EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION & RETENTION

Employee Satisfaction & Retention

Employee Satisfaction & Retention

1. Introduction

The downward pull of the national economy has shed new light on the importance of human resources and employee retention. It is not a secret in the hospitality industry that satisfied workers stay in their jobs longer and treat customers better. The longstanding question has been raised countless times: how do we keep hospitality employees satisfied in their jobs thus creating company longevity while increasing productivity?

According to Morley (2009), no other industry has created jobs with the consistency of leisure and hospitality; including restaurants, casinos, s and amusement park employees. A healthy resource for jobs in the past despite the 9/11 attacks, the 2001-2003 economic downturn, and even the 1989-1992 recession; the hospitality industry is now facing an economic dark hour. The hospitality industry has typically been dominant in hiring employees, but not so fortunate in retaining them. Hospitality is an industry that has been long been plagued by turnover rates traditionally ranging from 60% to 300% (Jones, 2008) resulting in lost training wages, frustrated accountants and financial statements screaming for a reduction in wasted or lost human resource dollars. Employees are an organization's foundation; it is critical that an organization retain valuable employees despite the huge problems that exist in attracting and retaining a skilled workforce(Eskildsen, 2003).

Braham (2005) states that millions of dollars and productivity are lost due to employee turnover and can be saved through a better understanding of the reasons why successful employees “disengage” and leave their jobs. Braham (2005) theorizes that capable employees are not “pulled” by offers that are more attractive as much as they are “pushed” out of a company. Branham continues, turnover costs do not tell the whole story: long before employees leave they become disengaged. Disengaged employees are uncommitted, marginally productive, frequently absent, or working against the interests of the company (Braham, 2005).

An appropriate understanding of workers' expectations of their work environments is a critical issue in we' ability to retain workers ([Susskind et al., 2000] and [Hinkin and Tracey, 2000]). The issue of a sustainable workforce has become a fundamental issue in today's industry. As employees have become the most valuable asset of companies, a company's success will depend greatly on building a work environment that attracts, meets and exceeds employees' expectations. How workers feel about their work environments may vary due to individual characteristics, and these differences may determine the level of satisfaction with work environments and workers' intentions to remain at the (Franek and Vecera, 2008). Understanding employees' concerns regarding their work environments, and satisfying their concerns can play an important role in sustaining successful businesses in the industry as customer retention and defection are highly dependent on how front-line employees deal with customers (Ford and Heaton, 2001), this is particularly true in the industry(Barrow, 1990).

Previous research pertaining to job satisfaction factors in hospitality indicates that while money is a common factor (Hussain, 2008) there are several reasons why an establishment might lose ...