Employee Training and Retention: A Correlation Study among the Employees of Engineering Industry in Coimbatore

Contents

1.

I. INTRODUCTION

2.

II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

3.

METHODOLOGY

4.

III. STUDY OBJECTIVES

5.

IV. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

6.

* Significant 5% NS-Not Significant

7.

Determining Employee Retention by Perception on Training using Regression

8.

V. SUGGESTIONS

9.

VI. CONCLUSION

10.

REFERENCES

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Today’s competitive environment requires organizations to equip their employees with adequate skills and knowledge to combat the situation. Employee retention and turnover are found to be the challenging task of an organization. The organizations are striving to find strategies to improve retention and reduce turnover of their employees. Training and development are important functions which may have a significant influence on the outcomes of the organizations. Thus, a study was carried out to understand the association between employee training and their retention.

Keywords: Training; Retention; Engineering

I. INTRODUCTION

The success of any organization depends on its employee’s performance. The employee is a vital factor in the organizational growth and development, rendering his wholehearted cooperation and support. Quality employees who are enriched with the required knowledge and skills are considered to be the assets of any organization. At the same time, employee turnover is a costly affair for the organization resulting in loss of efficient manpower, as replacing the employee through recruitment and training is costly and time-consuming. Employee turnover may also influence the organizational performance and other employee’s morale. Thus, retaining the employee is one of the most critical goals of an organization in this competitive environment. There are various factors which influence employee retention like opportunity in the market, culture of the organization, monetary concerns, etc. Career development is one such factor which strongly influences employee retention and offers job satisfaction. Continuous updating and scope for development through training help the employees fulfill their career-related expectations.

Training can be defined as a planned and systematic activity through which the employees’ skills, knowledge and attitude can be improved. It can also create a favorable learning environment to enhance the individual’s knowledge, skills and attitudes. It helps the organization to equip the employees with essential skills to improve their performance to meet the goals of the organization. Organizations are more concerned with providing adequate training to their employees to attain competitive advantage to manage the competitive environment. At the same time organizations are wary of providing general training, as it may encourage the employees to shift to other organizations. Hence, only specialized training that is more relevant to the specific tasks the employees perform and less useful to a rival organization is offered.

Effective training programmes help the employees enhance their knowledge and skills which increase their job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and thus employees tend to stay in the organization. Training is treated as an investment by the organization in the employees personal and career development by means of creating strong obligations to repay the same through their performance. In this context, training plays a significant role in retaining the employees.

II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Ahmad, Umer (2013) has conducted a study with a sample of 100 employees from a private organization using convenience sampling. The results reveal that training and retention are positively related. Mccabe and Thomas N Garavan (2008) have stated that trainings can develop the skills of the employees and help them enhance their performance at work. This induces the commitment level of the employees and result in retention of employees. Aldamoe et al., (2012) have stated that training results in increased commitment, retention and satisfaction of the employees. The retention policies of the organization should not only focus on the compensation offered to the employees but also on the skill up-gradation which is also one of the significant factors of employee retention. Al-Sharafi et al., (2018) reveal that a significant positive relationship is found among the employees’ training and retention. They also state that the relationship between employees’ training and retention is mediated through job satisfaction. Letchmaich and Thomas (2017) confirm that organizational culture, work environment, meaningful work, career development and training have a positive and significant influence on employee retention. George (2015) has conducted a study on retention of employees. The results reveal that when considering other factors training and development are highly correlated with employee retention.

METHODOLOGY

The nature of the research design is descriptive and analytical. The employees of a private engineering firm serve as the universe of the study. There were 63 serving managerial employees, of whom a sample of 50 was randomly selected based on Robert V.Krejcie and Darley W.Morgen. Questionnaires were used to collect data which include 10 demographic variables, perception on training scale (10 items) propounded by Newman et al., (2011) — and modified and retention scale propounded by Eva Kyndt et al., 2009 (11 items). The data were analyzed using the statistical tools namely Standard deviation, Mean, t-test, ANOVA, correlation and regression. The ethical considerations are taken into account during the process of the current article.

III. STUDY OBJECTIVES

1. To know the demographic profile of the employees.

· 2. To measure the perception on training and level of employee retention

· 3. To study the difference in the level of perception on training and employee retention based on the demographic variables.

· 4. To examine the influence of training perception on employee retention.

· 5. To suggest appropriate strategies to retain employees.

IV. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Demographic Variables Attributes Frequency percentage Age 25 and below 9 18.0 26 to 30 14 28.0 31 to 35 9 18.0 36-40 10 20.0 6 12.0 Gender Male 42 84.0 Female 8 16.0 Marital Status Married 31 62.0 Unmarried 19 38.0 Place of Living Urban 16 32.0 Semi-Urban 16 32.0 Rural 18 36.0 Family type Joint 24 48.0 Nuclear 26 52.0 Educational Qualification Hr. Secondary 3 6.0 Graduation 17 34.0 Post Graduation 20 40.0 Diploma 10 20.0 Experience Below 5 13 26.0 6-10 16 32.0 11-15 11 22.0 16-20 2 4.0 21 and above 8 16.0 Monthly Income Below 15000 10 20.0 15001-20000 14 28.0 20001-25000 11 22.0 25001 and above 15 30.0 No. of Trainings Attended 1-5 37 74.0 6-10 8 16.0 11 and above 5 10.0 Perception on Training Very High (46-50) 9 18.0 High (42-45) 13 26.0 Moderate (38-41) 18 36.0 Low (24-37) 10 20.0 Retention attitude Very High (45-55) 10 20.0 High (40-44) 13 26.0 Moderate (35-39) 18 36.0 Low (23-34) 9 18.0

The above table depicts that 28% are aged between 26-30 years, 84% constitute males, 62% are married, 36% dwell in rural area, 52% belong to nuclear family, 40% have PG degree, 32% have experience between 6-10 years and 30% have a monthly income of Rs. 25,000 and above, and a majority of them have attended 1-5 training programmes.

The table also reveals that, 36% had moderate perception towards the training, 26% high perception, 20% low perception and 18% very high perception.

The table also reveals that, 36% have moderate level of retention attitude, 26% high level, 20% very high level and 18% low level of retention attitude.

VariablesValueSig.ResultAgeANOVA = 1.026P-greater than 0.05NSGendert-test = 2.672P-lesser than 0.05*Marital Statust-test = .602P-greater than 0.05NSPlace of LivingANOVA = 4.129P-lesser than 0.05**Family Typet-test= 2.423P-lesser than 0.05SEdu. QualificationANOVA = 1.901P-greater than 0.05NSExperienceANOVA = 1.079P-greater than 0.05NSIncomeANOVA = 2.727P-lesser than 0.05*Training AttendedANOVA = 3.194P-lesser than 0.05** * Significant 5% ** Significant 1% NS-Not-Significant

The above table depicts that perception on training differs with gender, males have high perception towards training. The results also reveal that perception on training differs with respect to place of living, i.e. those who reside in urban areas have high perception on training. The results reveal that perception on training differs with respect to family type, i.e., respondents belonging to the nuclear family have high perception on training. The results also depicts that those who earn between Rs. 20,000 to 25,000 have high perception on training than those earning more or less. The results show that those who have attended 6-10 training programmes have better perception on training than others.

Variables Value Sig. Result Age ANOVA =.755 P-greater than 0.05 NS Gender t-test =.580 P-greater than 0.05 NS Marital Status t-test =1.566 P-greater than 0.05 NS Place of living ANOVA =1.543 P-greater than 0.05 NS Family type t-test =1.403 P-greater than 0.05 NS Edu. Qualification ANOVA =1.312 P-greater than 0.05 NS Experience ANOVA =3.312 P-lesser than 0.01 * Income ANOVA =.650 P-greater than 0.05 NS Training Attended ANOVA =0.682 P-greater than 0.05 NS

* Significant 5% NS-Not Significant

From the above table it is clear that employee retention attitude differs with respect to the experience of the respondents. It is evident that employees with higher experience have higher retention attitude than those with less experience. The table also reveals that age, gender, marital status, place of living, family type, educational qualification, income and number of training programmes attended do not influence the employee retention attitude.

Perception on TrainingRetentionPerception on TrainingCorrelation Value1.491Significance.042N5050RetentionCorrelation Value.4911Significance.042N5050

The table depicts a positive relationship between employees training perception and retention. It concludes that higher perception leads to higher retention attitude and vice versa.

Determining Employee Retention by Perception on Training using Regression

Model R R-Square Adjusted-R-Square Std.-Error 1 .491 .241 .225 4.81330

Model.Sum-of-SquaresdfMean-SquareF.Sig1Regression352.6611352.66115.222.000Residual1112.0594823.168Total1464.720

Model. Unstandardized Coefficient Standardized Coefficients t Sig 1 (Constant) 15.079 6.210 2.428 .019 Perception on Training .607 .155 .491 3.902 .000

From the above table it is clear that 24.1 % variation in retention is accounted for by perception on training of the respondents. The ANOVA value depicts that the above model is statistically significant. The table reveals that perception on training (beta=0.288) significantly influences the level of retention attitude of the respondents.

V. SUGGESTIONS

Based on the findings the study suggests the following to improve the retention attitude of the respondents.

The findings reveal that training influences the retention attitude of the respondents. Hence, an adequate number of training programmes (not in terms of quantity but quality) have to be conducted for the employees to enhance their skills and knowledge in connections with their tasks. This will increase their value and worth in the market, which in turn may help them have security of job. This feeling makes them continue in the job as a mark of gratitude for the same and stay committed to their jobs. As employees are more concerned about their career growth and development, the training programmes conducted must be specific rather than generic. Specific task-oriented training programmes give them satisfaction, as it helps them achieve career advancement in future. The youngsters who have joined recently must be provided the opportunity for growth through relevant training programmes as their level of retention is comparatively low.

VI. CONCLUSION

Retention is a significant aspect that strongly affects the growth and development of the organization. Training helps the employees to fulfill their expectations and increase their value. Thus, understanding the association between training perception and retention becomes imperative. The present study concludes that type of family, place of living and gender, income and training attended do influence the perception on training. The study also concludes that experience alone influence the retention attitude of the respondents. Based on the results the present study reveals that perception on training influence the retention level of the employees.

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By R. Jayanthi, Ph.D Research Scholar, Department of Management, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore. and Dharmaraj Arumugam, Associate Professor, Department of Commerce and Management, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore.