Running head: Case Jeans, Inc

Using a Performance Analysis to Influence Employee Turnover: Jeans, Inc.

N. Alvarado, B. Grella, C. Reese

Georgia State University

Dr. Shoffner, LT7150

 Using a Performance Analysis to Influence Employee Turnover: Jeans, Inc.

Jeans, Inc., was a textile manufacturer that had been established in their Midwestern

metropolitan area for 35 years. The plant employed approximately six hundred staff.

The textile manufacturer experienced a significant organizational problem – it faced an

annual employee turnover rate of nearly 90 percent. Employee turnover was becoming endemic

to the organization. Externally, regional unemployment was low and compounding the issue.

This situation was a costly performance problem for Jeans, Inc., and threatened the plant’s ability

to meet production targets which jeopardized the company’s future.

Problem Statement

Jeans, Inc. management surveyed the environment and recognized that the employee

turnover problem would not abate. Moreover, staff replace was an issue. Jeans, Inc. did not have

a remediation plan to address these threats. This created a tenuous and uncertain future for the

company. A project was organized to analyze and identify the cause(s) of the high turnover.

Performance Analysis Plan

To address the growing turnover Jeans, Inc consulted with a local university. This team

was tasked with conducting a performance analysis and making recommendations. The team

elected for a performance improvement model that followed a modified version of the standard

Human Performance Improvement (HPI) lifecycle. This modified model deviated from the HPI

best practice standards.

Performance Analysis Tools and Goals

The team broke the performance analysis into the following phases: pre-analysis, analysis
phase and post-analysis phase. The team elected to use quantitative approaches for the
performance analyses. The primary data collection approaches, the execution and usage goals are
noted below:
 Tool
One-on-one formal
interviews, observations and
informal (spontaneous and
unplanned) conversational
interviews
Extant data reviews
Written surveys
Cause Analysis Findings
The team generated a large volumes of data. The entire process extended over two years.
Each phase discovered varying conclusions.
During the pre-analysis phase the literature review and regional employment data
uncovered that:
Execution
Approximately 45 employees
were interviewed or
observed, including the plant
manager, plant supervisors,
operator trainees, “leavers”
(former employees),
incumbent operators,
maintenance employees,
trainers, bargaining unit
representatives, and the plant
personnel manager and staff.
Data review consisted of
plant extant data such as
personnel records and
regional employment
statistics flyers, operations
specifications, production
records, safety reports,
memos from plant
management, various bulletin
board documents, and memos
and news from corporate
headquarters were reviewed
A written survey provided
limited quantitative methods
data from selected
employees.
Goal
This data “provides rich
information on firsthand
exposure to the day-to-day
experiences and behaviors of
employees and helped
consultants recognize the
activities and physical aspects
of the situation”. (p. 114)
The extant data was
documented to “help the
research team better
understand employee
turnover within the textile
industry in general and its
immediate impact on regional
employment. It also helped
team members to analyze
possible causes of turnover.”
(p. 117)
The surveys provided
“attitude- and reaction-level
data”. (p. 113)
 ● turnover was a common issue within the textile industry
● low regional unemployment exacerbated the company’s turnover issues
The analysis phase results pointed to several key factors that impacted turnover:

● poor management and supervision

● training weaknesses.
In the final post analysis phase the high employee turnover were distilled to the following
causes:
● management and supervisory issues arising from a lack of job descriptions and unclear
responsibilities.
● organizational communication issues.
Intervention Selection

To address the problems identified by the consulting team, a multi-intervention approach

was created under the belief that a single approach would not be enough. To address the

management and supervisory issues, the recommended interventions included the identification

and review of specific job responsibilities with each supervisor and the reallocation of

production responsibilities for key supervisors. In terms of organizational communication, the

recommended interventions included the reduction of communication oriented paperwork,

changes to how the plant electronic public address system was used, and increase use of

supervisors and trainers as “communication conduits” between management and other plant staff

members. For operator and trainer training, trainer job descriptions are developed and “train-the-

trainer” and skills training are implemented. To address orientation training, the development

and use of a realistic job preview (RJP) video was recommended.

Evaluation

Once the interventions were implemented the overall company turnover rate fell to 60%.

However, there were no opportunities to evaluate the interventions. Not enough observation and

interview data was generated to show their effect on turnover. After six weeks of RJP process
use, turnover related interventions were suspended by the plant manager due to many internal

and external event forces. These include:

● Escalation of an ongoing, large-scale redesign process within the plant that was initiated

by corporate leadership.

● Several local and national labor-relations issues.

● A reinterpretation of immigrant hiring procedures resulting in over 24 Hispanic workers

quitting.

● Rumors of imminent closure of the plant.

Critique

This case highlights the problems associated with high turnover rate. It also shows,

however, the problems associated with attempting to solve a critical problem without proper

analysis. The organization used a modified model that showed a clear departure from tested best

practice HPI methodology. As a result, the company spent more time trying to solve the problem

and not actually solving it. This is evident in the company’s pre-analysis phase. During this phase,

the team employed a “research-based” approach, which included reviewing literature of turnover

(112). Even though the review indicated that high turnover rate was usually solved via the

implementation of one strategy, the team chose to do the opposite, knowing full well that data

showed no evidence of an effective multi-strategy approach. This decision seems

counterproductive because

1. By spending time focusing on general research on turnover (rather than their situational

problem), the team fails to recognize turnover as a presenting problem, rather than the

actual problem (See Rothwell example, p. 68, 2007).

2. The team does not perform a root-cause analysis to find the real cause of the problem.
 3. The team makes a decision that goes against the evidence they find.

The first two are mistakes that analysts often make, and while it is not ideal to misdirect

resources, the analysts who make those mistakes are following HPI principles. The third is not a

mistake, but a purposeful decision to ignore the best empirical data available to them and

systematic approach.

The problem that the organization faced arose from human performance problems, but it

also arose from environmental factors. The company was working against its environment

(extremely low unemployment rates exacerbat by an influx of workers) but pursued an intervention

strategy aimed exclusively at “fixing” the performer problem. Elementary macroeconomics and

microeconomics dictate that the labor market adheres to the law of supply and demand.

Paradoxically, however, low unemployment rates suggest that the supply of workers is low, thus

causing the demand for job in the region to increase. When the demand for workers increases, so

too do the wages offered to those seeking jobs. In order to hire workers, organizations must then

offer higher wages to job-seekers in order to remain competitive. That applies to retaining workers

as well. This is relevant to HPI because the time- and therefore, money- used to try and solve an

environmental problem could have been used to increase employee satisfaction. When the

individual is pitted against the environment, the environment will eventually win.

The organization’s turnover rate may have decreased, but 60% is still inefficient. The

organization’s intervention selection did not address employee satisfaction and did not focus on

its largest group- women- nearly enough as it should have.

 References

Hatcher, T. and Brook, K. (2000). Using a Performance Analysis to Influence Employee

Turnover - Jeans, Inc. In Phillips, J. J. (Ed.) Performance Analysis and Consulting (pp.

109 0 134). Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training and Development