ABSTRACT
This study investigated the relationship between Human Resources Policies and Employee Retention in Telecommunication Industry in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The motivation was the claim that poor personnel policies are the key factor in employee turnover in most companies. A survey of 400 MTN staff in Akwa Ibom State was conducted to collect data on the key components of human resources management, including recruitment, training, appraisal system and compensation. Data analysis was based on descriptive statistical techniques in conjunction with Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation. The results revealed that all the human resources management dimensions were major factors in employee retention MTN Nigeria, Akwa Ibom State. Based on the findings, it is recommended that management should ensure that their employees are trained and retained to enhance their retention.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Organization is facing the challenge of employee retention due to increased competition in the market. It is crucial for organization to hire competent employees to gain a competitive advantage in the market. However, retaining component employee is more important than hiring. Organizations are always searching for talented employees and spend time and money on their employees for future return prospect. Factors like lack of skilled workforce, economic growth and employee turnover demand to devise policies to increase employee retention. It is hard to measure the exact cost associated with employee turnover for organizations.
However, organization facing employee turnover may not bear the cost of this situation in monetary terms only. If we assume that the overall workload remains constant, the short time burden on the remaining employees will increase and will have a negative impact on their motivation. In the long run the organization loses the long time employee that possesses specific knowledge, know-how and skills (Rogers 2003). The cost is the shape of customer loss, productivity loss and business should also be considered (Rogers, 2003). Moreover, the hiring of new employees is associated with additional expenses. These expenses are incurred in the form of advertising, screening, verifying credentials, interviewing and training of new employees etc (Naira, 2009).
        Employee retention consists of procedures through which employees are boosted to become part of the organization for a longer period of time until he/she gets retired or until the project gets completed. For achieving individuals as well as organizational goals, it is very much essential to retain talented employees. The human resources manager must known how to attract and keep good employees because these are the employees who can make or break the organization’s goodwill (Rasli, 2014).
        Successful employee retention does not rely on a single strategy. The decision of an employee to stay in the organization is effected by a number of factors depending on a variety of elements like the individual’s age, the family situation, monitoring, career and learning opportunities, good benefits, networking and the external job market or job title (Musser, 2001); Simott et al, 2002. (Yusoff et al. 2013). Talented and good employees are asset of an organization. Retaining talented employees is highly important for the long-term growth as well as success of the business (Heathfied. 2005).
        Human resource to organization cannot be over-emphasized. Human resource is valued and serves as the backbone of organizations the world over. e employees are a key resource that can be strategically placed for an organization to attain competitive advantage. It is asserted the resources that are rare and valuable create competitive advantage. Also, studies have shown that, organizations increase and sustain competitive advantage through the management of scarce and valuable human resources (Heathfield. 2005). Thus, the success of any organization is dependent on the quality and efficiency of its human resources.
