier studies indicated that young employees are more
may reflect stages in the career plan or deeper generation differences. Additionally,
there are often gender differences within demographic groups; e.g., young female
may want different things from what young male want (Beck 2001).
the lack of opportunities to learn and develop in the work can be the top reason for
implemented this information and provide a training program that gave employees
11
an opportunities to develop their path and career direction. Turnover tumbled from
studies indicated that employees stay when they have strong relationships with
others with whom they work (Clarke 2001). this explain the efforts of
work with colleagues and opportunities for interaction both on and off the job
(Johns et al 2001).
identification with their agency and build openness and trust culture. Increasingly,
performance, and changes that may affect employees enthuse (Gopinath and
Becker 2000; Levine 1995). Many companies are working to provide information
that employees want and need in better way of communication, through the most
credible sources (e.g., CEO and top management strategies) on a timely and
consistent basis.
customers (employees) and their organization. The benefits of retention are lower
costs for their agent, less price sensitivity, greater market share, improve
productivity, increase employees performance and thus increase profits and meet
their organizational goals and objectives. The relationship between satisfaction and
retention in many studies has described as weak, and researches shows that
12
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, the authors presents the methodology for the present study. The
researchers divided the chapter into three sections; the first section presents the
data collection procedures, the second section presents study population and
As mentioned in the first chapter, the objectives of the current study is to:
• Explore what types of benefits those are most important for the private
• Explore the future plan of Private sector workforce that contribute to their
retention.
To accomplish the aforementioned research objectives, the data for this study was
efforts, the researchers asked the focus group participants to complete a written
survey about various aspects of their work place. The questionnaire used in the
study was added and developed some factors through interviews with private
sector employees by visiting different organizations and workplace in the five main
areas. By referring to the literature review on this topic, many items in the
organizational culture and retention strategies sections of the survey were adapted
13
from Griffeth and Horn (1983). The primary aim of this study is to explore the
factors that affect private sector workforce attention in their work place. To
achieve this purpose the survey asked respondents to rate the degree of importance
• Benefits factors
The first part of the questionnaire asked respondents to rate the relative importance
importance scale ranging from “very important” to “not important at all”. Table 1
Benefits Factors
The Second part elicited retention strategies factors, respondents asked to rate the
five-point Likert type importance scale ranging from “very important” to “not
14
Table 2: Organizational strategies factors
The third part of the survey address the organizational culture factors, respondents
retention, using a five-point scale type agreement scale ranging from “Strongly
strategies factors.
15
6. the workplace where I work has a culture that recognizes and values
diversity.
7. There is an environment of openness and trust in my agency.
8. Employees in my workplace are treated with fairness and respect.
9. Supervisors spend a good deal of time listening to employees' ideas.
10. Supervisors have a style that empowers people to take responsibility
and authority.
One section of the survey ask respondents about their retirement plan, four options
are given as follows: leave workplace employment within 1-2 years, 3-5 years, 6-
10 years or no plans to retire or leave work place in the foreseeable future. The
final section of the survey collects demographic information, with few lines space,
areas related to retention that they felt were not addressed in the focus groups or on
the survey. The focus group participants completed the survey for practical purpose
of this study, thus the findings cannot be generalized to the entire GCC countries.
Rather, the results provide a snapshot of opinions from a small sample of Kuwaiti
private sector employees who conduced their work in the state of Kuwait.
In convince approach, the authors selected five main cities to distribute the survey
where private sector workforce conducted their work. A total of 145 surveys were
distributed in equal numbers to the private organizations of these cities (29 survey
conducted their work in the sampling location during the chosen time intervals
were selected.
16
Distribution process took place in a two week period in the early part of April
2009. private sector workforce were approached, explaining the nature of the study
The survey took approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. The survey was
to exist.
From a total of 145 questionnaires distributed, 125 were returned (only 25 surveys
were collected from each city), out of which 20 were usable (valid and completed),
thereby yielding a response rate of about 86.2 percent, a response rate considered
Fidell, 1996; Stevens, 2002). This relatively high response rate attributed to the
METHODS
The responses obtained were analyzed using SPSS V.17. To ascertain which of the
private sector workforce retention factor criteria are perceived as more or less
important, the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and factor analysis.
because the main purpose of this thesis is to explore the main determinate of
17
CHAPTER IIII
DATA RESULTS
This chapter prepared to give clear representation for the sample and presents the
The sample of 125 represents the sample of private sector workforce in state of
Kuwait. The entire sample are Kuwaiti nationality and it consist of 55 percent male
and 70 percent female, and their average age was 35. The following figures and
Gender Age
3 17
55 9
Between 18 to 25
Between 26 to 35
70
Between 36 to 45
Male Between 46 to 55 40
56
Female Above 55
Years of Service
3
32 50
Between 0 -5 years
18
Figure 4: career plans
Career Plans
Retire or leave State 5
employment within 1-2
14
years
19
A. Benefits
The first section of the survey asked respondents to rate the benefits of state
Descriptive Statistics
N Mean Std. Deviation
Health and related benefits (health insurance, vision, 124 4.18 .865
dental, prescription)
Figure 5: Benefits
The Salary and compensation were rated as most important, with means of 4.72
20
(4.22). The items with the lowest means, rated as least important by Private sector
workforce in Kuwait, were the retention Plan (3.87) and the Employee Assistance
Program (3.89).
B. STRATEGIES
The next section of the survey asked respondents to indicate what retention
strategies were being used in their agencies, and how important each strategy was
to them, whether it was available. Complete results for this section can be found in
table 2 .
Descriptive Statistics
N Mean Std. Deviation
Rewards and recognition (e.g., service awards, employee of the year) 125 4.43 .776
21
Figure 6: Strategies
The three strategies rated most important to workforce of private sector are
(3.32) were rated as least important. The importance of education and training
and development through a variety of training. Another reason this benefit may be
important is because they are generally younger and in an early phase of their
22
C. ORGANIZATION CULTURE
their agencies discussed development plans with employees at least every six
months, only 9.6 % percent disagreed or disagreed strongly with that notion and
24.8 are nature. The next table and figure present these percentages.
23
The result show 51.2 % percent agree and strongly agreed that they are often given
the opportunity to be part of task groups and assignments outside of their core job
responsibilities. Only 24.8 % disagree and strongly disagreed with this statement,
while 24 % are natural. The next table and figure present these percentages.
Employees are often given the opportunity to be part of task groups and
assignments outside their core job
24
About 70.4 % of private sector workers has agreed and or strongly agreed that
their organization has a career development program that helps to become more
aware of and responsible for their career development. 16.8 % of workforce are
neither agreed nor disagreed with this statement and 29.6 are disagreed and
My agency has a career development program that helps people become more
aware of and responsible for their own career development.
25
Forty-four percent of private sector workers agreed or strongly agreed that working
on a new project was an open process with few barriers; however, 36 % are nature
and 19.2% disagreed strongly or disagreed with this statement. The next table and
26
Sixteen percent of workforce agreed that supervisors communicate effectively with
nature with that statement. The next table and figure present percentages.
Missing 3 2.4
Fifty-nine percent of private sector workers agreed or strongly agreed that their
agency had a culture that recognizes and values diversity. Only seven percent
27
disagreed or strongly disagreed that employees in their agency are treated with
fairness and respect. 31% of the respondent are neutral related to this statement.
Missing 3 2.4
125 100.0
Sixty-three percent of private sector workers agreed or strongly agreed that in their
28
disagreed or strongly disagreed while 24.8 % of the respondent are neutral. The
the figure represent good percentage that reflect the sense of openness and trust
community in the workplace is the concept of trust and openness, which reasons
that the more employees realize what they would be giving up if they leave an
organization, the more likely they are to stay. Efforts to enhance both openness and
29
trust culture include supporting activities that create personal connections, such as
after-hour get-togethers and departments caring for employees during life crises.
About 54.4% of private sector workers in the state of Kuwait has agreed and
strongly agreed that there is a fairness in treatment and respect in their organization
disagreed or strongly disagreed and 12.8 % of the respondent are neutral. The next
Missing 3 2.4
30
The result of organizational culture shows that 56 % of workforce agreed and
strongly agreed that their supervisor spend a good deal of time listening to their
ideas. only 14.4 % percent disagreed or strongly disagreed and 29.6 % are neutral.
31
Finally, the result of organizational culture shows that only 63.2 % employees
agreed and strongly agreed that their supervisor have a style that empowers people
and 15.2 % are neutral. The next table and figure present percentages.
32
The figure represent good percentage of agreement indicating well participation
and supervisor empowerment culture. The authors argue that this culture allow
employees to participate more in the decisions that affect them through additional
career ladders and work groups created to solve departmental problems. This
fosters Kuwaiti private sector workers development and reinforces the link
E. CAREER PLANS
When asked about future career plans, 5 % present of workforce said they planned
on retiring or leaving state employment within 1-2 years, and an additional 14%
said they planned to leave state employment within 3-5 years. Another 23% said
they planned to leave within 6-10 years. Roughly 83 % indicated that they had no
plans to leave or retire from State employment within the foreseeable future.
Reasons given for their intentions of leaving within 5 years included: salary, lack
of promotional opportunity, the length of time it would take to get from a grade to
development.
The result of career plans shows that the workforce aimed to build long-term
relationship and developed their career in the private sector. This could be explain
that private sector in the state of Kuwait provide good retention to their employees
that lead to improve their existence as well as their satisfaction. The eighty-three
sector organizations. Figure 6 graphically present the result of career plans for
workforce.
33
Figure 17: workforce career plans
Careful career development and planning, as well as the more typical rewards and
incentives, can be powerful retention tools. The result of the current study indicate
clearly high retention efforts provided private sector in the state of Kuwait to retain
workforce, thus, high percentage of career plan to exist in the state of employment are
not surprising. In general we can say that the result of career plan give good indication of
the high efforts of private sector to retain and build long-term relationship with their
private sector workforce. thereby, the authors argue that the 23 percent of workforce who
intended to leave the state of employment within 6-10 years are not necessary related to
employee retention but may be related to private sector workforce long-term life
planning.
34
CHAPTER V
DISCUSSION
In this chapter, the authors discuss the main retention factors to the private sector
attractive to workforce. Some are negotiated benefits and some are optional and
Prior literature shows that HRM practices in compensation and reward sharing can
lead to reduced turnover, improve the quality work, and better financial
performance (Arthur 1994; Delaney and Huselid 1996; Huselid 1995 and
MacDuffie 1995; Meyer and Allan 1991). The finding of this study assist literature
as it indicated that incentive compensation is one of the best method which is used
to reduce the problems surrounding the effort to retain employees. By aligning the
interests of the employees with the owners of the firm through pay incentives, the
vestment decision making may be reduced. Incentive pay may also give the
organization, efforts can be made by the organization to improve job sat is faction.
This may also in crease the numbers of talented employees who stay in the
company. Incentive pay may consist of cash bonuses for employees upon reaching
pre determined goals. The bonus is normally tied to accounting measures and many
35
The study also indicate that sharing responsibility by private sector workforce is an
other type of pay incentive. It in essence makes the employee a involve and have
involvement can come through openness and trust culture, which lead to improve
the organizational environment and cultures and build long-term relationship and
So far, we can say that some compensation that provided by private sector in
Kuwait is not being specific enough to truly motivate the employee to work hard
(e.g. retirement plan). The result of this study indicate that private sector should
improve retirement plan as to motivate employees and reduce agency costs and
retention problems. Kuwaiti Private sector workforce clearly explain that in order
One possible way to reduce the short comings of each pay component is to pay
salary. An adequate base salary al lows the organization to compete for talents in
compensation package off sets the problems of employee retention and also may
they conduct their work. The authors argue that cash bonuses based on specific
performance of the employee motivates the employees not to sit back and relies on
other productive colleagues. This may be the reason that employees in many
Pay incentives will help align the employees’ interests with those of the
autonomy, training, and pleas ant working conditions will help retain talented
36
employees. But be cause of asymmetric in formation it may be difficult to en
employees through audits and surveillance may help distinguish productive from
capable employees the autonomy in their job functions, and they can give them
improving the working conditions can also inveigle productive workers to exist in
their organization and reduce their turnover. In addition to compensation, the study
shows that offering these talented employees training to keep them current on their
job functions and allowing them to have the opportunities to develop their skills
can also be utilized to improve employee satisfaction with the organization (Rice,
One retention strategies that the authors argues its importance to increase self-
now reimburse tuition for employees, other organizations use other methods to
suggested that Kuwaiti private sector organizations may provides a week per year
for education away from the facility as private sector workforce are paid both time
off and tuition. another suggestion is to provides a day off every four weeks for
develop their skills and to bring new ideas and concepts back to the department
that can be used to improve their workplace. Taking this proactive stance toward
37
education would yield the same results, giving private sector workforce more say
Finally, the current study have found that private sector workforce workers for a
schedule that fits their needs. A department that offers a variety of schedules
increases its appeal to a wide spectrum of staff. Both flexible and self-scheduling
simply letting an employee pick the schedule that is best for him from existing
latitude to individually tailor their work hours. Kuwaiti private sector workforce
want jobs that accommodate their family needs and personal activities. The finding
of the current study assisted by many finding who argue to minimize, if not
eliminate, shift rotation and allow creative and flexible staffing arrangements that
are tailored to meet staff needs. These innovative scheduling methods allow
employees to adjust their work schedules to the rest of their lives, resulting in
38
CHAPTER VI
This chapter intended to summaries the main finding. It divided into two sections,
The heart of this study has been to explore Kuwaiti private sector workforce in the
state of Kuwait. The literature shows that retention factors are critical and should
be well addressed by any organization in order to meet its goals and objectives.
The result of benefits retention factors shows that the salary and compensation
were rated as most important to the private sector workforce in the state of Kuwait
improved in private sector are retirement plan and the employee assistance
program. Improving these benefits will improve private sector workforce retentions
Other objective of this study is to explore the retention strategies which are a
priority for Kuwait private sector organizations. The literature emphasis that
retention strategies must be broad and varied to address the variety of reasons
private sector workforce leave private organizations. The value of creating diverse
shows that the three strategies rated most important to private sector workforce are
39
The result of organizational culture shows that Sixty-five percent of Kuwaiti
agencies discussed development plans with employees at least every six months.
fifty-one percent of private sector workforce agree and strongly agreed that they
are often given the opportunity to be part of task groups and assignments outside of
their core job responsibilities, while twenty-four percent Kuwait private sector
the state of Kuwait who believe that that their organization has a career
development program that helps to become more aware of and responsible for their
career development, while thirty percent are disagreed and strongly disagreed.
Almost have of the population sample of private sector workforce agreed that the
working on a new project was an open process with few barriers while thirty-six
percent are nature and nineteen percent disagreed strongly or disagreed with this
statement.
More than half of private sector workforce agreed that supervisors communicate
effectively with employees. while only six percent of the sample disagreed and the
rest are nature with that statement. Fifty-nine percent of private sector workforce
agreed or strongly agreed that their agency had a culture that recognizes and values
diversity, while only seven percent disagreed or strongly disagreed and thirty-one
percent disagreed or strongly disagreed and twenty-four percent are neutral. About
fifty-four percent of private sector workforce in the state of Kuwait has agreed and
40
strongly agreed that there is a fairness in treatment and respect in their organization
Half of private sector workforce agreed and strongly agreed that their supervisor
spend a good deal of time listening to their ideas, only fourteen are percent
Finally, forty-three private sector workforce agreed and strongly agreed that their
supervisor have a style that empowers people to take responsibility and authority,
while fifteen percent disagreed or strongly disagreed and thirty-one are neutral.
The result of private sector workforce career plan shows that high percent (eighty-
three) of private sector workforce had no plans to leave or retire from State
leave within 6-10 years, fourteen percent private sector workforce are planned to
leave state employment within 3-5 years, and only five present Kuwaiti private
sector workforce are planned on retiring or leaving state employment within 1-2
years.
In summary, the purpose of this study was to explore how private sector workforce
dealing with the concepts of employees retention. The study found high efforts
provided by private sector in the state of Kuwait to attain and attract existed
employees. employees who have high retention factors have good and long-term
relationship with his agency, this explain the high percentage of why workforce
have no intention to leave their organization and have long-term career plan.
The importance of this study can be viewed from two dimensions: theoretical
gap in the literature; that is, exploring private sector workforce retention factors in
41
the state of Kuwait. Therefore, the findings of this study can add to the existing
body of the literature and can serve as a starting point on which future studies can
be built. On the practical side, this study can help the top-management decision
makers of private sector to enhance the major factors that may better develop their
employees retention and thus meeting organizational goals and objectives. Such
appropriate human resource strategies for attaining and attracting Kuwaiti private
sector workforce.
FUTURE RESEARCH
For future research, the relation between private sector workforce retention and
their satisfaction need to be focused and studied. Our results revealed that although
private sector workforce tended to think that satisfaction and retention are
enhanced in similar ways, there were wide differences between how individual
employees perceived the two concepts. Questioners may be develop to give deep
understanding of private sector workforce feeling toward their agency’s and their
expectations when they conducted the work of private sector. For example, what
were the expectations you had when you first came to work for the private sector
that haven’t been met yet? Are the reasons you are staying with private sector
different than the reasons why you first came to? Finally Demographic factors
were among the most common predictors in the turnover literature.(Jinnett and
Alexander 1999; Miller and Wheeler 1992). Further studies may need to classify
42
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Appendix
Employee Retention Survey
A. Benefits ()اﻟﺮاﺗﺐ واﻟﻔﻮاﺋﺪ اﻟﻤﺎﻟﻴﺔ
Please rate the following benefits of state employment on a scale of 1 to 5, where
1 = not at all important and 5 = very important.
اﻟﺮﺟﺎء ﺗﺤﺪﻳﺪ أهﻤﻴﺔ آﻞ ﻋﻨﺼﺮ ﻣﻦ اﻟﻌﻨﺎﺻﺮ اﻟﻤﺘﻌﻠﻘﺔ ﺑﺎﻟﺮواﺗﺐ واﻟﻔﻮاﺋﺪ اﻟﻤﺎﻟﻴﺔ وﻣﺪى ﺟﺬب هﺬﻩ اﻟﻌﻨﺎﺻﺮ إﻟﻴﻚ
. ﻋﻦ اﻷهﻤﻴﺔ اﻟﺸﺪﻳﺪة ﻟﻠﻌﻨﺼﺮ5 ﻋﻦ ﻋﺪم أهﻤﻴﺔ اﻟﻌﻨﺼﺮ وﻳﻌﺒﺮ اﻟﺮﻗﻢ1 ﺑﺤﻴﺚ ﻳﻌﺒﺮ اﻟﺮﻗﻢ،ﻟﻠﻌﻤﻞ ﺑﻬﺬﻩ اﻟﺸﺮآﺔ
Not at All Not Very Somewhat Very
Neutral
Important Important Important Important
ﻣﺤﺎﻳﺪ
ﻏﻴﺮ ﻣﻬﻢ ﻋﻠﻰ اﻹﻃﻼق ﻏﻴﺮ ﻣﻬﻢ ﻣﻬﻢ ﻣﻬﻢ ﺟﺪا
Salary and Compensation اﻟﺮاﺗﺐ اﻷﺳﺎﺳﻲ 1 2 3 4 5
Leave benefits (including sick, vacation, personal, paid
holidays) ( اﻟﻌﻄﻼت، اﻟﻤﺮﺿﻴﺎت،اﻹﺟﺎزة )اﻹﺟﺎزة اﻟﻤﺪﻓﻮﻋﺔ اﻷﺟﺮ
1 2 3 4 5
Retirement plan ﺧﻄﺔ اﻟﺘﻘﺎﻋﺪ 1 2 3 4 5
Health and related benefits(health insurance, vision,
dental, prescription) ( اﻟﻌﻼج،ﻓﻮاﺋﺪ اﻟﺼﺤﺔ )اﻟﺘﺄﻣﻴﻦ
1 2 3 4 5
Deferred Compensation ﺳﺎﻋﺎت ﻋﻤﻞ،اﻟﻔﻮاﺋﺪ اﻟﺘﻌﻮﻳﻀﻴﺔ )ﺑﺪﻻت
(إﺿﺎﻓﻴﺔ
1 2 3 4 5
Employee Assistance Program ﺑﺮﻧﺎﻣﺞ ﻣﺴﺎﻋﺪة اﻟﻤﻮﻇﻔﻴﻦ 1 2 3 4 5
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C. Organizational Culture ﺛﻘﺎﻓﺔ اﻟﺸﺮآﺔ
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E. Career Plans ﺧﻄﻂ اﻟﻌﻤﻞ
As you think to the future, which of the following best describes your career plans
at this time? أي ﻣﻦ اﻟﻌﺒﺎرات اﻟﺘﺎﻟﻴﺔ ﺗﺼﻒ ﺧﻄﻄﻚ اﻟﻤﺴﺘﻘﺒﻠﻴﺔ ﻟﻌﻤﻠﻚ اﻟﺤﺎﻟﻲ؟
Retire or leave State employment within 1-2 years ﻋﺎم2-1 اﻟﺘﻘﺎﻋﺪ أو ﺗﺮك اﻟﻌﻤﻞ ﺧﻼل
Retire or leave State employment within 3-5 years ﻋﺎم5-3 اﻟﺘﻘﺎﻋﺪ أو ﺗﺮك اﻟﻌﻤﻞ ﺧﻼل
Retire or leave State employment within 6-10 years ﻋﺎم10-6 اﻟﺘﻘﺎﻋﺪ أو ﺗﺮك اﻟﻌﻤﻞ ﺧﻼل
No plans to retire or leave State employment in the foreseeable future ﻻ ﺗﻮﺟﺪ ﻟﺪي
Please provide us with the following demographic information (All responses will
be kept confidential and reported in the aggregate only): – اﻟﻌﻤﺮ – اﻟﺠﻨﺲ – اﻟﻮﻇﻴﻔﺔ
ﺳﻨﻮات اﻟﺨﺒﺮة
General Comments: Please note any other comments you have that weren't
addressed in the sections above:
THANK YOU
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