See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/348621634

Effective Employees' Retention Strategies: Key to Manage Employees'

turnover. (A Study of Omani Organizations)

Article · June 2019

CITATIONS READS

3 13,037

2 authors, including:

Syed Sadullah Hussainy

Arab Open University - Oman
13 PUBLICATIONS   11 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Research View project

3rd Business, Management, and Economics Conference Prague 2021 View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Syed Sadullah Hussainy on 20 January 2021.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

© 2019 IJRAR June 2019, Volume 6, Issue 2 www.ijrar.org (E-ISSN 2348-1269, P- ISSN 2349-5138)

Effective Employees’ Retention Strategies: Key to

Manage Employees’ turnover.
(A Study of Omani Organizations).
Syed Sadullah Hussainy: Lecturer, Faculty of Business, Arab Open University, Sultanate of Oman

Abstract: Employee Retention is the ability of the organisation to retain its employees. Employees’ retention is emerging as a big
challenge to most of the organisations. Organizations use a diverse array of approaches to retain their efficient employees, because
high turnover rate increases the expense of recruiting and training new employees and affect the profitability of the organization. This
research aims is to review the findings of research papers of various authors and also collecting ideas directly from the key employees
of organization by interviewing them to derive the factors that impact employees’ retention in the private organizations. The objective
of this study is to identify the best strategies which can be used in organizations across industries to help in enhancing employee
retention. The exploratory research method was followed in this study. Both primary and secondary data were used. Several personal
and telephonic interviews were taken with key personnel working in prominent organizations of Oman such as Saud Bahwan, Suhail
Bahwan, Zubair LLC, Al-Riyami Group and Shell Oman, etc. This study identifies and examines several retention strategies collected
from literature and also through primary source, which include induction, working condition, training and development, competitive
compensation, Defined benefit plan and 360 degree appraisal etc., to name a few, can be used by the organization based on their
handiness and suitability to retain employees with organizations. There are no one set of specific practices which will have an
influence on employees retention but different organisations lay different emphasis on these strategies depending upon their suitability
impacting retention. Based on our understanding of the papers reviewed by the researcher and data collected directly from employees
of private organizations in Oman, suggestions are drawn which give a holistic view on the various practices that organizations should
adopt to keep the level of employee retention high.

Keywords: Omani Organizations, Retention, turnover, 360 degree appraisal, working condition, attrition, defined benefits plan,
factors.

INTRODUCTION:
The scientific and technological progress in the world has connected economies and changed national markets into a larger global
market. (Tayfun Turgay, Okechukwu Lawrence Emeagwali, (2012). The increasing globalization and changing the pattern of
competition across the industries is compelling the businesses to identify the new ways of doing business. The modern businesses are
deeply concerned about their survival and this has been provoked by the existing environmental turbulence (Juliana Mulaa Namada,
2018). Staying in just one market and industry and engaging in one business is no longer an option for those who want to be
successful in the current scenario (Kuruvilla & Ranganathan, 2010; Steven & Gregory, 2002). Experts have agreed that organisations
in 21st century need to be more dynamic and diverse, should develop core competencies and upgrade them constantly to differentiate
themselves with others to achieve and sustain the competitive edge in the international market (Raymond, 1989; Steven & Gregory,
2002). The ability of the all the organizations to compete in the global marketplace largely depends on the quality of its human
resources, and they should look employees as their valuable resources and take every possible step to motivate and retain them with
the organization.

THE NEED OF EMPLOYEES’ RETENTION:

Bodjrenou Kossivi1, Ming Xu, Bomboma Kalgora (2016), stated that globalization has made the competition keener and keener
across the industries. This situation affects employees’ wellbeing in the sense that organizations pressure their employees to remain
more competent to be competitive in their respective industries. To do so, organizations attract the best talents and retain them on the
job for the long term by fulfilling their personal and professional needs. Organizations spend a lot of resources on attracting the best
talent and train them to get acquainted with the organization’s work and its culture. Organizations will be suffering a loss when
employees leave their job once they are trained. Researchers further mentioned that the toughest challenge that organizations face
nowadays is to keep employees motivated and loyal as long as possible. Retaining efficient and skilled employees play an important
role in the organization’s success because their skills and competencies are central to the company to pose a challenge to other
competitors in the market. Dr. K. Balaji Mathimaran & Prof. Dr. A. Ananda Kumar, (2017) stated that employees join in the
organization just not to achieve goals but they look at the organization as a means of achieving their own personal and professional
goals. The employees who stay with the company for a longer time contribute efficiently and become an integral part of the company
and the position. When such employees leave the company and join the competitor, this would be a mean double loss for the first
company. First, the organizations will be directly affected by the employee not being available with the company and secondly, the
employee is now contributing to its competitors and the person who replaces the outgoing employee may not be able to come at par
quickly. Muhammad Irshad, Fahad Afridi (2007), mentioned that the cost of replacing old employees with new ones is estimated up to
twice the employee’s annual salary. When an employee leaves the job, the organization lose not the only employee but also lose the
customers & client who were loyal with the employee, knowledge of production, knowledge of current projects, competitor and
history of the organization. So Employees’ retention is considered as the most important factors which influence the ability to gain
and sustain competitive advantage in the present hyper-competitive and transitional business environment. (Dr. Aditi R Khandelwal,
Neha Shekhawat (2018).

IJRAR19K5578 International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews (IJRAR) www.ijrar.org 760
© 2019 IJRAR June 2019, Volume 6, Issue 2 www.ijrar.org (E-ISSN 2348-1269, P- ISSN 2349-5138)
THE WORKFORCE OF OMAN:
People in Oman, prefer to have their career in government sector because of job security provided by the government to its nationals
but sill large number of Omani workers are employed in the private sector. Research shows that the millennial generation is unlike the
previous generation. They rarely plan to stay with one organization until they retire and they don’t make any long term plan to work
and stay in one organization. The traditional measure of success of having a secured job is slowing going slowly out of date. Why
does this happen? Some sociologists say the current generation of young people differs from their parents’ generation. They have
other values. The youth today has reconsidered the concept of success, which means successful people don’t make any long term plan
of their career. If you want to be considered successful, invest in experiences, travel, do extreme sports, innovate, build start-ups. The
point is that people now don’t want prosperity and stability — all they want is flexible schedules and financial and geographical
independence. This mindset growing across the countries of the globe and Oman is not far behind. After interviewing key employees
of private sector organization it has become clear that people who live in urban areas especially the capital city (Muscat) of Oman are
shifting to the above mind-set. Transition in mind-set and values of the people is creating difficulties to retain employees and the
businesses are treating it as a very costly affair. As reported in the famous publication “The Observer” (Oct, 2017) companies are
competing with one another in terms of their employee friendly policies and practices aimed at attracting and retaining potential
workforce as there is an acute shortage of skilled and efficient professionals in Oman. This is because the above situation has risen
highly demanding and workforce with different mind-set and values, who may leave or threaten to leave the Organization even at the
slightest discomfort and move to other organization. Job-hopping is growing among millennial Omani professionals especially who
work in private organization as they consider themselves as people with modern mind-set. This is a costly affair for the Organization
as stated by Palwasha Bibi, Ashfaq Ahmad, and Abdul Halim Abd. Majid, (2018) and will affect the bottom lines and has posed a
challenge to the Organizations to design effective retention strategy by considering this delicate situation. The modern perspective of
retention is where higher preference is given for better working environment quality, respect and autonomy, the friendly relationship
among superior and subordinates, training and growth opportunities etc.
With this background, this study tries to find out various types of effective retention strategies that can help in managing retention
and curbing attrition rate in the organization. The exploratory research method was followed in this study. Both primary and
secondary data were used and to get the answers, historical facts, data and past work of literatures were reviewed and several
personal and telephonic interviews were also taken with key personnel and employees working in prominent organizations of Oman
such as, Saud Bahwan, Suhail Bahwan, Zubair LLC, Al-Riyami Group and Shell Oman etc. to identify the various types of retention
strategies can be used for retention of employees.

II. OBJECTIVE:
The objective of this study is to identify the best strategies and methods adopted by various organizations across industries to help in
enhancing employee retention.

III. REVIEW WORK:

The analysis of the empirical data and primary data helps the researcher to find out various practices and strategies of the organization
which we will be useful for the organizations in retaining employees. An organization cannot implement all strategies, but at least
having some of them will surely benefit the organization in achieving a reasonable level of retention in the organization.

 New-hire orientation: Employee induction and orientation is a process of introducing new joinee with company’s policy,
hierarchy and job responsibilities. As stated by Awan & Wasim (2019), orientation is a way of welcoming a new employee
and making them comfortable in the organization. The society such as Oman gives great importance to greeting and
welcoming people especially when they are new and induction creates first impression and perception about the company in
the mind of employees. From the number of studies it has been found that a strong relationship exists between orientation
program and retention. A well-disciplined orientation program affects greatly on employee job satisfaction level and shape
employees attitude and perception towards the job and the organization (Kaiser, 2006).
 Training and development opportunities: In today’s transitional business environment, where the life cycle of
technology and products become shorter and to update employees competencies and skill become more essential for both
organizations and employees (Presbitero et al., 2016). Companies invest a lot of money and resources to upgrade
employees’ skills and competencies (Umer Ahmad, 2013). Interviewing with people, help the researcher to understand that
there is a growing willingness among the Omani workers to get continuous training to upgrade the skills to occupy higher
positions in the organization. Organizations offer different types of training and development programs to make them feel
that, they are learning, developing, growing and remaining competitive in the job market. The empirical data shows that
training practices have a large influence on employee retention and a positive relationship between them has been found
in many previous studies. Thus, organizations should provide continuous training and skills upgrading programs to
gain competitive advantage and at the same time to satisfy and retain their valuable employees (Al-sharafi, Hamed &
Mat, Ezani & Shah, Syed, 2018).
 Competitive salaries and Regular salary reviews: Studies have confirmed that competitive salary is having a larger impact
on employees’ retention. "Competitive salary" means a salary at or above what competitors pay for similar jobs in the same
market or geographical area. As stated by (Dr Ldama John & Dr Peter Teru, 2017), the companies to conduct a regular salary
review for all positions to ensure that employees are appropriately compensated. It has been found that, the increasing cost of
living, job hopping mind-set of employees and increasing competition is increasing the importance of competitive salary and
pressurising employers to review the compensation packages of employees often in order to retain them with the
organization.
 Health care benefits/ Health Insurance scheme: Though the government of Oman provides free medical facilities to all its
citizens but still employees expect that their employer to provide medical and health insurance benefits to avail the world
class medical services of private health centers available in Oman. This to support their well-being and as well as that of their
family members. Most of the private companies offer health care and medical insurance to Omani employees. It has been
observed through interviews that most of the employees especially who are at the age of forty and above, consider the health
IJRAR19K5578 International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews (IJRAR) www.ijrar.org 761
© 2019 IJRAR June 2019, Volume 6, Issue 2 www.ijrar.org (E-ISSN 2348-1269, P- ISSN 2349-5138)
care insurance is a very important component of their compensation package and absence this benefit will certainly make
them upset.
 Flexible work schedules: Most of the employers are introduced flexible working packages as part of work-life balance
policy, to attract, recruit, and retain highly qualified staff to their organizations (Shagvaliyeva, Sussanna, Yazdanifard, & Dr.
Rashad, 2014). As mentioned by Anon (2008) choose your own work schedule makes employees to feels that employer cares
about the wellbeing and non-working life, which leads to increased satisfaction with the job and the organization, resulting in
higher work commitment and retention. The previous research findings show that, the flexible working result in employee
loyalty, increased organizational commitment, and low attrition, also helps in retaining talented employees for the
organization. Furthermore, increased productivity, reduced employee turnover and absenteeism have been identified as
advantages of flexible working for the employers (Hofacker and S. Konig, 2013). Most of the employers in Oman still
demand the employees work in a fixed schedule which is decided by the company. Hence flexible working practices would
be beneficial for employers to improve retention rate, therefore flexibility may be embedded in work in order to give
employees an option to choose at what time, how much time, and from which place to work.

 Competitive vacation/holiday benefits and Paid personal time off: In a study reported by Forbes, most of the managers
recognize the benefits of vacation time for employees and the companies they work for. When employees take a paid
vacation, both the employer and the employee benefit from employees using their paid vacation time. Shawn Anchor (2010)
cited the research from American Psychological Association in his book “Fuel Success and Performance at Work - Crown
Business”, found that vacation and relaxation make employees brains to think positively which will improve productivity by
31 percent, sales increased by 37 percent, and creativity and revenues can triple. The vacation practices as also stated by
Bloom Jessica (2012), has got enormous benefits including higher productivity, stronger workplace morale, greater employee
engagement and retention, and significant health benefits, all of which measurably and directly affect an organization’s
bottom line.
 Defined contribution retirement: The defined contribution plan has become the retirement plan of choice for many
businesses and individuals. With this type of plan, employers and employees decide how much they want to contribute on a
regular basis. It provides employees with a guaranteed income after the retirement and how much a retired employee will
receive each month is determined by factors such as the number of years the employee worked for the company, employee's
career earnings etc. This can be used as an important tool to retain employees, as there is a significant opportunity cost to
employees exist for leaving organization early and it is designed to be more generous for those who work longer at the
company, the annual pension of those employees will be higher. It has been observed that young employees do not think
much about the retirement benefits but older employees feel that retirement benefit will motivate them to stay with the
organization for a long period.
 Defined benefit plan: The Motely Fool, LLC, (US) in their report stated that the defined benefit plan is also called as a
pension plan. It is a plan of the organization that guarantees workers a certain amount of money in retirement. Benefits are
typically calculated based on length of service or employment history, and salary. Though defined benefit plans aren't as
popular as they once were, they're still a source of economic security for many employees. It has been found that very few in
Oman employers offer this benefit and many are not aware of this type of benefits. This can be a powerful tool to encourage
employees to stay with the organization for longer a period of time.
 Spot Cash: Usually, retention bonuses and reward are used to retain employees for a defined period of time. But the spot
cash or bonuses can serve as a secondary useful and increasingly popular retention and motivation tool. The superior
workplace environment along with the use of spot rewards and similar forms of spot bonuses is one of the major shifts in the
compensation world today because its positive impact on employees can far outweigh its cost to the company (Menefee, John
A; Murphy, Ryan O, 2004) . This shift is often perceived as a positive one, as these rewards can serve as motivation and
retention for employees while also being cost-efficient for organizations. Managers can also use spot rewards as a sign of
recognition and appreciation of the behaviours that they want from employees in the future.
 Stock options: Employees Stock Option Scheme is a benefit given by the employer to the employee as a reward or token of
appreciation in lieu of work done by him so as to create a sense of belonging among employees (Nalin Kulatilaka & Alan J.
Marcus, 1994). The employer, instead of paying incentives and bonuses to the employee, gives the employee stake in the
organization by giving him a share of stock at a concessional price or for free. It is an option given to an employee to
subscribe or not to subscribe for share capital instead of purchasing from the open market. This option is given only if an
employee remains in the organization for a fixed number of years as decided by the company from the date of ‘right to
subscribe’ in shares. Employees’ stock option is also considered as effective tool of motivation and retention of employees
(John Hull & Alan White, 2004). It has been observed that some large scale organizations offer stock options only for the top
level executive and some key employees in the organization but other levels of the hierarchy have been neglected with such
benefits.
 Open-door policy: An open door policy means top management and managers doors are open to every employee. The
purpose is to encourage open communication, feedback, and discussion about important issues of employees. Employees can
take their workplace concerns, questions, or suggestions outside their chain of command without worrying. The policy is
typically designed with the intent of creating an environment in which employees feel they can express any question or
concern without fear. It can also signal to the employees that the company wants to be transparent in its operations.
Employers hope to keep employee morale high by ensuring employees their voices will be heard. Employers also benefit
from open-door policies because it often means the employer will hear of issues before they escalate.
 Childcare aid or subsidies: Companies operating in Oil and gas industry of Oman such as PDO, Orpic and Oxy are widely
perceived as great organizations to work because they offer competitive salaries and benefit. For many employees especially
those women employees who have children, childcare aid is perceived as the most valuable benefit. Childcare can be
expensive and hard for working parents to navigate, even in the best of circumstances. Smart, compassionate companies help
their employees through this minefield, recognizing that it could be the benefit that matters most for employee retention.
Childcare subsidy is a program in which company provides financial assistance to eligible employees to assist with child care

IJRAR19K5578 International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews (IJRAR) www.ijrar.org 762
© 2019 IJRAR June 2019, Volume 6, Issue 2 www.ijrar.org (E-ISSN 2348-1269, P- ISSN 2349-5138)
costs (Forry ND, Hofferth SL, 2011). Some organizations are helping employees make the most of existing, childcare aid,
and going further to help employees figure out better, more-affordable childcare options.
 Working condition: Gerber et al (1998) defined the working condition as: “working conditions are created by the
interaction of employee with their organizational climate, and includes psychological as well as physical working
conditions.’’ According to Yesufu (1984), the workplace location and physical condition will be influencing quality of work
and productivity. An office is a place in which employees spend maximum time of the day, if the offices and factories that
are not properly arranged certainly will make employees uncomfortable during their work. There should be enough supply of
drinking water, rest rooms, first aids facilities and car parking facility etc. and also companies should ensure that employees
are comfortable during their work. Therefore the firm needs to have a good working condition to boost employees’ morale
and motivation and also for making employees comfortable in the place of work.
 Tuition allowance: Tuition assistance is a benefit that many potential employees seek. Tuition allowance or tuition
reimbursement is a powerful retention tool. In a tuition-assistance program, an employer pays all or part of an employee's
cost to attend some professional courses to develop their skills and competencies. Tuition assistance helps employers build
employee loyalty and retention. It is also a recruiting tool that benefits employers with high-potential employees who are
focused on growth and learning. It is found that some of the organizations are having a scholarship program for their efficient
and promising employees but the numbers of scholarships have been reduced drastically in the last five years.
 Retention bonuses: A retention bonus is another retention tool used by many employers. It is an incentive offered to
employees to make them stay with organization for a long time. In other words, a retention bonus is a payment or reward that
is offered as an incentive to keep a key employee on the job during a crucial time for using their expertise and experience to
manage the on-going business issues.
 Transportation subsidies: Travel allowance programs provide subsidies to employees in one form or another and include
transit fare allowances or subsidies, vanpool fare allowances, parking allowances or free parking, and general travel
allowances that can be used by the employees toward any mode they choose or for any non-transportation purposes.
Employers who grant transportation benefits for members of their workforce gain several advantages for their company as
offering such benefits can also help companies to attract and retain employees.
 Non-cash or low-cash rewards: In a simple word it is an award given to employees which does not involve cash. A non-
monetary reward can consist of almost any material object such as jewellery, precious metals or an automobile for example.
In business, a non-monetary reward can also be a service such as improvements made on a property or repairs done on a car.
Daniels, who is senior consultant at Keating Advisors, LLC, said that non- cash rewards are more memorable than cash
rewards. For example, most people feel uncomfortable talking about cash, but enjoy talking about their new golf clubs or
trip. With tangible noncash incentives being visible and socially acceptable to praise, question, or bring up, there is no need
to go out of one’s way to call attention to them. Apart from this the non-cash rewards cost less. (Anaïs Thibault Landry, Esg
Uqam, Allan Schweyer, and Ashley Whillans, 2017).
 Casual dress: In a casual workplace, jeans are everyday attire and shirts with or without collars is the norm. In most of the
modern organizations such as google, men rarely wear ties and full collar shirt with full sleeves. They claim that they have
no dress code at all, and employees are free to wear sweatpants if they choose to do so. Many other big companies including
Apple and Facebook, have made the switch to a casual dress code. Traditionally people believe that dressing up formally will
help employees to perform better, have better work ethics and proactive mind-set. Assistant professor at Columbia Business
School and Author of “The Cognitive Consequences of Formal Clothing” state that with a formal dress, workers feel more
powerful and ready to tackle higher-level abstract thinking. When thinking of the bigger picture, dressing formally will
increase productivity. The new generation has a contradictory approach they seen Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, in a
casual t-shirt and jeans and believe this does in no way define your productivity or success. Presently employees believe that
being comfortable will make you more relax leads to focus on goals for work. It has been observed that, in Oman, employees
will not be having such freedom as the government law doesn’t allow citizens of Oman into wears casual dress as they have
to wear the national dress during their work.
 360-degree feedback/ multi-rater feedback: 360 degree feedback is a method that provides the opportunity for employees
to receive performance feedback from their superiors or managers, peers, subordinates, co-workers, and also the customers.
Dr.V.Vijay Anand, Dr. V. Badrinath Dr. R. Renganathan, K.Siva Bharathi, R. Manjula, & E. Nallisai, (2018) have agreed
that 360 degree feedback allows each individual to understand the perception of different set of people about him as an
employee and his effectiveness as an employee, co-worker or staff member is viewed by others. The most effective 360
degree feedback processes provide feedback that is based on behaviours that other employees can see. 360-degree feedback
program aims at solving multi-dimensional problems in an organization ranging from employee engagement and attrition to
development and succession planning.
 Eldercare subsidies: According Dorothy Millar- social worker (1981), describe middle aged workers are sandwich
generation. They are “sandwiched” between caring for their children and elderly parents simultaneously. They need to
provide care for their elders at home and it seems reasonable for businesses to provide a little extra support by offering
eldercare benefit or subsidy. As only 6% the population of Oman falls in the category of baby boomers and there is strong
family culture in Oman, many young Omani workers elder care subsidies are not very important. For adult workers are
already providing care for an elderly parent or family member. When employees are faced with a difficult elder care
situation, they’re in a time of crisis. They’re not necessarily focused or making the best decisions—at home or works and this
creates an immediate panic. To make matters worse, employees who care for their aging parents are more likely to be less
productive, take more time off, and arrive to work late on a regular basis. This is troubling news for many companies,
especially since lower productivity often equates to lower revenue. This is not much in practice in Oman but companies can
think of offering a variety of support resources to employees as caregivers.
 Attitude surveys: The employee attitude survey is a management tool and used by the employers to learn about the opinions
of their employees on issues related to the company and their role within the organisation. It is a method to understand the
different needs of the organization from the perspective of the employees. These surveys can be done occasionally or fixed

IJRAR19K5578 International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews (IJRAR) www.ijrar.org 763
© 2019 IJRAR June 2019, Volume 6, Issue 2 www.ijrar.org (E-ISSN 2348-1269, P- ISSN 2349-5138)
interval to understand the perception of employees about a specific concern. These surveys may also be done regularly to
measure employee morale and identify new areas that need resolution so they can be included in the next planning activity.
 Alternative dispute resolution: Workplace disputes and conflicts are inevitable, and dispute resolution strategies are
necessary. Sometimes these conflicts end up in the courts and it will not just consume time and energy but also ruin the
relationship with suppliers, customers and shareholder. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) has become an excellent
substitute for traditional methods of workplace grievance resolution. ADR is a good method for resolving disagreements,
conflicts and workplace issues without having to enlist the services of attorneys, arbitrators or the courts. ADR uses the
tenants of mediation and negotiation to find a compromise to a problem that is suitable for both parties. It involves less risk
for the parties and leads to a quicker resolution.
 Fitness facilities: Employees in the company spend long hours sitting at their desk most of the time. Their inactive
behaviour with working under pressure and stress can have harmful effects, including an increased likelihood of developing
the illness. While it is employee’s responsibility to look after his/her health, as an employer the company should promote
physical fitness for their employees inside the company by investing in corporate gym or offer membership in the fitness
centers. Such investment’s long-term benefits might outweigh the initial cost as experts say that, healthy body is a healthy
mind if the employees are healthy surely will have a positive influence on their productivity and performance.
 Severance package: Severance pay is an amount of money that the employer pays to the employee that’s “severed” from his
or her employment. Many business owners offer severance pay as a sense of responsibility or fairness to the employee who
has worked for a long time. This action also helps in maintaining the morale and goodwill of staff and can serve as an
effective tool in retaining and attracting employees. Organizations can use this as part of your hiring campaigns especially
when you are looking for top management talents.
 Sabbaticals: Sabbatical is a very popular type of paid leave in universities and higher educational institution. The university
faculties or professor avail such leaves for their intellectual study for a period of six months to a year. However, sabbaticals
are no more limited to professors; a lot of companies have adopted the concept and are now providing leave to their
employees so they don’t suffer from job burnout. Sabbaticals are not only used for taking up training or studies, but it can be
used for many purposes such as relaxing to heal from job burnout, to develop some new skills by taking up a course or
training, travel to different parts of the world and explore new cultures and places and volunteering for anything. So,
mentioning it as a perk that your company provides may not only retain but motivate employees to stick to the company for
long-term.

One of the greatest challenges for today’s businesses in Oman is to achieve a sustainable competitive edge in the competitive
international market. Companies spend a lot to stay on the competitive edge and often face an increased shortage of highly skilled
employees due to the reason that skilled employees are largely demanded in the market and job hopping is very common in private
sector organization. Employee retention is a matter concern for companies and organization’s health can be determined by the quality
of its workforce, therefore it is very important for companies that they should execute right strategies to motivate employees to
continue staying and working with the organization.

IV. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION:

It has been found directly from the key employees’ word of mouth, the retention an efficient and skilled workforce is a challenge for
all the organizations. There are plentiful job opportunities for the Omani worker in the job market as the government of Oman
pushing Omanization, all over Oman. Government is compelling businesses to keep Omani citizens in the key positions of the
organizations. To do so, most of the companies are hunting capable and skilled employees regularly to fill all their key position.
Recruitments advertisements are regularly published in the publications of Oman, encouraging Omani workers to apply to different
jobs. The above scenario results in increasing job-hopping among young workers and creating challenges for the organizations to
retain their efficient employees. It has been found that, Omani workers from across the level demand high respect in the place of
work, as it is an important part of the culture of Omani society. If there is a conflict in the work place, organizations need to give top
priority to manage conflict with a win-win solution, even with little discomfort employees threaten to leave the organization. Beside
that Omani’s believe in co-operation and dislike competition among themselves, so open communication and good relationship
between workers are considered an important factor which motivates employees to stay with the organization. Omani young skilled
employees are very keen to occupy the top position of the organizations to fulfil their esteem and self-actualization need and beside
it is a matter of prestige for the Omani employees. Apart from the government, organizations such as PDO (Petroleum Development
of Oman, ORPIC, Oxy and LNG etc., are the top recruiters in Oman. Young Omani generation prefers to work in these
organizations because of their attractive compensation and career development opportunities. It has been understood that there is a
growing expectation of Omani employees to get the scholarship from the employees to pursue higher education. Beside that work-
life balance culture is very important for Omani workers as they give high importance to their families and don’t prefer to work the
organization which demands long hours of work.

There are no specific kinds of practices that show the significance to retain employees and keep them loyal towards the organization
because employers have a different emphasis on different variables depending on what suits their organization best. Hiring best
employees will not be enough and beneficial unless companies learn how to manage and retain them with the organization. Based on
this research the following points are a list of suggestions, the researcher would recommend for employees’ retention:-

1. Organizations must conduct “exit” interviews to understand why employees decide to leave the organisation. This information will
help in designing and implementing the right strategy to motivate employees to stay with the organization for a long time.
2. Companies should try to develop open communication climate within the organization. This will help the employees to feel free in
sharing ideas and feeling with their supervisors and co-workers and also helps in developing a close relationship among employees.
3. Companies should provide need-based training to its employees, motivate good performers through promotion and motivate under-
performers to work better by giving constructive feedback about their performance by making them realize their area of strength and
weakness.

IJRAR19K5578 International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews (IJRAR) www.ijrar.org 764
© 2019 IJRAR June 2019, Volume 6, Issue 2 www.ijrar.org (E-ISSN 2348-1269, P- ISSN 2349-5138)
4. Organizations can use performance based rewards and incentives to keep employees motivated, because such programs can keep
employees determined and enthusiastic about their jobs.
5. Employees like flexible work schedule, especially the older one in order to balance the work-life. Therefore it is recommended that
flexibility may be provided in the work timing and at least reasonable freedom can be provided to employees to decide their own
work time.
6. Employers must recruit and select people by using all mechanism and method. They must hire selectively from the beginning by
keeping in mind things like diligence, attitude, integrity, academic qualification, skills and experience.
7. Organizations must encourage and promote team work culture to create synergy. Teamwork encourages sharing and learning and
creates bonding between the team’s member. This will help in improving the efficiency and productivity of the organization.
8. Employers must try and recognize the need for the employee’s time off. Giving the employee the time to keep his/her personal life
in place is also very important for employee retention.
9. Treating every employee equally and fairly in something employers must always keep in mind because for employees it is very
important that their organization treats everyone the same way without any bias.

V. CONCLUSION:
This research gives understanding of the various strategies and practices used across industries for achieving employees’ retention.
Organizations need to retain their best employees to survive in today’s hyper-competitive environment where job-hopping is very
common and employee poaching is on the rise.

References:

 Al-sharafi, Hamed & Mat, Ezani & Shah, Syed. (2018); The Effect of Training and Career Development on Employees
Retention-A Study on the Telecommunication Organizations in Yemen; The Journal of Social Sciences Research.
10.32861/jssr.spi2, 420.430.
 Anaïs Thibault Landry, ESG UQAM, Allan Schweyer, and Whillans (2018); Winning the War for Talent: Modern
Motivational Methods for Attracting and Retaining Employees: Compensation & Benefits Review 2017, Vol. 49(4) 230–
246,
 Anon, (2008);“Flexible Working as Human Resource Strategy: Benefits to the Organization and its Personnel,” Strategic
Direction, Vol. 24, No. 8, 2008, pp. 9-11. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02580540810884584 [14].
 Awan, Wasim. (2013); Impact of employee orientation on retention: A case of service sector organizations in Pakistan:
Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business; 5. 326-333.
 Bibi, Palwasha et al, (2018). “The Impact of Training and Development and Supervisors Support on Employees Retention
in Academic Institutions in Pakistan: The Moderating Role of the Work Environment.
 Bloom, Jessica. (2012). How do vacations affect workers’ health and well-being? Vacation (after-) effects and the role of
vacation activities and experiences.
 Bodjrenou Kossivi1, Ming Xu, Bomboma Kalgora, (2016): Study on Determining Factors of Employee Retention; Open
Journal of Social Sciences, 4, 261-268 Published Online May 2016 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/jss
 Dr Ldama John, Dr Peter Teru (2017); Effect of Compensation/ Pay on Staff Retention in Selected Commercial Banks in
Adamawa State, Nigeria: International Journal of Scientific Research and Management (IJSRM), Vol 5, Issue 09, Pages
7033-7039, Website: www.ijsrm.in.
 Dr. Aditi R Khandelwal, Neha Shekhawat, (2018); Role of talent retention in reducing employee turnover; Inspira- Journal
of Modern Management & Entrepreneurship (JMME) 1, ISSN: 2231–167X, General Impact Factor: 2.3982, Volume 08,
No. 01, pp. 1-5.
 Dr. K. Balaji Mathimaran & Prof. Dr. A. Ananda Kumar, (2017): Employee Retention Strategies – An Empirical Research;
Global Journal of Management and Business Research: E Marketing Volume 17 Issue 1 Version 1.
 Dr.V.Vijay Anand, Dr. V. Badrinath Dr. R. Renganathan, K.Siva Bharathi, R. Manjula, & E. Nallisai, (2018); An
assessment of 360 degree performance appraisal systema study with special reference to private banks : International Journal
of Pure and Applied Mathematics Volume 119 No. 7 2018, 2717-2728 ISSN: 1311-8080 (printed version); ISSN: 1314-3395
(on-line version) url: http://www.ijpam.eu Special Issue.
 Forry ND, Hofferth SL. Maintaining Work: The Influence of Child Care Subsidies on Child Care-Related Work Disruptions.
J Fam Issues. 2011; 32(3):346–368. Doi: 10.1177/0192513X10384467.
 Gerber A, et al. (1998) Tad1p, a yeast tRNA-specific adenosine deaminase, is related to the mammalian pre-mRNA editing
enzymes ADAR1 and ADAR2. EMBO J 17(16):4780-9
 Hofacker and S. Konig, (2013);“Flexibility and Work-Life Conflict in Times of Crisis: A Gender Perspective,” In-
ternational Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 33, No. 9-10, pp. 613-635. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-04-
2013-0042.
 John Hull & Alan White (2004) How to Value Employee Stock Options, Financial Analysts Journal, 60:1, 114-119, DOI:
10.2469/faj.v60.n1.2596
 Juliana Mulaa Namada (United States International University – Africa, Kenya) Organizational Learning and Competitive
Advantage; Handbook of Research on Knowledge Management for Contemporary Business Environments.
https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/organizational-learning-and-competitive-advantage/205071.
 Kaiser, S. M. (2006). An Examination of New Employee Orientation and Training Programs in Relation to Employee
Retention Rates: Master thesis, The Graduate School, University of Wisconsin-Stout December, p. 64.
 Kuruvilla, S., & Ranganathan, A. (2010). Globalisation and outsourcing: Confronting new human resource challenges in
India's business process outsourcing industry. Industrial Relations Journal, 41(2), 136-153.

IJRAR19K5578 International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews (IJRAR) www.ijrar.org 765
© 2019 IJRAR June 2019, Volume 6, Issue 2 www.ijrar.org (E-ISSN 2348-1269, P- ISSN 2349-5138)
 Menefee, John A, Murphy & Ryan O (2004); Rewarding and Retaining the Best: Compensation Strategies for Top
Performers; Benefits Quarterly; Brookfield; Vol. 20, Iss. 3, pp 13-20.
 Muhammad Irshad, Fahad Afridi, (2007): Factors affecting employees’ retention: evidence from literature; Impulse Buying
& Demographic Characteristics Abasyn Journal of Social Sciences. Vol.4 No.2.
 Nalin Kulatilaka & Alan J. Marcus (1994) Valuing Employee Stock Options, Financial Analysts Journal, 50:6, 46-56, DOI:
10.2469/faj.v50.n6.46
 Presbitero, A., Roxas, B. and Chadee, D. (2016). Looking beyond HRM practices in enhancing employee retention in BPOs:
focus on employee–organisation value fit. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(6): 635–52.
Available: https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2015.1035306
 Raymond, M. (1989). Adapting to technology and competition: A new industrial relations system for the 21st century.
California Management Review, 31(2), 9-27.
 Shagvaliyeva, Sussanna & Yazdanifard, Assc. Prof. Dr. Rashad. (2014). Impact of Flexible Working Hours on Work-Life
Balance. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management. 4. 20-23. 10.4236/ajibm.2014.41004.
 Tayfun Turgay, Okechukwu Lawrence Emeagwali, (2012); Hypercompetition: the driving force behind successful business
innovations? A critical review of literature; Investment Management and Financial Innovations, Volume 9, Issue 3.
 Umer Ahmad, (2013): Impact Of Training On Employee Retention; Case Business School , available online at:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication.
 Yesufu, T., (1984); Dynamics of Industrial Relations: The Nigerian Experience. Ibadan: University of Ibadan Press.

IJRAR19K5578
View publication stats
International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews (IJRAR) www.ijrar.org 766