The Impact of Work Environment on Employee Turnover
Background
According to Allen & Vardaman (2021), employee turnover is an organization’s rate of losing employees. The main types of turnover include voluntary, involuntary, dysfunctional, and functional turnover. Voluntary turnover arises when employees willingly leave the organization. Involuntary turnover arises when employees are fired from the organization by their employer. On the other hand, functional turnover arises when underperforming employees leave an organization’s workforce, while dysfunctional turnover arises when employees with potential leadership leave an organization. Employee turnover may be caused by environmental, individual, and structural factors. Environmental factors include an employee’s responsibilities in the organization and employment opportunities. Individual factors include a commitment to the organization, job satisfaction, attitude towards work and the organization, and willingness to work hard. Structural factors include fairness, autonomy, compensation, social support, work routine, and work pressure. Employee turnover rate may be influenced by the prevailing conditions in an industry, such as the use of technology and new job demands.
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According to Cobb (2022), the work environment is the sum of the interrelationships between employers and employees and the environment in which employees complete assigned tasks. The work environment shapes employees’ attitudes toward their work. The main types of work environments include traditional, collaborative, modern, remote, and flexible work environments. A traditional work environment includes a rigid hierarchy and strict control of employees’ activities within the workplace. A collaborative work environment emphasizes teamwork among employees to share ideas and learn from each other, while a modern work environment includes using modern concepts and technologies to complete assigned tasks within the organization efficiently. Consistently, a remote work environment includes completing the tasks the employer assigns outside the organization’s premises, while a flexible work environment includes giving employees the autonomy to complete assigned tasks and implement creative ideas. The suitability of a work environment can be measured based on the safety of employees, comfort, availability of resources needed to complete assigned tasks, and the relationship between employees and their superiors, subordinates, and coworkers.
To follow this, various researchers have studied the link between the work environment and employee turnover. A study conducted by Suifan et al. (2016) on the impact of work-life balance on employee turnover in private hospitals indicated that support from managers and autonomy cause employee turnover. Another study by Saeed et al. (2013) on the relationship between work-life balance and turnover indicated that a lack of work-life balance causes stress resulting in high turnover. Meirina et al. (2018) reviewed the impact of work environment on turnover in the hospitality industry and established that work environment impacted employee turnover intention by 30.9%. The work environment may also cause turnover based on the workload assigned to employees. According to Meirina et al. (2018), a lot of workload causes burnout and stress, which are the leading causes of employee turnover. Workload may also reduce employee morale leading to reduced productivity and absenteeism, which could cause involuntary turnover. Employees may also leave an organization if it does not offer career growth opportunities and employee recognition. Organizations focus on reducing turnover to reduce the costs of hiring and training new employees.
Researchers have also established a relationship between job satisfaction as part of the work environment and employee turnover. Job satisfaction is a person’s attitude toward their work (Spector, 2022). Job satisfaction also includes an individual’s feelings about a job’s specific aspects. For example, employees may be more satisfied with their jobs if they are well compensated, recognized, and given autonomy to make and implement decisions. According to Kholiq & Miftahuddin (2019), job satisfaction is among the leading causes of employee turnover in many organizations. The main attributes linked to job satisfaction and employee turnover include perceived job stress, communication, and compensation. Although employees prefer being recognized for their contribution to an organization’s success, many organizations are more focused on revenue and production, leading to job dissatisfaction and high turnover. Lack of communication creates a disconnection between employees and an organization leading to job dissatisfaction. Lack of communication also creates confusion in the workplace, limiting an employee’s ability to utilize their full potential, which could create job dissatisfaction and turnover. Job stress creates job dissatisfaction and a high intention to leave, leading to high turnover because employees are unable to be productive and meet the organization’s goals and expectations. Therefore, organizations need to determine measures to improve the work environment by reducing job stress, offering fair compensation, and encouraging regular and transparent communication.
Problem Focus
Employee retention is a major concern in the modern business environment because of stiff competition for skilled and experienced workers. Organizations must also retain skilled and experienced employees to increase competitive advantage and sustain themselves. Skilled and experienced employees also play a vital role in an organization’s performance hence the need to retain them. Employee turnover has also been a major issue in many organizations since the Covid-19 pandemic. Many organizations have not fully recovered from the negative impacts of the pandemic and are struggling to pay their employees on time, leading to a voluntary and functional turnover. The modern work environment is also being impacted by many factors within the business environment that are beyond the organization’s control, making it hard for organizations to remain consistent in providing a conducive work environment. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many organizations’ work environments, especially in the hospitality and healthcare sectors, leading to high employee turnover. For example, the pandemic increased turnover intentions among healthcare providers because of too much workload, payment delays, and lack of work-life balance (McCartney et al., 2022). Subsequently, the work environment in the hospitality industry during the pandemic was characterized by payment delays and job uncertainty leading to high turnover.
Currently, the hospitality industry is among the industries experiencing high turnover because the industry is mainly seasonal. Employees are forced to work for a long time during high seasons without pay increases leading to high turnover (Elshaer & Marzouk, 2019). According to Arjona-Fuentes et al. (2019), working conditions in the hospitality industry should be scrutinized extensively because of their risky nature characterized by seasonality, low stability, reduced wages, part-time work, discrimination, and exhausting work schedules. Understanding the relationship between working conditions and employee turnover in the hospitality industry is also important because the human resource management department faces challenges in determining operating hours, dealing with intensive job demands, and adjusting to seasonal fluctuations. The hospitality industry also highly depends on employees to offer high-quality customer service. Employees must also be committed to the organization and be efficient in their work to create a good customer experience and prevent negative reviews that could impact their performance and reputation. The quality of customer service in the hospitality industry is also important because it guarantees an organization’s long-term survival. Therefore, the hospitality industry must give employees decent working conditions and promote employees’ physical and psychological well-being. Achieving this requires understanding the ideal working conditions for employees in the hospitality industry based on the opinions of employees and researchers about the relationship between working conditions and turnover.
Understanding the link between working conditions and employee turnover in the hospitality industry is important because the industry is labour-intensive, thus increasing the risk of employee turnover. Ariza-Montes et al. (2019) state that the hospitality sector has the highest employee turnover rate. One of the reasons for the high turnover rate is the high job demands arising from high seasonality in the industry. Employees in the hospitality industry are also at risk of developing stress and burnout because of pressure from management to deliver high-quality customer service and job insecurity. Many employees in the hospitality industry also lack support from management and job control, thus decreasing their sense of belonging. The hospitality industry is also among the industries with the highest job insecurity, which leads to high turnover. Job insecurity is an employee’s fear of unemployment (De Cuyper & De Witte, 2021). Job insecurity is a major cause of stress, damaging an employee’s physical and psychological well-being. Job insecurity also creates a negative attitude towards work, thus increasing turnover. Unfortunately, organizations in the hospitality sector have restricted control over job insecurity because the sector is highly impacted by changes in the business environment that are beyond their control. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic confirmed that organizations in the hospitality industry cannot control how their environment impacts them, but they can adjust to sustain themselves. Unfortunately, the adjustments may impact the employees negatively because they may include layoffs, salary cuts, and workload increases.
The high competition for skilled and qualified employees in the hospitality industry also requires an understanding of what an organization can do to prevent turnover. According to Bahadur (2022), the hospitality industry faces a demand-supply gap in staffing because of the expansion of hotels at an annual rate of 20 to 25 percent. Bahadur (2022) adds that there is also a widening skills gap and high customer expectations in the hospitality industry. Therefore, organizations in the hospitality industry must invest in increasing employee retention to save costs that would be incurred in hiring and training new employees. Hiring new employees could also impact customer service and an organization’s performance hence the need to understand the relationship between work environment and employee turnover to create a conducive work environment and prevent turnover.
Addressing employee turnover is important because the problem not only affects the organization but also affects employees and customers. For example, when employees leave an organization, the organization incurs the cost of hiring and training new employees, thus increasing operating costs. An increase in operating costs may force the organization to increase the cost of goods and services, thus affecting customers. Employee turnover also causes delays in goods and services, reducing customer satisfaction. Most literature on the impact of work environment on employee turnover focuses on the organization’s role in creating a conducive or non-conducive work environment. There is limited research on how employees create a conducive and non-conducive work environment. Therefore, it is important to understand the role of employees in creating a work environment that increases or reduces turnover. Organizations can use this information to prevent employee turnover, thus protecting the organization from the negative consequences of turnover, such as high operating costs, loss of skilled employees, poor organizational performance, and bad organizational reputation.
References
Allen, D. G., & Vardaman, J. M. (2021). Global talent retention: Understanding employee turnover around the world. Global Talent Retention: Understanding Employee Turnover Around the World, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83909-293-020211001
Ariza-Montes, A., Hernández-Perlines, F., Han, H., & Law, R. (2019). The human dimension of the hospitality industry: Working Conditions and psychological well-being among European servers. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 41, 138–147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2019.10.013
Arjona-Fuentes, J. M., Ariza-Montes, A., Han, H., & Law, R. (2019). The silent threat of presenteeism in the hospitality industry: Examining individual, organizational and physical/mental health factors. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 82, 191–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2019.05.005
Bahadur, R. (2022, August 4). How skill shortages can be a threat to growth in the hospitality sector – ET hospitality world. ETHospitalityWorld.com. https://hospitality.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/speaking-heads/how-skill-shortages-can-be-a-threat-to-growth-in-the-hospitality-sector/93339100
Cobb, E. P. (2022). Envisioning the modern work environment. Managing Psychosocial Hazards and Work-Related Stress in Today’s Work Environment, 172–179. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003187349-25
De Cuyper, N., & De Witte, H. (2021). Job insecurity. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.17
Elshaer, A. M., & Marzouk, A. M. (2019). Labour turnover in the tourism and Hospitality Industry. Labour in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry, 233–286. https://doi.org/10.1201/9780429465093-10
Kholiq, D. A., & Miftahuddin, M. (2019). Effect of job embeddedness, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment on employee turnover intention. TAZKIYA: Journal of Psychology, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.15408/tazkiya.v22i1.8154
McCartney, G., Chi In, C. L., & Pinto, J. S. (2022). Covid-19 impact on hospitality retail employees’ turnover intentions. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 34(6), 2092–2112. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijchm-08-2021-1053
Meirina, I., Ferdian, F., Pasaribu, P., & Suyuthie, H. (2018). The influence of work environment towards the turnover intention of employees of 4-star hotels in Padang City. Journal of Business on Hospitality and Tourism, 4(2), 97. https://doi.org/10.22334/jbhost.v4i2.120
Saeed, R., Lodhi, R., Ahmed, K., Afzal, N., Mahmood, Z., & Ahmed, M. (2013). Work-Life Balance and Stress with the Turnover Rate of the Employees. World Applied Sciences Journal, 26(6).
Spector, P. E. (2022). The nature of job satisfaction. Job Satisfaction, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003250616-1
Suifan, T., Abdallah, A., & Diab, H. (2016). The Influence of Work-Life Balance on Turnover Intention in Private Hospitals: The Mediating Role of Work-Life Conflict. European Journal of Business and Management, 8(20).
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Question 
Instructions
Background
For this assignment, you will expand on the scope of your research focus by adding to your assignment submitted in Lesson 2. Articles that are selected should be primary articles that have been printed within the past 5 years in a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal.
The Impact of Work Environment on Employee Turnover
Instructions
Consider your instructors’ feedback from Assignment 2 and additional information you have gathered to evidence your problem.
Incorporate a minimum of 4 primary, scholarly resources to expand background knowledge to introduce your research topic. Strive to include at least one credible, research article with findings and/or interpretation different from prominent thoughts in the literature.
Include only the main ideas essential for the reader to understand the problem that will prompt the research study. Support assertions and information with citations of experts/researchers in the field.
Your assignment deliverable should include three sections:
Background on your research topic of interest that is approximately 2 pages maximum.
A clear discussion of your problem focus and evidence that the problem is worthy of a research study. This section will be approximately 5-6 paragraphs.
Reference Section.
References
Include a minimum of 4 new scholarly resources relevant to your selected research topic. Add these to your list of previous resources.