Turnovers, in the view of Taylor (2005) are caused due to different reasons inside

an organization. Some of which can be personal on behalf on the employee or

can be a performance issue leading him to his dismissal. Disciplinary issue can
also be a reason for termination. These can be classified into two types of major
reasons for turnover.

Voluntary Release
Involuntary Release

Voluntary release is caused by the personal issues of the employee resulting in

his resignation at own will. The reason for the resignation can vary from a
personal problem, to a switch to another job with other m=motives and
expectations. Starting up an own business can be a driving force in a resignation.
Involuntary is a result of the company or organizations decision to terminate the
services of an employee as it feels they are no more required. Forced retirement,
dismissal on disciplinary and performance basis redundancy can be the core
reasons for involuntary turnover.
As discussed earlier, the difference between voluntary releases is not easy to
make. Contrastingly, the resignations on personal issues and dismissals due to
disciplinary issues are much self-explanatory about the type of termination.
Taylor s (2005) argues it is not very easy to guess the willingness level of an
employee to retain on predetermined age or if he/she was forced to retire in the
wake of redundancy. However, to build a good brand, the managers have control
the turnover rate and maintain it on the expectable level. In order to tackle
turnover the basic requirement is to know the root causes and ways to manage
them.
As Taylor (2005) suggests that there are two kinds of factors responsible for
turnover.

Controllable
Uncontrollable

Controllable:
As the name suggests, these are those factors which are within the companys
grasp. Workload, employee conflicts or an overall working environment can be
the factors which are under the companys control.
Uncontrollable: these factors are out of the companys control and if it does
lead to a resignation, organization can do nothing about it.
The organization can only reduce turnover rate by focussing on the controllable
factors (taylor 2005)
Causes:

Turnover or employee withdrawal is an aspect most often included in

organization research. Although is regarded as an important organization issue
(Charles and paul, 2008). Some of the basic turnover causes are;
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Pre-employment expectation
Age
Salary and job level
Availability of other employers
Organizational culture

Charle and Michele and Paul and Spector carried out a research based upon the
components of Mobely et al (1997) model but to a limited extent.
A simple and informative result from this research came through as to identifying
the needs and wants of an employee and offering certain package which holds
an employee and employer together.
Pre-employment expectation:
The employee may have expected too much or a completely different work at his
job due to a faulty selection. It might be a mismatch regarding the skills he
possesses against the work he is asked to do. The utility of that employee is low
and results in inefficiency.
In context to porter, Crampton and Smith (1976). Work discontent is one of the
major reason of employee turnover. Naturally the frustration will result in
withdrawal. Warshover (1988) explains that untrained staff could lead to a
lethargic behaviour and outcome on part of employee himself, cases of poor
training may develop misunderstandings wrong expectations.
Age
Employee change the way they look at things with their age probably because of
the needs he is working for. This constant change needs to be dealt with in a
meaningful way. Respect and its proportion expected by employees is different
on different level but respect in general is always a demand and is a mutually
undisclosed agreement else it might end up legal proceedings against the either
(Blanchard and Johnson 1982).
Survey of ex-employees:
After a few months of the departure of the employee they can be contacted in a
formal but cordial way in order to ask for their reason for quitting. The survey
should be outsourced to independent organization to reduce bias reasons. (Taylor
2005)
Attitude Surveys:
These can be held in a more casual way in order to take the employee into
confidence and so he can express himself more honestly. The focus should not
only be on the leaving organization but the future plane and development so

they the organization can find out the areas it is lacking and draft strategies
accordingly.
Quantitative Research:
The data or credentials can be compared of those who leave with those who stay.
The factors to be compared can be of age, distance from work, working hours,
performance and development stage. Taylor (2005) argues that such an
approach is only useful in large organization. This may be because there is a
larger sample size available to compare and extract results.
Infrastructure
The unavailability of basic equipment or facilities such as furniture, cafeteria, fire
safety, first aid, lighting and cleanliness are the basic reasons for any
inconvenience caused to the employees. They may not bear this and quit on
these basis which is a very preventable factor.
http://web.tuke.sk/fvtpo/journal/pdf07/3-str-64-68.pdf
Economy
Turnover in good economies can be relatively high and it is reported in some
case in Asian countries that employees state a difference of 50 cents in the
hourly wage rate as the reason for their switch. This however is very controllable
and the impact of good economy can be used to the advantage of the company.
http://web.tuke.sk/fvtpo/journal/pdf07/3-str-64-68.pdf
Salary and job level
People tend to look for a better than anything else. Payroll structure should be
fair and competitive as it is highly unlikely for someone to stay on a lower pay
than the market rate. Besides this, a very important part is the development of
the employee. People want to build a career and step up which not only
motivates them to deliver results but keeps him at the same organization as
opportunities to excel and build better prospects are higher and oncoming.
Vulnerability of Highly Skilled Staf
Highly skilled staff of an organization is always under the radar of the other
companies. The organizations lure the workers with better packages like flexible
working or pay increments. The workers according to CIPD 30% of them leave an
organization because of the relation with their managers. This liberty comes only
if you are confident enough of getting a job of the same calibre or better than the
present one.
Organization Culture
Weinstein (1992) states, responsibility can be the best available driving force for
an employee. Working in groups, distribution of responsibilities and a feel of
authority is what an employee wants. Herzberg (1966) is of the view that
responsibility can change the approach of an employee dramatically towards his

work. The responsibilities will give the employees a sense of recognition for their
work. His good work will be seen and rewarded resulting in an over
acknowledgement leading to a spirited and motivated employee in an
environment which at some stage is considered hostile. Allocation of added
responsibility should be classified as a norm in the organization which will
develop huge amount of trust levels.
Ways To Combat Turnover
Before getting into a debate of how to control the turnover rate, we must realise
the fact that how big of an issue turnover is and what is the proportion of the
impact on different prganizations.
According to Taylor (2011) turnover is not considered a serious issue in
organization driven by the low skilled working class like fast foods or telesales.
While Kearn (1994) also suggests that employer tend to be happy with the high
turnover of such organization as the advantage of a short lived enthusiasm on
part of the employee is of great effect and the swift promotion and expansion of
the fast food companies is the proof of it. On the other hand though, the release
of a well-trained, important and valued staff can be devastating as it not only
incurs a high cost but also the business relations might be effected for the
companies in the services industry. Employers participating in 2004 CIPD surveys
on labour turnover showed that average cost recruitment is round about 2500
but these figures are for an average employee and for the senior executives it
was almost the double of it. As discussed earlier the reasons behind the turnover
should be identified in relation to the psychology of the employee.
Mobley (1977) introduced a 10 stage model of an employee turnover decision
process which is as follows:

Evaluate existing job

Experience job dissatisfaction#
Think of quitting
Evaluate expected utility of search for ne job
Decide to search for alternatives
Search for alternatives
Evaluate alternatives
Compare them with present job
Decide whether to stay or quit
Quit

Taylor(2011) while discussing this model says it is essential to have a plan

devised on the basis of these stages. Here are a few approaches which will give
an idea as what the employee looks for and the reasons behind his resignation
from the existing job.
Exit interviews

Interviews conducted after the release or at the time of release of the employee
can give good ideas of the thinking of the employee and the grounds he make for
his resignation. However it is always difficult to conclude on the basis of such
interviews but a proper questionnaire or good interviewing an always be of a
good a help in the purpose. Moreover a simpler and straight forward approach
can be used as well by stating the purpose of the interview as an honest intent
to maintain a healthy and friendly working environment with improved
conditions. Without this it might be difficult to know the real truth as Furnham
2011 advises
It unwise to burn all your bridges
This is because the leavers may need a good positive job reference and it is not a
sane way to leave an organization.
Once the real reasons for leaving the organization are identified, strategies in
accordance to that can be made. Although the reasons can be different in
different departments. Taylor 2011 Employment of labour is just initiative of
building workforce. The real challenge is to retain them for a long period of time
and keep the productivity up to the mark. A plan is devised for retention which
highlights the basics.
1. Offer a good package to keep the employee motivated by meeting his
needs and developing a belief in the employee that the organization cares
n give importance to him.
2. Small perks and privileges can be given for example a free voucher/token
of shopping every month.
3. Develop interests for the employees by engaging them.
4. Appreciate and promote.
5. Across the board Training and development.
William Arthur Ward says:
The pessimist complains about the wind, optimist expects it to change
and realist adjust the sail.
If an organization is suffering from high turnover they should check themselves
against themselves. Look out for own employee relationship engagement and
remuneration. McCoey,2010
Arthur, 2001 explains a few ways of employee retention and describes open work
environment as the basic tool where the employees are invited to take part in
strategic discussion and give their opinion on management issues. In Pentagonia,
California and outdoor clothing company hired people for their Cultural
compatibility with the company and their attitude. High turnover can be
devastating for the companies highly relying on innovation. Arthur,2001 also
suggests that employees should be given an open hand not only for the sake of
creative mind of theirs but to empower them so they can work independently. In
3M, all the working system stops for 5 minutes and relax which is practiced in a
lot more other organizations as well.

There is also an argument that turnover not only brings misfortune but can be a
blessing in disguise to a great extent. Leave of a relatively expensive employee
can be excused as if the productivity of a certain senior employee may be less
than his labour cost, in such situations the replacement is sensible. (McEvoy &
Cascio, 1987) state that despite extensive recruitment and selection procedures
there still comes a mismatch, this should be always kept in mind and proper
measures should be taken to tackle it. Baron & Kreps, 1999 argue that turnover
creates the much deserved vacancies for the labour market. Capelli, 2000 used
a term Job Hoppers for the young and highly skilled professionals who leave the
organization as soon as they get a better offer, there we find scope for mediocre
skilled employees to be preferred by organization who have high turnover rates.
The notion that turnover can bring positivity can be defended justly if we look at
it in a broader spectrum as it is facilitating the internal labour market and giving
opportunities to the organization to come up with innovative ideas, skills and
experience. If used wisely, the turnover can be turned into a force to gain
momentum and direction leading into a completely different look with the
induction of fresh blood.