ALS MARKING GUIDELINES
Alexandra Elderfield
Personal and Professional Development (Events and Leisure)
Retention in Events and Leisure Organisations
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Critically discuss employee retention within events and leisure organisations
In order to examine employee retention within events and leisure organisations, first the
two facets must be depicted to understand the complexity of how retention strategies are
implemented within a work place. Aruna and Amitha (2015) define retention simply as
“a process of making employees to stay within the organisation”. The different retention
strategies that employers use will be critically analysed throughout this essay,
highlighting their importance within an employees work environment, leading to an
assessment of their effectiveness in retaining employees. Retention is a significant aspect
within an organisation as a high turnover of employees can impose undesirable effects.
Ramlall (2003 cited in Samuel and Chipunza 2009, p.412) gave an estimation of
employee turnover costing, on average, 150% of an individual employee’s annual salary.
Along with a high cost, losing employees can also result in a negative word of mouth,
which in turn could have an adverse effect on later recruitment for the organisation.
The events and leisure industry is vastly growing and covers an array of aspects within
an individual’s recreation time, such as sports, festivals, ect. The industry is so prominent
in today’s society that within leisure, approximately 2.5 million people are employed in
the United Kingdom (Torkildsen 1999). However as this statistic is neither recent nor
specific, it can be guesstimated that the number of relevant employees within events and
leisure organisations far exceeds this number; in turn making retention within these
sectors of high importance. A large amount of time and effort is implemented within these
organisations to reduce employee turnover, with many professionals believing that
employee satisfaction and good pay are the more effective (Mitchell at al. 2015).
One of the most manageable retention strategies is pay. As an extrinsic, quantifiable
aspect it is used as the primary enticer into an organisation and is profound in academic
literature as being one of the main sources of retention (Hausknecht et al. 2009). Table 1
(as seen below) represents the number and percentage of employees that agreed with the
shown factors as a reason to stay with their current employer. This suggests that pay can
be used as an effective retention strategy, correlating a high wage with a low turnover. If
employees are unsatisfied with their wages then this could contribute as a push factor,
rousing their interest in quitting and moving to a job that they believe offers better rewards
for their work. This is supported through the work of Heneman and Judge (2000 cited in
Singh and Loncar 2010) who concluded
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“research has unequivocally shown that pay dissatisfaction can have important
and undesirable impacts on numerous employee outcomes.”
Table 1: Frequency Distribution of Retention and Representative Quotes (Hausknecht at
al. 2009, p.34)
Undoubtedly this indicates that employees require a fair wage from their employer to
remain loyal to their work. An example of this within the leisure context can be taken
from an article by Cuskelly (2008) which discusses the high turnover of sports volunteers
compared to the paid staff. It is suggested that the volunteers feel less valued within the
work place, and seen as “human recourses rather than being seen as the owners … of
community sport” (Cuskelly 2008). Working within a sports environment is a very active
role which requires a lot of effort and dedication, therefore without the reward of pay
many individuals would feel taken advantage of leave the organisation.
Given that a large amount of research deems pay as an effective retention strategy, it is
interesting to look at the alternative approach given by Sturges and Guest 1999 (cited in
Torringston et al. 2008). They propose that an individual believes pay to be an important
factor when they have challenging work, that requires a fair pay to compensate. However
if that individual does not find their job stimulating then no amount of pay will
compensate for their boredom. Along with this, employees’ wages can be scrutinised
through focusing on the fact that it is not the most important factor within someone’s
work life (see Table 1). Although paying a fair wage will have a positive effect on
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employee retention, it is not the definitive aspect that will retain each individual. An
unenjoyable or unstimulating job can overrule an employee’s pay.
Motivation is something that everyone has. Individual’s motivations vary from each other
not only on the level of intensity, but also the orientation, such as what type of motivation
they are feeling (Ryan and Deci 2000). Within a work place this means that, for example,
one employee is motivated to do work in order to receive praise from their boss, whereas
another other gets motivation from within and works to achieve new personal skills.
These are categorised in to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation; intrinsic motivation comes
from the individual through getting satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment,
alternatively extrinsic motivation relies on external controls such as getting a reward or
promotion (Sansone and Harackiewicz 2000).
The Employee Needs Theory by Nohria et al. (2008) addresses four emotional needs that
are universal and “underline human motivation regardless of culture, age and sex of a
person”. These are our drives to acquire, bond, comprehend, and defend. Nohria et al.
(2008) explains these drives as an involuntary product of our evolution; that are they
grounds to all work we do and result in a boost of employee motivation. From this,
implementing a retention strategy would be simple as all employees could be targeted
simultaneously due to similar innate pushes. For example, focusing on the drive to bond,
within an event organisation company a manager could increase employee motivation by
organising out of hour’s social events that, as a result, expand the work relationships and
morale.
Not only are motivated staff a sign of a successful work force (Chernatony and SegalHorn 2003), but also the employees are less likely to leave their job due to satisfaction
and a sense of purpose. Maslow (1943) suggested within Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs,
shown in Figure 1, that individuals can meet their basic needs through motivation. These
needs consist of psychological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and finally
self-actualisation is achieved once an individual has attained the pervious steps
throughout life. Through this, Maslow draws upon this personal growth as a factor that
creates long-lasting employee motivation that in turn improves and upholds their work
performance.
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Figure 1: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Nevis 1983, p.256)
These theories recognise maintaining employee motivation as a strategy employers can
implement in conserving a low employee turnover. Motivation draws individuals into
completing tasks as personal benefits are gained once a job has been finished, and the
employee is given praise by their superiors, fulfilling their esteem needs (Maslow 1943).
This sense of accomplishment in turn motivates the employee once more, creating an
endless work cycle until an external causes demotivate. It can be argued that employee
motivation is especially important within events and leisure organisations as these work
sectors, as customer faced, have a large investment in employee human capital
(Chelladuria, 2006). Therefore more motivation is required to keep customers happy,
resulting in increased job satisfaction.
Studies show that motivation is an effective retention strategy for employees that do get
motivated by the employer’s efforts. However not all employees will respond in the same
way. Even with reference to the Employee Needs Theory (Nohria 2008), where
individuals have the same motivational underpinning, uncontrollable external factors can
play a part in employee’s motivation such as home life. Therefore it is not certain that all
of the employees would equally be uplifted and motivated due to factors outside of their
work life.
The finial retention strategy that will be analysed is employee training and development.
Learning new skills once employed is crucial in today’s workplace due to reasons, given
by Cooper and Robertson (2004) such as
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“(1) ongoing changes in technologies and work procedures; (2) changes in job
requirements such as the widespread use of computer technology, an increased focus on
customer service, and the broadening of work roles; and (3) changes in employment
contracts and job concepts.”
Inherently, the events and leisure sector is evolving at a fast pace along with technology,
therefore it is imperative for the employees to be given regular professional training to
perform at their highest potential.
The purpose of work training as a strategy for reducing employee turnover is, firstly,
making the employee feel valued. A study by Elson and Iyer (1999) underlined that
personal development and support within a work environment creates ties between the
employee and organisation. Through this managers may be seen as more authoritative as
they perform as a gatekeeper to advance knowledge and an increase in opportunities
(Gould et al. 2007).
Long-term employee training and maintainment of skills, otherwise known as continuous
professional development (CPD), will increase the individual’s commitment to company
due to being invested in. As a result the employee will enter a psychological contract
which maintains retention. A psychological contract has been described by Schein (1980
cited by Shore and Tetrick 1994) as “the depiction of the exchange relationship between
the individual employee and organisation”. It can include expectations of the relationship
from both the employee and employer; an example being a festival worker would expect
reasonable hours and accommodation in exchange of the employer expecting hard and
resilient work. In this instance, training is a great retention strategy as employees feel
obligated to stay as they have been greatly invested in by the company.
The benefits model from Madden and Mitchell (1993 cited by Bubb and Earley 2008)
highlights an employee’s motivation behind participating in CPD as an action to get a
reward. Focusing on this voluntary development; some employees may choose to further
their work-based skills and knowledge for their own progression. Although some
employees may choose to stay with their currently employer, the advance in their
profession prospects makes them more employable, therefore this strategy may also have
negative repercussions on retention as individuals may choose to leave after training. As
a result, there may be a high turnover of employees due to progressing to higher status
jobs.
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These three strategies take different approaches in lowering employee turnover, offering
a good wage gives job security and satisfaction, motivating a work force will make them
feel proud and encourage them to continue with their work, and finally, providing
continuous training creates a feeling of value and gratitude towards their employer. It can
be argued that motivation is the most effective retention strategy as motiving staff has
other positive effects such as improving their performance and an increased passion for
their work. Therefore it can be fundamentally assumed that a happier employee is more
likely to stay in their job.
Overall it is suggested by research that employees will react to strategies in a certain way,
ie they will not leave the company if x, y, z is done, as individuals share core fundamental
traits (Nohria 2008). While this is a fair assumption to make within the same work place;
assuming employees working for the same company have similar goals, interests, and
motivators as their colleagues, it is not reason to believe all employees will respond in
the same way. Another way to look at this is by criticising how the majority of research
papers and theories do not take external factors into account. It is difficult to grasp the
true effectiveness of retention strategies if they are not examined within a realistic
situation by looking at all possible reasons why individuals would choose to stay or leave
an organisation.
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