Retention Management
True/False Questions
1. There are several positive, functional outcomes of employee turnover.
2. Employee turnover can be voluntary or involuntary.
3. Organizations should try to prevent the turnover of low value employees.
4. Discharge turnover targets groups of employees and is also known as reduction in force. (RIF).
5. An employee's perceived desirability of movement can depend on reasons that have little or nothing to do with the job.
6. An employee's overall intention to quit depends on the desirability of leaving, ease of leaving, and alternatives available to the employee.
7. Employees who have a high intention to quit necessarily end up quitting their jobs.
8. Discharge turnover is primarily due to extremely poor person/organization matches.
9. Downsizing turnover is a reflection of a staffing level mismatch in which the organization actually is, or is projected to be, overstaffed.
10. The analysis and interpretation of turnover data is aided by making breakouts of the data by various factors (e.g., type of turnover, type of employee).
11. Exit interviews should be conducted by exiting employee's immediate supervisor whenever possible.
12. The interviewee in an exit interview should be told that the comments that he/she makes will be confidential and that only aggregate results will be used by the organization.
13. Postexit surveys should ask be mailed quite some time after the employee's last day of work so the individual has sufficient time to reflect on his or her experiences.
14. Desirability of movement is a weak predictor of voluntary employee turnover.
15. Economic costs associated with voluntary turnover include accrued paid time off and temporary coverage.
16. Material and equipment costs are likely to be the most prevalent in replacement and training costs.
17. Turnover cost estimates are very precise and accurate in most cases.
18. One potential benefit of employee discharges is the development of improved performance management and disciplinary skills.
19. Downsizing costs are concentrated in separation costs for permanent reductions in force.
20. Of the three types of employee turnover, discharges are the most prevalent.
21. A recent Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey found that the most effective organizational strategy for retaining employees is the provision of concierge services.
22. Of the factors that influence an employee's desirability of leaving, job satisfaction is the one that cannot be influenced to a significant degree by organizations.
23. One guideline for increasing job satisfaction and retention is to ensure that fairness and justice exist in the workplace.
24. To have the power to attract and retain employees, rewards must be unique and unlikely to be offered by competitors.
25. Performance management systems enable organizations to ensure that an initial person/job match yields an effectively performing employee.
26. One penalty for a moderate offense that has occurred for the second time is a written reprimand.
27. No-layoff policies cannot be implemented effectively by organizations.
28. One recommendation for an effective performance appraisal or management system is that appraisal criteria should be job-related, specific, and communicated in advance to the employee.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. The types of employee turnover include ____________.
a. voluntary
b. discharge
c. downsizing
d. all of the above
2. Which of the following is an attribute of a high value employee that an organization would want to prevent from leaving?
a. low training investment
b. strong KSAOs
c. retirement
d. low seniority
3. Which of the following is an attribute of a low value employee that an organization would not want to prevent from leaving?
a. little intellectual capital
b. high seniority
c. high performance
d. all of the above
4. Discharge turnover is usually due to ____________.
a. a site or plant closing
b. permanent layoff
c. poor employee performance
d. none of the above
5. The desirability of leaving an organization is often an outgrowth of __________.
a. poor person/organization match
b. favorable labor market conditions
c. general, transferable KSAOs
d. none of the above
6. An employee's intention to leave an organization is influenced by ___________.
a. perceived desirability of movement
b. perceived ease of movement
c. alternatives available to the employee
d. all of the above
7. Downsizing is typically a reflection of ___________.
a. overstaffing
b. understaffing
c. an appropriate staffing level
d. none of the above
8. Exit interviews can be used to explain _________ to departing employees.
a. rehiring rights
b. benefits
c. confidentiality agreements
d. all of the above
9. Which of the following is a suggestion for conducting an appropriate exit interview?
a. The interviewer should be the employee's immediate supervisor.
b. there should be an unstructured interview format.
c. the interviewer should prepare for each interview by reviewing the interview format and the interviewee's personnel file.
d. none of the above
10. Economic separation costs associated with voluntary turnover include _________.
a. hiring inducements
b. rehiring costs
c. manager's time
d. more than one of the above
11. Replacement costs associated with voluntary turnover include ___________.
a. HR staff induction costs
b. mentoring
c. severance pay
d. contagion
12. Which of the following is a potential benefit associated with voluntary employee turnover?
a. New KSAOs and motivation infusion to the organization
b. Savings from not replacing an employee
c. Vacancy creates transfer or promotion opportunity for others
d. All of the above
13. Economic costs associated with downsizing include ____________.
a. threat to harmonious labor-management relations
b. decreased employee morale
c. higher unemployment insurance premiums
d. difficulty in attracting new employees
14. Which of the following is a potential benefit associated with downsizing?
a. focus on core businesses, eliminating peripheral ones
b. spreading risk by outsourcing activities to other organizations
c. lower payroll and benefit costs
d. all of the above
15. The first strategy for improving employee retention is to ______________.
a. redesign employee jobs
b. increase pay
c. improve job satisfaction
d. none of the above
16. Guidelines for increasing job satisfaction and retention include ____________.
a. establish a lag pay policy for all employees
b. link rewards to retention behaviors
c. keeping core operations information secret
d. none of the above
17. Which of the following is an example of a minor employee offense?
a. dishonesty
b. unsafe behaviors
c. punctuality
d. all of the above
18. Which of the following is an example of a major employee offense?
a. sabotage
b. theft
c. drug/alcohol abuse at work
d. all of the above
19. The typical penalty for a first major offense by an employee is ______________.
a. suspension or discharge
b. written reprimand
c. verbal reprimand
d. none of the above
20. Recommendations for the effective design and use of a performance appraisal or management system include _____________.
a. evaluations should be in writing
b. the employee should receive timely feedback about the evaluation and an explanation for any outcome decision
c. there should be agreement among different raters in their evaluation of the employee's performance
d. all of the aboveSample Answers for Ethical Issues
Issue 1
Consider a circumstance where your organization is doing exit interviews and has promised confidentiality to all who respond. Your supervisor has asked you to give the name of each respondent so she can assess the information in conjunction with the person's supervisor. What obligation to corporate HR employees have to keep information confidential in such circumstances?
Issue 2
There are numerous negative organizational consequences to firing employees, including the discomfort of the supervisor who delivers the termination information, conflict or sabotage from the departing employee, and the potential for a lawsuit. In response, many supervisors provide problem employees unpleasant work tasks, reduced working hours, or otherwise negatively modify their jobs in hopes that the problem employees will simply quit. What are the ethical issues raised by this strategy?
1. For the three primary causes of voluntary turnover (desirability of leaving, ease of leaving, alternatives), might their relative importance depend on the type of employee or type of job? Explain.
2. Which of the costs and benefits of voluntary turnover are most likely to vary according to type of job? Give examples.3. If a person says to you - "It's easy to reduce turnover, just pay people more money" - what is your response?
4. Why should an organization seek to retain employees with performance or discipline problems - why not just fire them?
5. Discuss some potential problems with downsizing as an organization's first response to a need to cut labor costs.
Application #1: Managerial Turnover - A Problem?
1. Is the loss of 30 managers out of 120 in one year cause for concern?
2. What additional data should we try to gather to learn more about our managerial turnover?
3. What are the costs of this turnover; might there be any benefits?
4. Are there any lurking legal problems?
5. If retention is a serious problem for HCLC, what are the main ways we might attack it?
Application #2: Retention - Deciding to Act
Summary of Employee Retention Plan
1. Do we think turnover is a problem?
2. How might we attack the problem?
3. What do we need to decide?
4. Should we proceed?
5. How should we evaluate the initiatives?