Word Count= 2000 ID- 5920

Employee Retention Strategies for Chaudhary Group

Mid-Term Assignment

Submitted To:
Ms. Sunita Basnet
The British College

Submitted By:
Trishna Singh
5920
Premasters: MBA

Submission Date: 21 November 2019

1

1. Introduction

Employee retainment has been one of the toughest challenges for a firm’s managers in today’s

world of start-ups and new challenges being taken up by workers. Employees are the most

valuable assets of a company and retaining them could cost higher as to the amount and time

initially invested in them. There needs to be policies in big companies or small to be able to deal

with the issue of key employee retention as it would ultimately bring in major or minor loss for

the company. The study is mainly descriptive in nature applying and analyzing various secondary

data through which implementation of strategies to retain employees could be applied. The

review would provide challenges of employee retention and strategies to be applied by

companies.

1.2 Challenges of Employee Retention

Warner (2018) has provided four reasons on why employee retention has been challenging (i)

strong economy (ii) changing workforce (iii) technology and (iv) side income. It is widely known

now as there has been more job opportunities than hires. Talented and hardworking employees

will go wherever they see fit and whichever company would offer better stipend with the help of

technology.

Sigler (1999) has stated lack of information about the employees’ performance or asymmetric

information and agency cost as challenges faced during employee retention. Therefore, focusing

on the management’s lack of eye for talented employees who would shift jobs for better

opportunities whereas incompetent employees would most likely stay. Once an employee has

been retained the cost may or may not be higher than the initial phase of the same employee.

Therefore, it would affect the firm directly on cost cutting implementation.

1.3. Importance of Employee Retention

Successful employee retention is essential to an organization’s stability, growth and revenue.

Organization can achieve employee retention by developing four strategies as stated by Cloutier

O., Felusiak L., Hill C. and Pemberton-Jones E J (2015). The four strategies being (i) effective

communication (ii) diverse workforce (iii) hire skilled workers appropriately and (iv)
2

development and training programs to be provided to the employees. If the strategies are not

implemented properly it could lead to high employee turnover rates. Therefore, if an employee

chooses to stay longer in the company it is better for the organization’s performance. Moreover,

Mathimaran and Kumar (2017) have provided three R’s for Employee Retention (i) respect (ii)

recognition and (iii) rewards. These are more psychologically related to the employees’ boost in

morale and assist in growth overall. Therefore, mental well-being of an employee at work is

important as one of the strategies to be applied.

In simple terms employee retention is the steps taken by an organization to keep talented

employees stay longer with the company. Therefore, retention of a motivated employee is crucial

for an organization’s success. Increase in employee turnover could be extremely costly for the

organization which would ultimately lead to negative impact and poor goodwill. Son (2016) has

explained why employee retention is important stating the following points (i) consistency is key

to any business (ii) turnover crashes the bottom-line (iii) an organization loses talent and ideas

(iv) difficult to establish camaraderie with a transient workforce (v) customers and jobseekers

notice a change (vi) constantly training new employees could be waste of resources and (vi)

competitors could benefit directly.

1.4. Brief Background of the Client - Chaudhary Group

Chaudhary Group is a multi-national conglomerate located in Kathmandu, Nepal. They are

currently the biggest multi-national company in Nepal with roots in various fields such as

Biotech & Ayurveda, Cement, Education, Electronic Goods, Energy & Infrastructure, Financial

Services, FMCG, Hotels & Resorts and Realty. They are slowly branching out to the

telecommunication and electronic pay services for Nepal. They are also intensively active on

Corporate Social Responsibility with various projects they initiated for the betterment of the

society. CG Foundation focuses on incorporating the United Nation’s Sustainable Development

Goals, focusing mainly on (i) No Poverty (ii) Zero Hunger (iii) Decent Work and Economic

Growth and (iv) Responsible Consumption and Production.

3

2. Problem Statement

Chaudhary Group has been facing issues to retain their employees, even those employees who

have been bringing maximum productivity at work. This is a major issue for the company as

there is a continuous change in the team of workers working for specific projects generating new

ideas however, also creating conflict. It has been and increasing concern for the company not

because of employees being less talented but because the company has not been providing

benefits or motivation for the workers.

If the issue of reducing employee turnover is not addressed by the client, there would be

increasing number of costs involved in hiring new employees as well as retaining the existing

employees. If an employee chooses to stay and work longer for the organization it would be

considered more fruitful and cost effective. As Boudreau and Ramstad (2007, p. 4) stated

whether it is called “people,” “labor,” “intellectual capital,” “human capital,” “human resources,”

“talent,” or some other term, the resource that lies within employees and how they are organized

is increasingly recognized as critical to strategic success and competitive advantage.

3. Review of Literature

This study on literature review on employee retention strategies consist of the following

objectives:

A) Analyze the study and conclusion made on the study of field of employee retention.

B) To provide the client on solutions that can be addressed to avoid employee turnover and

retain the employees.

C) To highlight conventional/non-conventional means of retaining the workers in an

organization.

3.1. Talent Management Program

Oladapo (2014) has stated Human Resources leaders will have to work closely with senior

management to attract, hire, develop and retain talent. It is important to hire the right person for

the right job for a worker to be interested and motivated to complete the work. This is a major

factor for employee retention. Moreover, Kaur R (2013) through the method of primary data on a
4

retail management chain states that almost all employees agreed that the talent management

program creates a work culture as well as enhances the values of employees and decrease in

turnover of employees. Therefore, the program helps an employee to figure the weakness and

strengths which can be correctly implemented at workplace.

Research Gap: The above finding of the researches done does not highlight the psychological

factors of motivating employees, which is also an important factor to retain employees in an

organization. These findings are purely suggesting benefits only for the organization and not the

employees.

3.2 Compensation Management

Compensation Management is one of the strapping features that organizations use to attract and

retain most valuable and worthy assets. Compensation includes financial as well as non-financial

rewards. Today’s employees not only require money to fulfill their basic needs but they also

necessitate various non-fictional rewards and benefits, often knows as Fringe Benefits. These

fringe benefits include bonus, retirement benefits, gratuity, educational and medical facilities’

(Khan I R, Aslam D H and Lodhi I, 2011). Moreover, Osibanjo, Adenji, Falola and Heirsmac

(2014) have concluded through the model developed that involved primary data using one

hundred and eleven questionnaires, that there is a strong correlation between the tested dependent

and independent variables (salary, bonus, incentives allowances and fringe benefits). However,

management must review compensation packages in order to earn employee satisfaction and

prevention of high labor turnover.

Research Gap: Even though primary data finding has been carried out to conclude the finding

that compensation must be provided which primarily revolves around monetary terms. However,

reward is also source of motivation that helps an employee to be satisfied at job.

3.3 Counselling at Workplace

Navare S (2008) mentioned counseling to be a service that can help people learn to manage

themselves. A counselor in a work place can work with designated personnel as a thinking

partner, a pacesetter among others and can help create a culture for greater synergy in
5

organizational learning and development. Managers could also be trained for basic counseling

sessions as they have a better helping hand at the employees of the organization. This would help

in the performance and increase productivity of an employee due to a way of vending at work

due to counseling and support. Also, as stated by Hughes (2015) workplace counselling

interventions have been found to reduce sickness absence rates in organizations by as much as

50% through the help of a 2019 systematic study by McLeod. Therefore, workplace counseling

helps in job satisfaction and builds confidence in employees to work harder and with a free willed

mind.

Research Gap: The findings of the researcher S. Navare has not been backed up by any data as

counselling is purely related to mental well-being of an employee, therefore it is critical to

understand the number of employees who are agitated due to work stress.

3.3 Training and Development

Samuel and Chipunza (2009) in their study have mentioned that providing employees with the

latest training and development opportunities raises their market value thus increasing their

mobility. Friefield (2013) stated that a well-designed training program plays a critical part in

nurturing associates’ psyches. Associates want to feel that the job they do is important to the

success of the business and that the business is investing time and money in them. Therefore, this

is the key to motivation and also directly affecting the development in its own pace.

3.5 Work Time Flexibility

Berg P. (2008) states working time flexibility is a key mechanism used by individual companies

and establishments to gain flexibility in meeting changing demands and improving efficiency.

Moreover, policies and practices that promote more employee-centered flexible working time

may not only help workers alleviate work-life time conflicts, but also promote worker well-being

generally, especially among hourly-paid workers (Golden L., Henly J. & Lambert S. (2013)).

Therefore, workplace/time flexibility makes an employee more productive as they would be

stress relieved in order to achieve a deadline and make hasty decisions.

6

4. Conclusion

Employees are the crux of every organization and is extremely important to have talented

employees to achieve goals. However, it has been extremely difficult to retain employees in the

recent phase where job offers are higher than the actual number of hires due to end number of

possibilities and varieties of kind of work offered. A hardworking and smart employee would not

opt to stay at a company that would pay lesser and involve more hard work. Also, the ratio of

female employees is making an equal mark to male employees, therefore female employee

benefits should be a key focus for employee retention. Main emphasis should be put on by the

Human Resource professionals to make the leap.

Without the presence of employees in an organization there would be a smaller number of goals

achieved by the organization. In today’s world which is in fast moving pace every organization

must have employee retention strategies implemented. The study mainly focused on traditional

approach in employee retention however, there is a need of contemporary approach as

millennials have different expectations from a job. There was a lack of mention in female

employee benefits and mental health that arises at workplace in today’s world.

References:

Berg P. (2008) Working time flexibility in the German employment relations system: Implication for

Germany and lessons for the United States. The German journal of industrial relations [Online]

pp. 133-150. Available from <https://www.jstor.org/stable/23277742?read-

now=1&seq=5#page_scan_tab_contents> [Accessed on 16 November 2019]

Boudreau W. John & Ramstand M. Peter, (2005), Talentship, talent segmentation, and

sustainability: A new hr decision science paradigm for a new strategy definition [Online], Available

from: < https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.20054> [Accessed on 12 November 2019]

Cloutier O., Felusiak L., Hill C., & Pemberton-Jones E. J. (2015), The Importance of
7

developing strategies for employee retention. Journal of leadership, accountability and ethics

[Online], 12(2), pp. 123-125. Available from: <http://www.m.www.na-

businesspress.com/JLAE/Pemberton-JonesEJ_Web12_2_.pdf> [Accessed 16 October 2019].

Freifield L. (2013) Training increases employee retention. Available from:

<https://trainingmag.com/content/training-increases-employee-retention/> [Accessed on 16

November 2019]

Golden L., Henly J. & Lambert S. (2013) Work schedule flexibility: Contributor to employee

happiness? Journal of social research and policy,2014, forthcoming [Online] pp. 1-25 Available

from: <https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2129520> [Accessed on 17 November

2019]

Hughes R. (2015) How workplace counseling helps employees and employers. Mental health and

stress, return to work and rehabilitation [Online]. Available from:

<https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/workplace-counselling-helps-employees-employers/>

[Accessed 13 November 2019]

Khan R.I., Aslam H.D. & Lodhi I., (2011), Compensation management: a strategic conduit towards

achieving employee retention and job satisfaction in banking sector of Pakistan. International

journal of human resource studies [Online], 1(1), pp. 90-96. Available from:

<http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.682.8904&rep=rep1&type=pdf>

[Accessed 11 November 2019].

Mathimaran K. B. & Kumar A. A. (2017), Employee retention strategies-an

8

empirical research. Global journal of management and business research: e marketing [Online],

17(1), pp. 17-19. Available from: <https://globaljournals.org/GJMBR_Volume17/3-Employee-

Retention-Strategies.pdf> [Accessed 11 November 2019]

Navare S. (20018) Counseling at work place: A proactive human resource initiative. Indian j occup

environ med [Online]. 12 (1), pp. 1-2. Available from:

<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2796765/>

[Accessed 13 November 2019]

Oldapo V. (2014), The impact of talent management retention. Journal of business studies

quarterly [Online], 5(3), pp. 20-25. Available from:

<http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.653.4143&rep=rep1&type=pdf>

[Accessed 12 November 2019].

Osibanjo O.A., Adenji A.A., Falola O.H.& Heirsmac T.P., (2014), Compensation Packages: a

strategic tool for employees’ performance and retention. Leonardo journal of sciences [Online]. 25,

pp. 65-84. Available from: <http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/5216/1/Dr.%20Adeniji%20A.

%20A.%201.pdf> [Accessed 12 November 2019]

Samuel M.O. & Chipunza c. (2009) Employee retention and turnover: Using motivational variables

as a panacea. African journal of business management [Online]. 3(8), pp. 411- 415. Available

from: <http://www.academicjournals.org/app/webroot/article/article1380550130_Samuel%20and

%20Chipunza%20pdf.pdf> [Accessed on 15 November 2019]

Sigler, K. (1999), Challenges of employee retention. Management research news [Online], 22 (10),

pp. 1-4. Available from: <https://doi.org/10.1108/01409179910781823> [Accessed 16 October

2019].
9

Son S. (2016) The importance of employee retention [Online] December. Available from:

<https://www.tinypulse.com/blog/importance-of-employee-retention> [Accessed 11 November

2019]