By: William W. Woodard, III
Advisor: Dr. James W. Russell
April 25, 2012
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Research questions
Background on employee turnover
My hypotheses
A short literature review
Why is this study important?
Methodology
The survey and the data
Analysis
Further Research
Implications for managers
Bibliography
1.
2.
3.
Why would key employees leave during a
recession-like economy?
What can management do to keep their key
employees from leaving during such a
situation?
How do employees think during harsh
economic times?
Definition: “The number of employees hired to
replace those who left or were fired during a 12
month period.”
Costs of Turnover:
 Up to a full year’s salary for the employee lost
 Cost of a replacement (job posting, interviewing/
screening, hiring, and training)
 Morale within the company
H1: As age increases, the propensity for VT will
decrease
 H2: As the likelihood of an individual being fired
increases, the propensity for VT will increase
 H3: As the number of opportunities outside one’s
job increases, the propensity for VT will increase
 H4: As the level of company engagement
increases for an individual, the propensity for VT
will decrease
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“more than 80 percent of workers may now
be actively seeking new jobs,” and that
companies “may be losing some of their best
and brightest.” –Jan Ferri-Reed
“Retaining Talent: Replacing Misconceptions
With Evidence-Based Strategies” –Allen,
Bryant, and Vardaman
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Employee Turnover is already a problem
The retention of key employees can keep a
company in business during a recession
Managers need to know what tactics keep
key employees with their company
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Review literature on employee turnover,
motivation, and engagement
Design a survey to test my hypotheses
through Qualtrics
Survey 40+ people
Find correlations between propensity for VT
and other variables
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46 questions
Time varied from 10 to 20 minutes
An email message and link to the survey were
sent to about 120 people including:
 Current undergrad students and recent graduates
 Fraternity brothers who had graduated from
college
 Relatives and their colleagues
 Alumni contacts of professors
“I am currently seeking other employment
opportunities” A/D
SD
What
age
group
are you
in?
Key
D
N
A
SA
Total
18-24 1
6
8
10
10
35
25-32 4
2
3
6
3
18
33-40 1
0
0
1
0
2
41
and
older
2
2
3
1
3
11
Total
8
10
14
18
16
66
What I expected
SD=Strongly Disagree
D=Disagree
What was actually
found
SA=Strongly Agree
A=Agree
N=Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
Q2(x) vs. VT(y)
SUMMARY OUTPUT
Equation: VT = -0.096x+3.415
Regression Statistics
Multiple R
0.077410922
R Square
0.005992451
Adjusted R Square
-0.009299973
Standard Error
1.432453746
Observations
67
ANOVA
df
Regression
Residual
Total
Intercept
Age:
1
65
66
Significance
SS
MS
F
F
0.804061684 0.804062 0.391857 0.53351669
133.3750428 2.051924
134.1791045
Lower
Coefficients Standard Error t Stat
P-value Lower 95% Upper 95%
95.0% Upper 95.0%
3.415097569
0.331567535 10.29986 2.72E-15 2.75291148 4.07728366 2.75291148 4.07728366
-0.096028757
0.153404194 -0.62599 0.533517 -0.4023981 0.21034057 -0.4023981 0.21034057
• For respondents 25 and older, r2 = 0.0000146537494847131
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There was no single question to determine
likelihood of being fired
For this, we used multiple regression
 Questions 16 & 42 vs. VT
Equation:
VT=0.3257x1+0.2341x2+2.1042
Q42(x1), Q16(x2) vs. VT(y)
SUMMARY OUTPUT
Regression Statistics
Multiple R
0.3490473
R Square
0.121834017
Adjusted R Square
0.094813526
Standard Error
1.361647006
Observations
68
ANOVA
df
Regression
Residual
Total
Intercept
LB 42(43):
LB 16(17):
2
65
67
SS
MS
F
Significance F
16.7199272 8.359964 4.508949 0.014663574
120.5153669 1.854083
137.2352941
Coefficients Standard Error
2.104241942
0.421286367
0.325666007
0.142723785
0.234127667
0.117121321
Upper
t Stat
P-value Lower 95%
95%
4.994802 4.7E-06 1.262874969 2.945609
2.281792 0.025784 0.040626927 0.610705
1.999018 0.049791 0.000220238 0.468035
Lower
95.0%
1.262875
0.040627
0.00022
Upper
95.0%
2.945609
0.610705
0.468035
“I am currently seeking other
employment opportunities” A/D
SD
How many
years of
experience do
you have in
your field of
work?
Key
D
N
A
SA
Tota
l
Less
0
than 1
0
4
2
2
8
1-3
4
4
5
9
7
29
4-6
2
4
1
3
5
15
7-9
0
0
1
2
0
3
10 or
more
2
2
3
2
2
11
Total
8
10
14
18
16
66
What I expected
SD=Strongly Disagree
D=Disagree
What was actually
found
SA=Strongly Agree
A=Agree
N=Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
Q11(x) vs. VT(y)
SUMMARY OUTPUT
Equation: VT= -0.091x+3.483
Regression Statistics
Multiple R
0.081425206
R Square
0.006630064
Adjusted R Square
-0.00865255
Standard Error
1.431994244
Observations
67
ANOVA
df
Regression
Residual
Total
Intercept
OO:
1
65
66
SS
MS
0.88961608 0.889616
133.2894884 2.050608
134.1791045
F
Significance F
0.43383
0.5124418
Coefficients Standard Error t Stat
P-value
3.482667039 0.409491355 8.504861 3.71E-12
-0.091277607 0.138581164 -0.65866 0.512442
Lower 95% Upper 95% Lower 95.0% Upper 95.0%
2.664856332 4.3004777 2.66485633 4.30047775
-0.368043303 0.1854881 -0.3680433 0.18548809
• For those who thought it would be easy to find another job, r2 = 0.00097
“I am currently seeking other employment
opportunities” A/D
“My
company
has a
mission/
vision that I
understand
and agree
with” A/D
Key
SD
D
N
A
SA
Total
SA
2
2
2
1
3
10
A
4
3
3
11
7
28
N
2
2
6
2
4
16
D
0
3
2
4
0
9
SD
0
0
0
0
1
1
Total
8
10
13
18
15
64
What I expected
SD=Strongly Disagree
D=Disagree
What was actually
found
SA=Strongly Agree
A=Agree
N=Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
Q35(x) vs. VT(y)
SUMMARY
OUTPUT
Equation: VT= 0.086x+2.949
Regression Statistics
Multiple R
0.07720869
R Square
0.00596118
Adjusted R Square -0.00933172
Standard Error
1.43247628
Observations
67
ANOVA
df
Regression
Residual
Total
Intercept
CE
SS
MS
1 0.799866012 0.799866
65 133.3792385 2.051988
66 134.1791045
Significance
F
F
0.3898 0.53458962
Standard
Coefficients
Error
t Stat
P-value Lower 95% Upper 95% Lower 95.0% Upper 95.0%
2.94899944 0.496074906 5.944666 1.21E-07 1.95826944 3.93972944 1.95826944 3.939729445
0.08629794 0.138222665 0.62434 0.53459 -0.1897518 0.36234767 -0.18975178 0.362347668
• I examined several other questions involving company engagement, but all their
correlations were very low.

78% believe we are going through harsh
economic times similar to a recession
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51% showed some propensity for VT
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47% have had three or more jobs since Dec.
2007
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79% of those who have had more than one
job left their most recent job voluntarily
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55% feel they should be paid more
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38% view the recent economic conditions as a
distraction and a cause of stress towards their
job and growth as an employee
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23% view the recent economic conditions as an
opportunity to further their experience and job
growth
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None of my hypotheses were supported
Very small correlation of propensity of VT
with:
 Age
 Other employment opportunities
 Company engagement
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Low correlation between VT and likelihood of
being fired.
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This study could be re-done on a larger and
more definitive scale
It needs to represent more of the working
population.
The research needs to be done with the end
in mind
Global representation
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Even during harsh economic times,
employees still consider leaving.
39% of respondents enjoy going to work
because:
 They love what they do
 There is a positive work environment
 There is a feeling of accomplishment
 There is a flexible lifestyle
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