employees retention in private sector an exploratory study in the state of kuwait
TRANSCRIPT
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EMPLOYEES RETENTION IN PRIVATE SECTOR AN EXPLORATORY STUDY IN THE STATE OF
KUWAIT
BY
QADRIA ALKANDARI
AMANI ABDULLAH HAMMAD
OPEN UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA
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EMPLOYEES RETENTION IN PRIVATE SECTOR
AN EXPLORATORY STUDY IN THE STATE OF KUWAIT
BY
QADRIA ALKANDARI
AMANI ABDULLAH HAMMAD
Project paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of master of business administration
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Open University Malaysia (2009)
DECLARATION
Student’s Name : QADRIA ALKANDARI Matric . Number : 51070485 Student’s Name : AMANI ABDULLAH HAMMAD Matric . Number : 51070784
We hereby declare that this project paper is the result of my own work,
except for quotation and summaries which have been duly acknowledge.
Signature: …Qadria…… Date: 20-5-2009
Signature: …………………….. Date: 20-5-2009
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QADRIA ALKANDARI MBA 2009 OUM AMANI ABDULLAH HAMMAD MBA 2009 OUM
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APPLICATION TO CONDUCT RESEARCH PAPER
PART A: STUDENT'S PARTICULARS
Student’s Name : QADRIA ALKANDARI
Matric . Number : 51070485
Student’s Name : AMANI ABDULLAH HAMMAD
Matric . Number : 51070784
PART B: PARTICULAR ABOUT THE PROJECT
1. Title of the project: "Employees Retention in Private Sector (An Exploratory Study in the State of Kuwait)"
2. Research Objectives: "The current study is attempts to enhance our
understanding and improve the shortage of retention
literature. The study focuses on the private sector
employees of the state of Kuwait and aims to
determinate those workforce retention sector."
3. Proposed Research Method: "quantitative methodology"
PART C: FACULT"S INPUTS
1. Topic Chosen: Acceptable / Not Acceptable
2. Suggested Supervisor for the student: Dr.Isa Al-Jeran
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RESEARCH PAPER SUBMSSION FORM
Project Paper Title: "Employees Retention in Private Sector (An Exploratory Study in the State of Kuwait)"
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, Student Signature: Qadria 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:
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DEDICATION
We dedicate this thesis to:
• Our Parents, You who taught, Persevered and prepared us to face
challenges with faith and humility.
• Our Husbands, It was your support and encouragement to persist
and continue our journey till the end.
• Our children, Grow up and bloom our lovely flowers.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
So many people have encouraged and supported us throughout the
writing of this project. We would like to acknowledge their contribution
by mentioning their names.
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,
thank to all individuals who sacrificed their time to speak to me during
the interviews.
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ABSTRACT
The retention of human resources has been shown to be momentous to the
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
workforce. The survey questions designed to determine three elements of retention;
Benefits factors, strategies factors and organizational culture factors.
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
important to private sector workforce are rewards and recognition, annual
performance appraisal and training opportunities. While work at home, voluntary
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
leave or retire from state employment within the foreseeable future.
Keywords: Retention, Human Resource Management, Asymmetric Information, Kuwait
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TABLE OF CONTENT
• ABSTRACT
CHAPTER 1
(INTRODUCTION)
• BACKGROUND OF THEY STUDY
• PROBLEM STATEMENT
• RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
• SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
• PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
• ORGANIZATION OF STUDY
CHAPTER 2
• LITERATURE REVIEW
CHAPTER 3
(RESEARCH METHODOLOGY)
• DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES
• STUDY POPULATION AND SAMPLING
• METHODS
VII
CHAPTER 4
(DATA RESULTS)
DATA ANALYSIS
A. BENEFITS
B. STRATEGIES
C. ORGANIZATION CULTURE
E. CAREER PLANS
CHAPTER 5
(DISCUSSION)
DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
CHAPTER 6
(SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION)
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
FUTURE STUDIES
REFERENCES
APPENDIX 1 - SURVEY
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LIST OF TABLE
Table 1: Benefits Factors
Table 2: Organizational strategies factors
Table 3: organizational culture factors
Table 4: Demographic Factors
Table 5: Survey Responses – Benefits
Table 6: Survey Responses – Strategies
Table 7: Organizational Culture- development Plan
Table 8: Organizational Culture- task group assignments
Table 9: Organizational Culture- Career development program
Table 10: Organizational Culture- New project assignment
Table 11: Organizational Culture- Supervisor communication
Table 12: Organizational Culture- value of diversity
Table 13: Organizational Culture- openness and trust
Table 14: Organizational Culture- fairness and respect
Table 15: Organizational Culture- supervisor listening
Table 16: Organizational Culture- supervisor empowers
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Gender
Figure 2: Age
Figure 3: Years of Service
Figure 4: Career plans
Figure 5: Benefits
Figure 6: Strategies
Figure 7: Organizational Culture- development Plan
Figure 8: Organizational Culture- task group assignments
Figure 9: Organizational Culture- Career development program
Figure 10: Organizational Culture- New project assignment
Figure 11: Organizational Culture- Supervisor communication
Figure 12: Organizational Culture- value of diversity
Figure 13: Organizational Culture- openness and trust
Figure 14: Organizational Culture- fairness and respect
Figure 15: Organizational Culture- supervisor listening
Figure 16: Organizational Culture- supervisor empowers
Figure 17: Workforce of private sector employees
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter is an introduction and intended to provide background information on
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.
BACKGROUND OF THEY STUDY
The retention of employees has been shown to be significant to the development
and the accomplishment of the organization’s goals and objectives. Retention of
employees can be a vital source of competitive advantage for any organization.
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
problems with employee retention.
Today, changes in technology, global economics, trade agreements, and the like
are directly affecting employee/employer relationships. “Until recently, loyalty was
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
organization because they become dissatisfied, under paid or unmotivated (Coff
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
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organization practices, and not interact well with their coworkers or comply with
their managers’ directions.
Besides these problems asymmetric in formation or lack of in formation about the
employees’ performance may complicate an organization’s Endeavour to retain
productive employees. With out adequate in formation an organization may not be
able to distinguish productive workers from non-productive ones. Employees often
may take credit for the successes and deflect failures to other employees. This is
known as a moral hazard problem. In many in stances companies may reward or
punish employees for an organization out come for which they had no impact (Kerr
1975).
Insufficient information about employees’ performance may result in adverse
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
inadequate in formation out standing performance is not rewarded. Non productive
and productive workers end up receiving the same or nearly the same
compensation and pack age of perks be cause of management’s in ability to
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
complicated be cause of bounded rationality (Simon 1976). It is another result of
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.
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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
colleagues. When in formation about an employee’s activities are difficult to
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
costs to the organization in the form of excessive perquisite consumption, shirking
of job responsibilities and poor in vestment decision making. Jensen and Meckling
(1976) explained that it is in an employee’s interest to over consume perks and
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
in investment selection to enhance their own career chances (Narayanan 1985).
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
in order to in crease their own power base within the firm.
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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
do not work anymore.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
understanding employee perspectives and measuring their retention factors are
critical to an organization success. However, each employee in an organization
creates his or her own understanding of a phenomenon and assumptions (Argyris
and Schon, 1978). It is the understanding of the situation that provokes an action
(Weick, 1979, 1995). an employee interprets their organizational environment
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,
scarcity of researches are indicated. Replication of such studies in other regions is
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
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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
specific retention problems in their agency? What type of work environment or
organizational culture e.g. supervisory style, work itself, is most appealing to
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
of literature by focus on state of Kuwait to the main determinate of employee
retention to existing in private sector. The main research objectives can be
summaries as follows:
• Explore what types of benefits those are most important for the private
sector workforce in the state of Kuwait.
• Assess the most important organizational strategies that contribute to the
retention of the private sector workforce.
• Investigate what issues related to organizational culture contribute to the
retention of the private sector workforce.
• Explore the future plan of Private sector workforce that contribute to their
retention.
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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
expected to bridge a gap in the literature for empirical research focusing on
employee's retention in the state of Kuwait. For the practical contributions, this
study is expected to provide new solutions and evidence on the usefulness of
segmentation techniques for human resource management.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
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
employee's satisfaction and in private filed.
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
methodology, it discuses the population and sampling, data collection procedures,
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
presents Summary, conclusion and other implications of the study.
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CHAPTER II
LITERATURE AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
In this chapter, the previous studies for employee’s retentions are presented to be
the framework to understand and systematically analyze factors the affect
employee’s intentions.
Retention defined as “an obligation to continue to do business or exchange with a
particular company on an ongoing basis” (Zineldin, 2000, p. 28). A more detailed
and recent definition for the concept of retention is “customer liking, identification,
commitment, trust, readiness to recommend, and repurchase intentions, with the
first four being emotional-cognitive retention constructs, and the last two being
behavioral intentions” (Stauss et al., 2001). Studies have indicated that retention
driven by several key factors, which ought to be managed congruently:
organizational culture, strategy, pay and benefits philosophy, and career
development systems (Fitzenz 1990).
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
increasingly tight (Eskildesen 2000, Hammer 2000).
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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
benefits such as customers satisfaction, better service, lower costs (Reichheld,
1995), lower price sensitivity, positive word-of-mouth, higher market share, higher
productivity and higher efficiency (Zineldin, 2000).
Based on a review of the literature, many studies has investigate employees
intentions to exist, for example Eskildsen and Nussler (2000) in their research
suggested that employers are struggling to be talented employees in order to
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
line linking employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Thus, high
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
improve their organizational customers satisfaction (Hammer2000; Marini 2000;
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
and may result in improving the value of teaching employees to be service
providers, with the capability to enhance interaction with customers rather than
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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
they consider to be extraordinary.
The earlier efforts of Desai and Mahajan (1998) in examine the concepts of
acquiring customers from a rational and affective perspective provides us with
different approaches of how cognition and affects are implemented to increase
retention. The authors recommended that in order to retain employees, companies
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
satisfaction is a component of retention.
However, Johnston (2001) in his research negated the relationship between
customer's satisfaction and their retention clarifying that such relation is very weak.
He explain that an understanding of the two concepts cannot always be achieved
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
mentioned that customer retention and customer satisfaction should be treated as
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)
explain satisfaction as an antecedent of customer retention. The authors study
customer satisfaction cues in retail banking services in Greece. The fining of his
study shows that product innovativeness, convenience, staff service, price and
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business profile are dimensions of customer satisfaction. The authors also
mentioned that customers do not consider switching banks until they have
encountered a series of negative effects.
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
workers commitment to an organization. Instead, it may be essential to look
beyond satisfaction to other variables that strengthen retention such as conviction
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
relationships with their employees. Further, this suggestion is based on the
principle that once trust is built into a relationship, the probability of either party
ending the relationship decreases because of high termination costs.
Other studies have proposed that the cost of replacing lost talent is even higher, as
much as 70 to 200 percent of that employee’s annual salary (Kaye, 2000).
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
satisfaction and behavioral intentions and behaviors such as employee’s retention
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
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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
satisfaction on retention is well recognized that some major economies now
measure satisfaction at the industry level using large sample surveys to predict
employee's retention and future financial performance (Fornell et al., 1995).
Kay (2000) describe costs as in “…advertising and recruiting expenses, orientation
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
productivity. When high level of employees turnover existed, most of the
workforce is at an entry level stage of production. A very high cost is associated
with large numbers of employees who have not accomplish full productivity. This
cycle continues with very few employees performing at maximum productivity.
Numerous studies explain the importance of high employees involvement and how
it could enhance their retention (Arthur 1994; Huselid 1995; Koch and McGrath
1996). Flexible work schedules and assistance programs need to be considered,
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
interested in payment, advancement opportunities and time off. Such differences
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
employee dissatisfaction and thus turnover. a corporation namely Kimko,
implemented this information and provide a training program that gave employees
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an opportunities to develop their path and career direction. Turnover tumbled from
75 percent to 50 percent (Withers 2001).
studies indicated that employees stay when they have strong relationships with
others with whom they work (Clarke 2001). this explain the efforts of
organizations to encourage team building, project assignments involving
work with colleagues and opportunities for interaction both on and off the job
(Johns et al 2001).
Other studies indicated that effective communications improve employee
identification with their agency and build openness and trust culture. Increasingly,
organizations provide information on values, mission, strategies, competitive
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.
In summary, the literature defines retention as continuing relation between
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
satisfaction does not necessarily cause to retention.
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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
sampling, the final section presents data analysis.
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
sector workforce in the state of Kuwait.
• Assess the most important organizational strategies that contribute to the
retention of the private sector workforce.
• Investigate what issues related to organizational culture contribute to the
retention of the private sector workforce.
• Explore the future plan of Private sector workforce that contribute to their
retention.
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES
To accomplish the aforementioned research objectives, the data for this study was
collected through self-administered questionnaires. As part of its data gathering
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
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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
and level of agreement with a number of statements related to:
• Benefits factors
• Retention strategies factors
• Organizational culture factors
The first part of the questionnaire asked respondents to rate the relative importance
of 6 potential benefits factors, on their retention, using a five-point Likert type
importance scale ranging from “very important” to “not important at all”. Table 1
show these factors.
Table 1: Benefits Factors
Benefits Factors
1. Salary and monetary compensation 2. Leave benefits (including vacation, sick, personal, paid holidays). 3. Retirement plan 4. Health and other benefits (health insurance, vision, dental,
prescription). 5. Deferred compensation. 6. Employee assistance program.
The Second part elicited retention strategies factors, respondents asked to rate the
relative importance of 13 potential strategies factors on their retention, using a
five-point Likert type importance scale ranging from “very important” to “not
important at all”. Table 2 show Organizational strategies factors.
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Table 2: Organizational strategies factors
Organizational strategies Factors
1. Alternative Work Schedule 2. Voluntary Reduction in Work Schedule 3. Telecommuting/Work at Home. 4. Wellness Programs 5. Mentoring and coaching 6. Job Rotation and New Assignments 7. Help with career planning 8. On-site day care 9. Rewards and recognition 10. Employee Suggestion Program 11. Education opportunities 12. Training opportunities - job related 13. Annual Performance Appraisal
The third part of the survey address the organizational culture factors, respondents
asked to rate the relative importance of 10 organizational culture factors on their
retention, using a five-point scale type agreement scale ranging from “Strongly
Agree” to “Strongly disagree”. The following table shows the organizational
strategies factors.
Table 3: organizational culture factors
Organizational culture Factors
1. Supervisors in my workplace sit down with employees and discuss their development plans at least every 6 months.
2. Employees are often given the opportunity to be part of task groups and assignments outside their core job responsibilities.
3. My agency has a career development program that helps people become more aware of and responsible for their own career development.
4. Working on a new projector assignment is an open process with few barriers.
5. Supervisors communicate effectively with employees.
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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,
respondents are given an opportunity to provide general comments on any other
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.
STUDY POPULATION AND SAMPLING
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
per location), commencing at 8.00 am, 10 am and 1 pm on a particular Tuesday,
Monday and Wednesday. In convenience method, private sector employees who
conducted their work in the sampling location during the chosen time intervals
were selected.
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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
and asked if they would be prepared to fill in the questionnaire.
The survey took approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. The survey was
designed to obtain information about the main determinants of employees retention
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
sufficiently large for statistical reliability and generalizability (Tabachnick and
Fidell, 1996; Stevens, 2002). This relatively high response rate attributed to the
self-administered approach undertaken in distributing questionnaires and
approaching respondents at the various locations.
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.
These techniques were deemed to be appropriate for this particular analysis
because the main purpose of this thesis is to explore the main determinate of
employee exiting retention.
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CHAPTER IIII
DATA RESULTS
This chapter prepared to give clear representation for the sample and presents the
data results from the study.
DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
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
Table represent the demographic factors.
Figure1: Gender Figure2: Age
Gender
70
55
Male
Female
Age173
9
56
40
Between 18 to 25
Between 26 to 35
Between 36 to 45
Between 46 to 55
Above 55
Figure3: Years of Service
Years of Service
503
32
21
19
Between 0 -5 years
Between 6 -10 years
Between 11 -15 years
Between 16 -20 years
over 25 Years
19
Figure 4: career plans
Career Plans
23
14
83
5Retire or leave Stateemployment within 1-2years
Retire or leave Stateemployment within 3-5years
Retire or leave Stateemployment within 6-10years
No plans to retire orleave State employmentin the foreseeablefuture
Table 4: Demographic Factors Demographic factors Frequency Percent
Gender Male 55 44.0 Female 70 56.0 Total 125
Retire or leave within 1-2 years 5 4.0 Retire or leave within 3-5 years 14 11.2 Retire or leave within 6-10 years 23 18.4 No plans to retire or leave State employment in the foreseeable future 83 66.4
Career Plans
Total 125 Employees 107 85.6 Managers 14 11.2
Head Manager 4 3.2 Position
Total 125 Between 18 to 25 17 13.6 Between 26 to 35 56 44.8 Between 36 to 45 40 32.0 Between 46 to 55 9 7.2
Above 55 3 2.4
Age
Total 125 Between 0 -5 years 50 40.0 Between 6 -10 years 21 16.8
Between 11 -15 years 19 15.2 Between 16 -20 years 32 25.6
over 25 Years 3 2.4
Years of Service
Total 125
20
A. Benefits
The first section of the survey asked respondents to rate the benefits of state
employment on a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 = not very important and 5 = very
important. The results are illustrated in table 1.
Table 5: Survey Responses – Benefits
Descriptive Statistics N Mean Std. Deviation
Salary and Compensation 125 4.75 .534
Leave benefits (including sick, vacation, personal,
paid holidays)
124 4.52 .656
Deferred Compensation 125 4.22 .822
Health and related benefits (health insurance, vision,
dental, prescription)
124 4.18 .865
Employee Assistance Program 124 3.98 .950
Retirement plan 122 3.87 1.098
Figure 5: Benefits
The Salary and compensation were rated as most important, with means of 4.72
and SD 0.534, followed by leave benefits (4.52) and Differed Compensation
21
(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 .
Table 6: Survey Responses – Strategies
Descriptive Statistics N Mean Std. Deviation
Rewards and recognition (e.g., service awards, employee of the year) 125 4.43 .776
Annual Performance Appraisal 125 4.41 .872
Training opportunities - job related 125 4.28 .980
Education opportunities 122 4.16 .945
Employee Suggestion Program 124 4.08 .925
Help with career planning 125 3.96 1.019
On-site day care 122 3.83 1.119
Job Rotation and New Assignments 125 3.82 .919
Mentoring/Coaching 124 3.78 1.017
Wellness Programs 124 3.72 1.017
Alternative Work Schedule 125 3.32 1.112
Voluntary Reduction in Work Schedule 123 3.22 .864
Telecommuting/Work at Home 125 3.00 1.276
22
Figure 6: Strategies
The three strategies rated most important to workforce of private sector are
Rewards and recognition (4.43), Annual Performance Appraisal (4.41) and
Training Opportunities - other (4.28). Telecommuting/Work at Home (3.00),
Voluntary Reduction in Work Schedule (3.22) and Alternative Work Schedule
(3.32) were rated as least important. The importance of education and training
benefits is not surprising, since workforce of private sector emphasis on growth
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
career with private sector.
23
C. ORGANIZATION CULTURE
This next section asked respondents to rate their level of agreement or
disagreement with a number of statements related to organizational culture on a
scale of 1 to 5, where 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree. comparing the
responses of each group for each statement can be found in table 3.
Sixty-five percent of private sector agreed or strongly agreed that supervisors in
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.
Table 7: Organizational Culture- development Plan
Supervisors in my agency sit down with employees and discuss their
development plans at least every 6 months.
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative P
Strongly Disagree 5 4.0 4.0 4.0
Disagree 7 5.6 5.6 9.6
Neutral 31 24.8 24.8 34.4
Agree 35 28.0 28.0 62.4
Strongly Agree 47 37.6 37.6 100.0
Total 125 100.0 100.0
Figure 7: Organizational Culture- development Plan
24
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.
Table 8: Organizational Culture- task group assignments
Employees are often given the opportunity to be part of task groups and
assignments outside their core job
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative P
Strongly Disagree 3 2.4 2.4 2.4
Disagree 28 22.4 22.4 24.8
Neutral 30 24.0 24.0 48.8
Agree 42 33.6 33.6 82.4
Strongly Agree 22 17.6 17.6 100.0
Total 125 100.0 100.0
Figure 8: Organizational Culture- task group assignments
25
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
strongly disagreed. The next table and figure present percentages.
Table 9: Organizational Culture- Career development program
My agency has a career development program that helps people become more
aware of and responsible for their own career development.
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative P
Disagree 16 12.8 12.8 12.8
Neutral 21 16.8 16.8 29.6
Agree 52 41.6 41.6 71.2
Strongly Agree 36 28.8 28.8 100.0
Total 125 100.0 100.0
Figure 9: Organizational Culture- Career development program
26
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
figure present percentages.
Table 10: Organizational Culture- New project assignment
Working on a new project assignment is an open process with few barriers.
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative P
Strongly Disagree 3 2.4 2.4 2.4
Disagree 21 16.8 16.8 19.2
Neutral 45 36.0 36.0 55.2
Agree 37 29.6 29.6 84.8
Strongly Agree 19 15.2 15.2 100.0
Total 125 100.0 100.0
Figure 10: Organizational Culture- New project assignment
27
Sixteen percent of workforce agreed that supervisors communicate effectively with
employees, while another 5.6 % disagreed or strongly disagreed and 32 % are
nature with that statement. The next table and figure present percentages.
Table 11: Organizational Culture- Supervisor communication
Supervisors communicate effectively with employees.
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative P
Strongly Disagree 3 2.4 2.5 2.5
Disagree 4 3.2 3.3 5.7
Neutral 40 32.0 32.8 38.5
Agree 41 32.8 33.6 72.1
Strongly Agree 34 27.2 27.9 100.0
Missing 3 2.4
Total 125 100.0
Figure 11: Organizational Culture- Supervisor communication
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
28
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.
The next table and figure present percentages.
Table 12: Organizational Culture- value of diversity
My agency has a culture that recognizes and values diversity
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative P
Strongly Disagree 3 2.4 2.5 2.5
Disagree 6 4.8 4.9 7.4
Neutral 39 31.2 32.0 39.3
Agree 33 26.4 27.0 66.4
Strongly Agree 41 32.8 33.6 100.0
Total 122 97.6 100.0
Missing 3 2.4
125 100.0
Figure 12: Organizational Culture- value of diversity
Sixty-three percent of private sector workers agreed or strongly agreed that in their
organization an environment of openness and trust in is existed. Only 12% percent
29
disagreed or strongly disagreed while 24.8 % of the respondent are neutral. The
next table and figure present percentages.
Table 13: Organizational Culture- openness and trust
There is an environment of openness and trust in my agency.
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative P
Strongly Disagree 6 4.8 4.8 4.8
Disagree 9 7.2 7.2 12.0
Neutral 31 24.8 24.8 36.8
Agree 30 24.0 24.0 60.8
Strongly Agree 49 39.2 39.2 100.0
Total 125 100.0 100.0
Figure 13: Organizational Culture- openness and trust
the figure represent good percentage that reflect the sense of openness and trust
between employees and their agency, so does a feeling of community in the
workplace, which creates a sense of commitment and belonging. Closely linked to
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
30
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
an environment of openness and trust in is existed. However 30.4 % percent
disagreed or strongly disagreed and 12.8 % of the respondent are neutral. The next
table and figure present percentages.
Table 14: Organizational Culture- fairness and respect
Employees in my agency are treated with fairness and respect.
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative P
Strongly Disagree 17 13.6 13.9 13.9
Disagree 21 16.8 17.2 31.1
Neutral 16 12.8 13.1 44.3
Agree 23 18.4 18.9 63.1
Strongly Agree 45 36.0 36.9 100.0
Missing 3 2.4
Total 125 100.0
Figure 14: Organizational Culture- fairness and respect
31
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.
The next table and figure present percentages.
Table 15: Organizational Culture- supervisor listening
Supervisors spend a good deal of time listening to employees' ideas.
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative P
Strongly Disagree 5 4.0 4.0 4.0
Disagree 13 10.4 10.4 14.4
Neutral 37 29.6 29.6 44.0
Agree 27 21.6 21.6 65.6
Strongly Agree 43 34.4 34.4 100.0
Total 125 100.0 100.0
Figure 15: Organizational Culture- supervisor listening
32
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
to take responsibility and authority. 15.6 % percent disagreed or strongly disagreed
and 15.2 % are neutral. The next table and figure present percentages.
Table 16: Organizational Culture- supervisor empowers
Supervisors have a style that empowers people to take responsibility and
authority.
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative P
Strongly Disagree 10 8.0 8.0 8.0
Disagree 22 17.6 17.6 25.6
Neutral 19 15.2 15.2 56.8
Agree 45 36.0 36.0 84.8
Strongly Agree 29 23.2 23.2 100.0
Total 125 100.0 100.0
Figure 16: Organizational Culture- supervisor empowers
33
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
responsibilities that provide creative challenges, such as private sector workers
career ladders and work groups created to solve departmental problems. This
fosters Kuwaiti private sector workers development and reinforces the link
between the department and employees by demonstrating the value of the
organization for them and their abilities.
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
higher grade within their organization, and lack of meaningful professional
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
percent presented high awareness of the importance of retention to the private
sector organizations. Figure 6 graphically present the result of career plans for
workforce.
34
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
the inefficiency of human resource management in the private sector to improve
employee retention but may be related to private sector workforce long-term life
planning.
35
CHAPTER V
DISCUSSION
In this chapter, the authors discuss the main retention factors to the private sector
workforce. Kuwait private sector currently provide numerous benefits or practices
attractive to workforce. Some are negotiated benefits and some are optional and
may vary by agency and bargaining unit.
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
agency problems of excessive perquisite consumption, shirking and poor in
vestment decision making may be reduced. Incentive pay may also give the
employee the incentive to stay in the organization, provide a competitive wage so
the employee is paid fairly, and encourage the employee to comply to
organizational practices. In addition to using pay incentives to reward the
employee for reaching company goals and demonstrating loyalty to 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
times specifically to the employee’s job area.
36
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
empowerment to aligning the interests of their organizations. Employee
involvement can come through openness and trust culture, which lead to improve
the organizational environment and cultures and build long-term relationship and
belonging to sense to the employees.
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
to develop their intention such compensation should be meet their satisfaction.
One possible way to reduce the short comings of each pay component is to pay
organization employees with a combination of bonuses, extra compensation and
salary. An adequate base salary al lows the organization to compete for talents in
the labor market effectively. Including bonuses as a part of an employee’s
compensation package off sets the problems of employee retention and also may
motivate employees to focus on long-term relationship and high performance while
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
organizations have complex pay pack ages.
Pay incentives will help align the employees’ interests with those of the
organization's owners and efforts to improve job satisfaction through employee
autonomy, training, and pleas ant working conditions will help retain talented
37
employees. But be cause of asymmetric in formation it may be difficult to en
courage poor per formers to leave the organization. Better monitoring of
employees through audits and surveillance may help distinguish productive from
non productive employees.
Besides using compensation, retaining skilled employees may also be
accomplished through improving organization culture. Management can give
capable employees the autonomy in their job functions, and they can give them
meaning full assignments as well. Manager should allow –partially- their
employees to be involved in the decision making for their area of expertise.
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,
Gen tile, & McFarlin 1991).
One retention strategies that the authors argues its importance to increase self-
actualization through education. Most of organizations in private sector in Kuwait
now reimburse tuition for employees, other organizations use other methods to
support education in an effort to increase workforce job satisfaction. the authors
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
education. These programs allow private sector workforce the opportunity to
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
38
education would yield the same results, giving private sector workforce more say
in departmental decisions because of their expert knowledge and increased
satisfaction with their current workplace.
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
are significant ways to increase worker satisfaction. These methods go beyond
simply letting an employee pick the schedule that is best for him from existing
options; they allow employees to self-determine their schedule by providing the
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
improved job satisfaction and job retention (AFSCME,2009).
39
CHAPTER VI
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
This chapter intended to summaries the main finding. It divided into two sections,
Section one presents recommendation of the research and section present
suggestion for future studies.
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
followed by leave benefits and differed compensation. The items needed to be
improved in private sector are retirement plan and the employee assistance
program. Improving these benefits will improve private sector workforce retentions
and thus ensure meeting organizational goals and objectives.
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
strategies should manifest itself through increased employee satisfaction and an
increased sense of belonging to the organization. The result of strategies factors
shows that the three strategies rated most important to private sector workforce are
rewards and recognition, annual performance appraisal and training opportunities.
Telecommuting/Work at Home, voluntary Reduction in Work Schedule and
alternative work schedule were rated as least important.
40
The result of organizational culture shows that Sixty-five percent of Kuwaiti
private sector workforce agreed or strongly agreed that supervisors in their
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
workforce disagree and strongly disagreed with this statement.
The study indicated high percentage of agreement of private sector workforce in
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 are neutral related to this statement.
Sixty-three percent of private sector workforce agreed or strongly agreed that in
their organization an environment of openness and trust in is existed. Only twelve
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
41
strongly agreed that there is a fairness in treatment and respect in their organization
an environment of openness and trust in is existed. However thirty percent
disagreed or strongly disagreed and thirteen percent are neutral.
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
disagreed or strongly disagreed and thirteen percent are neutral.
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
employment within the foreseeable future, twenty-three percent are planned to
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
contributions and practical implications. Theoretically, the study fills an important
gap in the literature; that is, exploring private sector workforce retention factors in
42
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
information should help human resource management of private sector in devising
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
the sample by employee position, income, nationality, gender and age.
43
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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.
إليكالرجاء تحديد أهمية آل عنصر من العناصر المتعلقة بالرواتب والفوائد المالية ومدى جذب هذه العناصر . عن األهمية الشديدة للعنصر5 عن عدم أهمية العنصر ويعبر الرقم 1للعمل بهذه الشرآة، بحيث يعبر الرقم
Not at All Important
غير مهم على اإلطالق
Not Very Important غير مهم
Neutral محايد
Somewhat Important
مهم
Very Important مهم جدا
Salary and Compensation لراتب األساسيا 1 2 3 4 5 Leave benefits (including sick, vacation, personal, paid holidays) اإلجازة المدفوعة األجر، المرضيات، العطالت( اإلجازة( 1 2 3 4 5
Retirement plan 5 4 3 2 1 خطة التقاعد Health and related benefits(health insurance, vision, dental, prescription) التأمين، العالج( فوائد الصحة( 1 2 3 4 5
Deferred Compensation بدالت، ساعات عمل ( الفوائد التعويضية )إضافية 1 2 3 4 5
Employee Assistance Program 5 4 3 2 1 برنامج مساعدة الموظفين
B. Strategies (إستراتيجية الشرآة) Please indicate if any of the following strategies are available in your agency. Then rate how important each item is to you, whether it's available or not, on a scale from 1 to 5 where 1 = not at all important and 5 = very important.
عن 1، بحيث يعبر الرقم فيهالتالية بالشرآة التي تعمل الرجاء تحديد مدى توافر آل من االستراتيجيات ا. عن األهمية الشديدة للعنصر5عدم أهمية العنصر ويعبر الرقم
Not at All Important
غير مهم على اإلطالق
Not Very Important غير مهم
Neutral محايد
Somewhat Important
مهم
Very Important مهم جدا
Alternative Work Schedule آالعمل بأوقات أخرى (جدول عمل بديل)إذا لم يتم الحضور صباحا 1 2 3 4 5
Voluntary Reduction in Work Schedule 5 4 3 2 1 تخفيض تطوعي في جدول العمل
Telecommuting/Work at Home 5 4 3 2 1 الهاتف العمل في المنزلب التواصل Wellness Programs ج صحية برام 1 2 3 4 5 Mentoring/Coaching 5 4 3 2 1 مراقبه وتدريب Job Rotation and New Assignments 5 4 3 2 1 وإعطاء مهام جديدةر التدوي Help with career planning 5 4 3 2 1 المساعدة في التخطيط المهني On-site day care 5 4 3 2 1 رعاية في الموقع Rewards and recognition (e.g., service awards, employee of the year) 5 4 3 2 1 مكافآت وتشجيع
Employee Suggestion Program 5 4 3 2 1 توفر برنامج القتراحات الموظفين Education opportunities 5 4 3 2 1 فرص تعليمية Training opportunities - job related 5 4 3 2 1 فرص تدريب Annual Performance Appraisal 5 4 3 2 1 تقييم األداء سنوي
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C. Organizational Culture ثقافة الشرآة
Please rate the following statements on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree.
عن عدم موافقتك وبشده 1علق بثقافة الشرآة، بحيث يعبر الرقم الرجاء تصنيف العوامل التالية التي تت. عن موافقتك5ويعبر الرقم
Strongly Disagreeغير موافق بشدة
Disagree غير موافق
Neither Agree nor Disagree محايد
Agree موافق
Strongly Agree موافق بشده
Supervisors in my agency sit down with employees and discuss their development plans at least every 6 months.
شهور6المشرفين بالشرآة يناقشون مع الموظف خطط تطورهم على األقل آل 1 2 3 4 5
Employees are often given the opportunity to be part of task groups and assignments outside their core job responsibilities. الموظفين عادة يتوفر لديهم وفرص في المشارآة في العمل الجماعي خارج نطاق العمل
1 2 3 4 5
My agency has a career development program that helps people become more aware of and responsible for their own career development. برنامج تطوير وظيفي
1 2 3 4 5
Working on a new projector assignment is an open process with few barriers. 5 4 3 2 1 العمل في مشروع جديد يعتبر فرصه ومشاآلها قليله
Supervisors communicate effectively with employees. 5 4 3 2 1 المشرفين يتواصلون مع الموظف بفعالية
My agency has a culture that recognizes and values diversity 5 4 3 2 1 الشرآة تتميز بثقافة وتقيم التنوع
There is an environment of openness and trust in my agency. الشرآة تتميز باالنفتاح والثقة
1
2
3
4
5
Employees in my agency are treated with fairness and respect. 5 4 3 2 1 بالعدالة تتميز الشرآة في المعاملة
Supervisors spend a good deal of time listening to employees' ideas. 5 4 3 2 1 المشرفون يصغون للموظفين
Supervisors have a style that empowers people to take responsibility and authority. والسلطة ةالمسئولييمنح المشرفون للموظفين
1 2 3 4 5
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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 ترك العمل خالل أو التقاعد
Retire or leave State employment within 3-5 years عام 5-3 ترك العمل خالل أو التقاعد
Retire or leave State employment within 6-10 years عام 10-6 ترك العمل خالل أو التقاعد
No plans to retire or leave State employment in the foreseeable future ال توجد لدي
. خطط حالية لترك الوظيفة
F. Demographics البيانات الشخصية
Please provide us with the following demographic information (All responses will
be kept confidential and reported in the aggregate only): – الوظيفة – الجنس – العمر
سنوات الخبرة
• Age: 18-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 over 55
العمر
Gender: Male Female
الجنس ذآر أنثى
Years of Service: 0-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 over 25
عدد سنوات الخبرة
General Comments: Please note any other comments you have that weren't addressed in the sections above:
THANK YOU