Factors Affecting High Staff Turnover: The Case Of Ausnew Company

Human Resources and Financial Performance

Discuss about the Factors Affecting High Staff Turnover: The Case of Ausnew Company.

In this era of globalization and rapidly changing market needs, every firm, be it big or small, aims to attain long term sustainably and increased organizational performance. Today, several organizations across the globe are investing millions and billions of dollars every year in hiring and training their human resources. A number of previous studies and researches have revealed that a strong employee base acts as an intangible resource which is difficult to be replicated or imitated by the competing firms. In today’s business environment, the most important assets of a business are its human resource. An organization’s human resource can be a large contributing factor to its health. If an organisation has to maximize profits in the long run, it needs to take its human power seriously and to train it in the most efficient manner; financially and otherwise (Sparrow,et al., 2004). An example can be cited to explain this better. In a perfectly competitive market, let us say a commodity is being sold for £10. For a company aiming to increase its profits, the one most common way possible is by reducing costs. Now in doing so, the price of raw materials can in no way be reduced, so the only way possible is by making the man power efficient and thus enabling better and increased output.

Human resource is the only factor of production which can be made efficient with some supervision. With some adjustment human resource could implement strategies which can reduce employee turnover. To reduce employee turnover, Human resource department even use compensation policies. Compensation policies ensure that every employee get paid for his/her extra efforts and dedication. Thus by implementing precise strategies human resource can turn company’s production in upward direction. As Sparrow et al., 2004 this strategies in turn help companies financially. Thus, it can also be regarded that human resource helps companies grow financially. This research also seeks to understand the effect of human resource have on financial performance of company. Further, Sparrow et al., 2004) mentions that employees in organisations play a critical party and can either make or break any solution. They are considered as the most valuable assets, and the success of any company is directly associated to the competencies of the employees, not just the front line customer facing staff but the whole organisational structure. Knowledge and skill empowerment and invariably job satisfaction is an important prerequisite for the success of an organisation which would ensure staff retention and satisfaction (Kumar, 2002).In the corporate world, the rate of change is phenomenal, since the rate of change is happening continuously due to the rapid advancements and developments in science and technology. Innovations in technology can also change the way business activities are performed.

Technological Advancements and Training and Education

The application of new technology generally tends to reduce costs, helps gain efficiency in operations, maximizes customer service and also helps improvement in communications between the different channels in an organisation (Peslak, 2005). However, the criticality in shifting to advanced technologies involves keeping the human resource equipped and updated at all the time. For example, the rate at which new products and services are launched and developed in high technology companies such as telecommunications is very fast, more so in recent years (1995 – 2010), which witnessed the launching of innovative and new products and services that has resulted remarkable growth in the sector of telecommunications in recent years. In order to give 100% customer service to the users of their service and also improve customer experience in using telecommunications products and services, there is the need to have strategic approach in training and education patterns and personnel policies in these types of organisations.

The success or failure of new products and services with new technologies is totally dependent not just on factors such as marketing, research and development, product specification but also the application of efficient strategic management approach to the areas of human resources. Recent research conducted by Soliman & Spooner (2000) suggests that intellectual property and other assets can be deployed in organizations; more so, high technology companies much more efficiently and effectively if organizations apply knowledge management techniques in respect of capacity building of their employee and human resources and enhancing their personnel management. Given the phenomenal developments of new technologies and services, there needs to be a robust and adequate strategies and practices to ensure that staff members are always satisfied with the company else they might look for other job prospects. Further, taking the above discussion into consideration this particular paper attempts to examine several factors responsible for high staff turnover, eventually resulting in lower productivity and profits.

The thesis has four main chapters: Literature Review, Methodology, Findings and Conclusion. In literature review, initially the focus is laid on the key terms related to this piece of study. Then we will come the methodology chapter, where the research paradigm, approach and methodology selected to answer the research questions are detailed. Since, this piece of study involves analysing the human interpretations and understanding their meanings (Darke et al., 1998), interpretive paradigm along with interviewing and surveying methodology has been adopted. The methodology chapter also highlights the ethical issues considered like confidentiality and honesty, challenges encountered with the selected research methodology.

Goals, Objectives, and Research Questions

After that, will follow the Findings chapter, where the research questions are addressed using the data gathered from interviews, surveys and literature review. It presents the findings and discussions which is a summary of the results of the study. Finally, in the conclusion chapter, the key findings of the research are summarised along with brief listing of research limitation. The conclusion chapter also illustrates the options which have opened for future research. Moving ahead, every project in this world, be it big or small has its own set or pre-set goals and objectives. The section below will now highlight the specific goals and objectives of this piece of study.

The aim of this dissertation study is to investigate what the most attracting reasons for employees to lengthen their working time by taking the case of Ausnew Corporation.

Moreover, the specific objectives of this dissertation study are listed below:

The objectives of this study are:

• To obtain an understanding of the reasons behind high staff turnover rate at Ausnew Company.
• To obtain an understanding of the role of senior management, leadership and the human resource policies in retaining employees.
• To analyse the various measures and strategies that can be adopted by Ausnew to trim down high staff turnover rate.

With strategic aim to investigate what the most attracting reasons for employees to lengthen their working time by taking the case of Ausnew Corporation, this study will address the following research questions:

• What are the factors causing employees to quit?
• To explore the various Human Resource Development Strategies that prevails at Ausnew?
• To analyse the effectiveness of human policies and practices such as motivation, incentives, sound leadership, sound work environment and trainings programmes in lowering down staff turnover at Ausnew?

This chapter aims to focus upon the various key concepts related to high staff turnover rate at Ausnew Company. In an organization, the human resources management plays a central role to ensure that the employees are managed in an effective manner. Such programs are aimed at identifying employees’ requirements in an atmosphere that encourages and celebrates the unhindered movement of knowledge and skills in order to meet the ultimate organizational aims and objectives in a commercial world. The senior management and leadership team supports the human resources department in identifying the reasons behind staff turnover, lack of satisfaction among employees and continuous professional development to maintain sufficient capacity in human capital of the organization (Osterman, 1994). In the sections that follow, the existing literature on reasons behind high staff turnover will be reviewed. This chapter is divided into two main parts.

Human resources are assets of the company which help in steering the business strategy (Kuchinke, 2008). In the wake of globalization and technology development, HR has gained increased impetus in organizations (Fok & Ip, 2006). Technology development and techniques for the initiation of technology in firms is made by HR (Southiseng & Walsh. 2009). Brown (2002) opines that HR understands change and can thus help in strategy development. Kling (1995) holds the view that HR should be knowledgeable and competent by which they can utilize technology in their work and deal with the evolution of technology efficiently. Employees should have full access to information, incentives and responsibilities to make decisions pertaining to innovation, quality improvement and speedy response to change. Long term improvements in the performance of employees can be seen with the help of training and development (Vincent & Harmon, 1989). The companies should make sure that they offer employees adequate growth prospects.

Literature Review

Sinclair & Collins (1992) presents how training and development is vital for any organisation and how Human resource department face the challenge of keeping skilled labour via proper training and development. Effective training and development can greatly help in trimming down staff turnover rate. There are many difficulties that organisation face when they fail to deliver proper training and development to their employee. Moreover, it is challenge for HRD to implant proper training and development for employee and dictate proper measurement if employee failed to take proper skills. Sometimes top management do not encourage HR policies of training and development, rather they criticize the efforts made by HRD. Discouragement of training and development of employee could only lead to the ineffectiveness of whole organisation and dissatisfaction among employees. Thus, top management should ask themselves whether they want to develop human resources in organisation and whether they are committed to organisational change. Sometimes, senior management view training and development as extra cost to the company and do not provide full attention to it. Training and development is used for short term fixes but never seen as long term investment. HRD to show full efforts towards employee development, training is as essential as any policy (Sinclair & Collins 1992). The need of training and development must be evaluate by HRD before implementing it n any organisation. HRD also needs to develop strategies and structure of training to accommodate various business objectives. There are various aspects and factors that HRD needs to evaluate that are motivation, cost and responsibility. Horwitz (1999) concludes that HRD should evaluate the need of training and development before taking any strategic decision. They also need to figure out the ways for evaluation of effectiveness.

Many managers show impatient behaviour towards Training and development and want immediate results. In contrast, McDowell & Saunders (2010) found that many managers consider training and development session as important and value creation to employee and in turn to company. McDowall & Saunders (2010) research on the implication of training and development on employee psychology and Human resource policies. They also have researched about what factors drive the decision making of top level management to go for training and development. They also found out relation between firm performance and training and development. The most effective training and development process is tangible demonstration of training and development. The tangible demonstration perceived as return on investment method and hence it widely used.

Sound leadership and motivation have been largely involved in capability building of employees in several organizations. The focus of the company must be laid on ensuring that the employees are regularly motivated and directed by an effective leader. Sound leadership functions have a wide range of activities including Knowledge Management, training and development, motivation and rewards (Braganza, 2001). It can be a source of sustained competitive advantage for a company as it helps to improve organizational performance, solve problems and deal with high staff turnover. Moreover, it is often perceived that Sound leadership and motivation is vital in organisation with higher employment like any technological firm. Some of the very well-known policies for the higher company performance are high commitment towards employee and specialization of workplaces to achieve flexibility (Osterman 1994). If organisations follow these policies, they can achieve higher team performance. Hence, the company results are lot more dependent on successful implementation of these HR policies.

d’Arcimoles (1997) has raised concern as to how effective HR polices and practices result in highly satisfied employees and low staff turnover. d’Arcimoles (1997) has studied various concerns about Human resource policies and tried to find solutions for the same. He has found that there is some relationship between the key indicators of HR policies with employees’ performance and satisfaction level. Those key indicators are listed as 1) training for the employee to create skilled employee force. The author has clearly found direct relation between employee training and turnover rate. The second key indicator is recovery effects which can be used for company performance judgement. Research paper also finds out the key obstacle in implementing HR policies for company benefits. Key obstacle in full implementation of HR policies is shareholder interest or lack of it. Shareholders are very reluctant to follow some stringent HR policies that could benefit organisation for long run. Instead they are very conservative in their approach and require some strong leadership push from senior management.

Furthermore, the companies could constantly face the challenge of retaining employees and keeping the employees up to date with the latest technology by having in place effective programs and approaches. Factors like training and development, motivation, growth prospects, incentives, sound work environment and others, help an organization in retaining their competent employees for long. In the opinion of Masalin (2003), employee retention is directly linked with employee recognition and employee motivation. With the introduction of training and development programmes, employees are made to feel that the company is proving them training and so it not just needs them but is also concerned with the career management of the employee. This helps in retaining employees over a period of time. Secondly, by having in place effective incentives and growth prospects, employees get the feeling of recognition and thirdly, it helps increase employee motivation and reduce staff turnover. All of this has a positive impact on the organisation and has a positive impact on organisational performance and as the employee grows, the organisation grows as well and vice versa. In these times of continuous change, if organizations are to survive, then employees must be kept satisfied.

Employee training and development consists of a series of systematic activities for individuals and companies to improve their capabilities for current or future jobs with the aim of improving organizational performance (Robbins, 1982; Wu, 1999). Thus, an important element of decreasing staff turnover rate and improving the capabilities of individual employees would be the kind of training that would be imparted to them (Lee, Hsieh & Cai, 2009).

The measurement of organizational performance can be qualitative or quantitative (Lee, Hsieh & Cai, 2009). This study reviewed the criteria for organizational performance by other researchers (Bird & Beechler, 1994; Lee, Hsieh & Cai, 2009; Knight, 2000). Bird & Beechler (1994) classified organizational performance into human resource performance and financial performance. Human resource performance included average employment time, employee turnover rate, promotion and employee motivation. Financial performance included volume of sales and profit margins. Knight (2000) used market share, return on assets (ROA), return on investments (ROI), net profit and earnings before tax (EBIT) to measure organizational performance.  Traditionally, financial indicators such as ROI, EBIT were used to measure organizational performance but the disadvantage of doing so according to Govindarajan (1984) is in cross organizational research, performance data cannot be measured properly. A qualitative measurement such as self assessment by managers can also be used to measure organizational performance and that would provide the same outcome as quantitative measurement indicators (Churchill et al., 1985; Covin, Slevin & Prescott, 1990; Delaney & Huselid, 1996).

This chapter of the dissertation will describe in detail the research paradigm, methodologies and approaches adopted to answer the research questions. The research aims is to investigate what the most attracting reasons for employees to lengthen their working time by taking the case of Ausnew Corporation. Further, an overview of the data analysis methods and the way it has been carried out is illustrated. This is then followed by the work ethics kept into consideration throughout the research.

When designing a research project, researcher needs to consider whether to use inductive or deductive approach. In case of deductive approach, data is collected and theory is developed on the basis of the analysis of such data. On the other hand, in case of deductive approach, a theory or hypothesis is developed and a strategy is designed to test the hypothesis (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2009). The process of deduction can be outlined in the following steps:

Both approaches are considered equally good; one cannot be considered better than the other. Several of studies have been undertaken in various countries and industry sectors with the purpose of understanding the factors affecting staff turnover. Thus, there is no dearth of literature on the chosen research topic directed towards the factors affecting high staff turnover and it is possible to develop a hypothesis upon the theoretical framework. This study thus uses the deductive approach. There is another way of distinguishing – qualitative and quantitative research.  Taking into consideration the chosen research area and the fact that this research requires collecting a good amount of resourceful information from the people surveyed than just numbers and single line answers, this study employed qualitative indicators of staff turnover. This research study is structured around both primary and secondary data. And considering the time period and resource availability, survey and interview techniques were basically adopted to gather data.

Research design can be defined as the structure which conducts the way a research method and data is executed (Bryman & Bell, 2007). Research design helps ascertain the best way to design the research and also the best way to obtain the data and answer the research questions (Lee & Lings, 1975). Therefore the selection of research design will depend on whether it provides answers to the research questions and meets the research objectives. The different types of research design include survey, case study, experiment, ethnography among others (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2009). Additionally, this particular research involves data from both primary as well as secondary sources. Firstly, the primary data has been gathered by conducting surveys and interviews among the chosen sample of 35 candidates involving employees and managers at Ausnew Company. Data was collected by Interview through phone call as well as survey through online and email.  Additionally, secondary data has been collected from several different sources involving texts, books, journals, past studies, online sources and many others. Further, all the data collected for the research was analysed by adopting rich data analysis approach including pie charts and graphs. The research also involved analysing the data by employing mean and standard deviation approach.

According to Blaxter et al. (1996), ethical issues perform a vital part al throughout the research study. The problem comes up as a matter of consent and confidentiality. Ethical concerns with respect to survey involve confidentiality and honesty as the foremost and highly significant consideration. As a result, it was ensured that the interview and survey details were properly stated to the people involved. At the time of conducting the interview and survey, no recordings were carried out without prior consent of the individuals. Furthermore, no political question associated with culture and values was put forward and contributors trust was attained through keeping interview and survey answers confidential and not stating actual names on the transcripts. Second, it has been made sure that all through the research, the efforts of other people work are suitably acknowledged. According to Maylor & Blackmon (2005), it is highly significant to suitably attribute contribution made by other people in research through referencing and citation and also tagging along the plagiarism rules of respective institution or universities.

Taking into consideration the chosen research area and the fact that this research requires collecting a good amount of resourceful information from the people surveyed than just numbers and single line answers, this study employed qualitative indicators of staff turnover.  Quantitative research relates to actually numerically collecting and counting and measuring data referred to as primary data (such as annual turnover, profit & loss, market share, number of employees, etc.), thereafter analysing the sample data and representing the data in statistical format using packages such as SPSS or Microsoft Excel in the form of graph, pie chart, bar chart, average and median of the data, interpreting the results, making comparisons against bench marks of corporate goals and identifying deviations, and identifying correlations with the several variable under study and thereafter making inferences and drawing conclusions. Qualitative research is one that accentuates words rather than numbers in the collection and analysis of data. Quantitative research is associated with testing of theories (deductive) whereas qualitative research is concerned with generation of theories (inductive) (Bryman & Bell, 2007). This research study is structured around both primary and secondary data. And considering the time period and resource availability, survey technique was basically adopted to gather data.

The main aim of this study was to examine the most attracting reasons for employees to lengthen their working time by taking the case of Ausnew Corporation. This particular research involves data from both primary as well as secondary sources. Firstly, the primary data has been gathered by conducting surveys among the chosen sample. In order to examine the possible reasons behind such high turnover rate at Ausnew, survey and interviews were conducted by distributing questionnaires among a sample of 35 individuals involving employees and managers of Ausnew Company. The sample was chosen randomly. Due to good contact of my supervisor in the company, I was able to easily contact the employees and managers and convince them to participate in the research. Respondents were supposed to fill out the questionnaire on their own and were asked to circle the response which best described their level of agreement with the statements. Though the questionnaires were sent out to about 35 individuals operating at Ausnew Company, only 70% of them responded. Finally, a sample of around 25 responses was obtained from respondents at Ausnew, the response rate being about 70%. The survey and interview helped in gaining an understanding of the possible reasons behind high turnover rate at Ausnew Company. Moving ahead, the research has also taken into consideration secondary information gathered from a wide range of sources like texts, journals, books, past studies, online sources and several others.

This paper reports on the high staff turnover and several factors responsible for the same at Ausnew. The research attempted to explore several factors responsible for high staff turnover at the company and its eventual impact upon the organizational performance. The paper begins with the introduction of the chosen research area and the human resource for providing an understanding of the motivation for the study. This chapter also presented the aims, objectives and research questions. This was followed by chapter two which is a critical review of the literature wherein the paper explains the importance of several forces like training, development, work surroundings, motivation, sound leadership and others in lowering down staff turnover. The study then progressed to chapter three which presents the research methodology; the study uses a deductive approach and the research design it uses is a survey and interview for the purpose of data collection. The fourth chapter presents the findings of the study.

Using a survey and interview on managers and employees of Ausnew, the study reveals that factors like training, development, work surroundings, motivation, sound leadership and others are directly linked with turnover of employees. It also reveals that training and development can have a positive impact on staff turnover and organizational performance as it helps keep both employees and organization well informed. Lack of proper training and development prospects is greatly responsible for such high staff turnover. Organisations appraisal and incentives programmes could significantly contribute towards enhancing organizational performance and lowering down staff turnover if planned and implemented successfully. Sound leadership behaviour can also help in lowering down staff turnover. The leadership behaviour is often seen and regarded as senior management enthusiasm towards their employees. Leadership behaviour does have effects on employee turnover and decision to stay with the company for long. The questionnaire also involved information staff turnover and salary. Many candidates believe that if the employees are not well paid and as per their capability they are likely to quit the company. Moreover, with right HR policies and their implementation, the organisation could achieve improved financial performance.

The results of the study can be useful to the management of not just Ausnew Company but all companies facing high staff turnover and high technology. It will also be useful to researchers, human resource managers and other stakeholders. This study will help in adding to the current exceedingly inadequate literature on human resource strategies of managing staff turnover. Moreover, this study uses the method of data collection which has been used by researchers in other countries and industries and thus can be used for comparing with India. Moving ahead, this research study also faced a number of challenges which are illustrated in the following paragraph.

This chapter presents research findings and discussion from the research. It follows the comparison with the arguments that already given by various researchers. It gives implication inferences form the answers given to survey. As written earlier, the research is mixture of qualitative and quantitative approach. Thus, it presents data and percentage of answers that researcher received through survey and interview. The finding chapter basically attempts to compare the gathered primary data with the literature and researches in order to address the research questions. A kind of comparative study is performed between the results of questionnaires and historical data collected from the library and archives. In data analysis, the research has used many questionnaire to find out factors resulting in high staff turnover at Ausnew Company. Different set of questions were used to analyse the factors affecting staff turnover rate. The questionnaire has different sets to find out relation among each factor. The set of questionnaire has questions for employees and managers about staff turnover, training, development, leadership and organizational performance.  It is truism that every member did not respond in the questionnaire; however, still the gathered data helped to provide the significant results.

Since first few questions were related to possible reasons behind high staff turnover and impact of lack of training and development on it, 68% of sample size had voted in favour of training and development. They voted that lack of proper training and development prospects is greatly responsible for such high staff turnover. One of the examples of question is whether lack of proper training and development initiatives responsible for high staff turnover. Other question is whether training and development programmes help increase and enhance employee knowledge and lower down turnover rate. As many respondents voted on the positive side of scale for both the questions. It has been seen that effective training and development programmes are highly essential for retaining staff members and lowering down staff turnover, which in turn improves the overall performance of the organization. The results are consistent with literature that has been researched earlier. The 2^nd question in questionnaire was about if training and developments programmes help encourage and motivate employees. Though measurement of knowledge is vague term to access, many respondents answered positively on this question. The final result for the question is 59% positive result. The fourth question about staff turnover was to analyse the extent of effectiveness of the organisations appraisal and incentives programmes on staff turnover. The result for this question got above average results and approx. 60% respondents said that they assume this is not just an additional cost on human resource cost and could significantly contribute towards enhancing organizational performance and lowering down staff turnover if planned and implemented successfully.

Then there were questions related to impact of leadership behaviour on staff turnover. The leadership behaviour is often seen and regarded as senior management enthusiasm towards their employees. From sample of answers, it is summarized that positive leadership behaviour has positive effects on staff turnover. There was question asked in the survey about leadership impact on staff turnover. The findings suggested that the results are 75% positive and 35 respondents replied back in assertion. The result is in line with the literature that is reviewed earlier in the research. The next question in questionnaire was targeted on leadership behaviour and its effect on employee turnover. Though the question was not directly related to team performance and training, it is related to employee motivation towards company and company policy. The response for the question was received positively and 61% respondents claimed that leadership behaviour does have effects on employee turnover and decision to stay with the company for long.

The questionnaire also involved information staff turnover and salary. The first question attempted to explore the extent which salary of the employees’ impacts staff turnover. The response for the survey was overwhelming and sample set who replied back have answered this question with 100% completion. Many candidates believe that if the employees are not well paid and as per their capability they are likely to quit the company. There was also a question that implied whether organisation’s financial performance has improved or declined due to high staff turnover. The question was slightly tricky and not all the respondents replied back with the exact measurement. From how much replies received, it can be said that the results are more than 50% managers said they can see downfall in financial performance due to high staff turnover. Thus, it can be stated that with right HR policies and their implementation, the organisation could achieve improved financial performance.

Some of the items of the research questionnaire have been listed below:

	Professionals sample (50)
	Mean	SD
effects HR policies on staff turnover	3.74	0.59
effects of training and development on staff turnover and organizational performance	3.23	0.67
effects of Leadership behaviour on staff turnover	3.2	0.56
effects of motivation on staff turnover	4	0.46
Notes:
1 = Little or no effect
2 = Some effect
3 = moderate effect
4 = great effect
5 = very great effect

Table 1.1 mean and standard deviation table for effects of various strategies on organisational performance:

The table illustrates the mean and standard deviation for various items that has been asked in the survey and questionnaire. The answers for each item have been given the scale of 1 to 5. 1 is said to be little or no effect and 5 is assigned as very great effect.  2 is said to be with ‘some effect’ and 3 is assigned as moderate effect. 4 is said to be great effect. Respondents asked to choose between the scales of 1 to 5. For example if they choose 1 it means the effect of that particular item is little or no.

Moving ahead, the table 1.1 shows positive effects of HR and HR policies on staff turnover. The mean of ‘effects of HR policies on staff turnover and organisational performance’ came to 3.74 with standard deviation equals to 0.59. The conclusion has come in line with the literature review done in earlier chapter. The 2^nd question of the set has mean of 3.23 with the standard deviation of 0.67. Thus, it proved that training and development along with leadership has significant effects on staff turnover. Moving ahead, as said by many scholars, similar findings have been found and it has been listed in literature review earlier. Theriou & Chatzoglou (2009) have already proved this point and this research has proved same findings in line with them. They explained that HRM policies are vital for the dealing with high staff turnover and development of organisation. And training and learning policies develop good habits among employee and increased efficiency of entire firm.

The 3^rd item has mean value of 3.2 with standard deviation of 0.56. it has proved that effective leadership behaviour has positively associated with staff turnover. Thus, it has been proved the first hypothesis listed above. This has proved relation between leadership behaviour and staff turnover. Senior management should possess the leadership skills for proper design of HR policies and pursue some HR policies. Specially, HR manager should have leadership qualities to pursue HR strategies in front of top level management. He needs to back his HR policies with some facts and figures so that he can implement those strategies successfully and can create interest among all stakeholders of company. For HR manager it is very important to get support from various stakeholder of company. If he generate interest then his job is very much easy in terms of implementation of HR policies.

The 4^th item in the list was the effect of motivation on staff turnover and organisational performance and the mean of the item came around 4 with standard deviation of 0.46. thus it has been proved that motivation has major impact of staff turnover and organisational performance. Regularly motivating employees is vital and important for the development of business and business objectives.

This paper reports on the reasons behind high staff turnover at Ausnew. The research attempted to explore effective human resource management practices can lower down high staff turnover at the company. The paper begins with the introduction of the chosen research topic and the human resource strategies at Ausnew to provide an understanding of the motivation for the study. This chapter also presented the aims, objectives and research questions. This was followed by chapter two which is a critical review of the literature wherein the paper explains the ways that could be considered for lowering down high turnover rate. The study then progressed to chapter three which presents the research methodology; the study uses a deductive approach and the research design it uses is a survey for the purpose of data collection. The fourth chapter presents the findings of the study. Using a survey and interview among employees and managers have been interviewed and surveyed. The study reveals that effective leadership has a positive impact on the continuous professional development of employees and could considerably lower down high staff turnover. It also reveals that training and development can have a positive impact on organizational performance as it helps keep both employees and organization well informed and lowering down staff turnover. Factors like adequate motivation, growth prospects, sound working environment, adequate pay and regular incentives can also contribute towards lowering down staff turnover rate. The results of the study can be useful to the management of not just Ausnew Company but all companies experiencing high staff turnover issues. It will also be useful to researchers, human resource managers and other stakeholders. This study will help in adding to the current exceedingly inadequate literature on human resource strategies for lowering down high staff turnover. Moving ahead, this research study also faced a number of challenges which are illustrated in the following paragraph.

Limitations and Conclusion

The findings of this study must be interpreted in the light of the following limitations. Firstly, though the sample size was adequately large and questionnaires were sent out to a large number of people; however, only 70% of them responded and thus the results may not be representative of the entire sample. Future research could attempt to conduct a survey and interview on a larger sample. Secondly, most previous researchers used either regression or correlation analysis in order to understand the reasons behind high staff turnover and several factors responsible for the same. However, due to limitations of time, this study does that simply on the basis of simple percentage. The study only involved managers and employees, however further research could be conducted involving top management also in the research.

However, in spite of such limitations, this study makes some important contributions to the current exceedingly inadequate literature on reasons behind staff turnover and the impact of the same on organizational performance. This study reveals that forces like training, development, work surroundings, growth prospects, satisfactory pay, adequate incentives, motivation and sound leadership and others in lowering down staff turnover. In the words of Kuchinke (2008), human resource is the most important asset of a company which actually drive the business strategy.

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