Executive Summary
This report analyzes the alternatives (work-life initiative and organizational brand change) that can be used by ABB Consulting Inc. to solve the problem of female employees’ turnover. The method of online quantitative survey helps to understand the reasons for why many women are eager to leave or change their jobs. Primary and secondary sources are used. The results show that both alternatives are adequate; still, the first idea is more appropriate, less costly, and more practical for the company.
Introduction
ABB Consulting is a powerful company that promotes electrical and electronic services. Unfortunately, recently, it suffers from a high rate of female employees’ turnover. The current Justification Report presents the need to employ an alternative by means of which the situation can be change and the working conditions, as well as the results, can be considerably improved.
Two alternatives, the investing a new work-life initiative and the change of the organizational brand, are offered and analyzed accordingly. The choice of the first alternative is explained on the basis of the criteria identified.
Problem Statement
ABB Consulting Inc. is a company that has established its mark as an equal opportunity employer in the field of electrical and electronic services. However, in recent years, female employees have been leaving the company at an unprecedented rate. The management provides equal remuneration packages and allowances for men and women in similar grades and levels of expertise. As such, senior managers are yet to understand the factors behind the high level of turnover among these professionals.
What has already been noted is that the turnover is causing loss of talented employees and is counterproductive to the company’s business strategy. Indeed, the company’s financial strength and competitiveness in the industry is at its lowest in years. It is clear that the continued high turnover of talented female employees is a problem which needs to be addressed to reposition the company and ensure it remains competitive.
Terminology
ABB Consulting is the company that offers different electric and electronic services.
Turnover is the rate according to which workers leave or change their jobs.
Overview of Alternatives
The following are the alternatives that can be offered to ABB Consulting to change the situation and decrease the rate of female employees’ turnover:
- Alternative A: invest in work-life initiatives: Many women professionals are thought to leave active employment to start families and take care of other family-related responsibilities. Consequently, establishing work-life initiatives such as telecommuting and children day centers may help address the situation
- Alternative B: invest in developing the organization’s brand as the employer choice: It is possible to retain key talent by developing a new logo for the company and redesigning its mission statement as well as employee value proposition. The company can make use of the media to share stories of outstanding female employees who have succeeded to become senior managers. The reengineering effort is likely to attract new women professionals and ensure that existing ones are facilitated to fit into the organization’s culture.
Criteria
Cost: every step has its price, and the company should understand which alternative is more appropriate regarding the financial aspect.
Desirability: the company should define which interests are more crucial for the results of the work.
Practicality: the alternatives have to result in something, and the outcomes of the implementations have to be practical for the workers and the company at the same time.
Efficiency: this criteria helps to understand what conditions may be more effective for the workers to achieve good results in work.
Implementation time: the company needs time to implement the alternative, and the ideas offered require different amounts of time.
Research Methods
An online quantitative survey will be undertaken with a significant sample of female employees working for the company. The study will seek to determine the factors that trigger quit intentions and how such aspects relate to women professionals. It is important to include variables that have a bearing on the two alternatives to allow for the measuring and cross-checking of responses against the criteria.
Primary and secondary sources will also be consulted to provide a glimpse of the turnover issue and how it is being addressed in other organizations and sectors.
Evaluation of Alternatives
The evaluation of past research and achievements in the sphere of organizational development, the question of employee turnover remains to be crucial. Lee (2012) underline that gender differences do matter in regards to turnover, still, men are less interested in meeting their family responsibilities.
Therefore, a company that wants to meet its female employees’ demands has to consider family responsibilities at first. The results of this research prove the effectiveness of the first alternative that promotes the development of children day centers and the support of the work-life initiative as less costly and more practical for the company.
However, some companies find it wrong to consider the interests of particular workers at the expense of the interests of the company as a whole. This is why the effectiveness of the second alternative that is all about the organizational culture and the development of a new brand is evident as well (Cameron & Green, 2012).
Bellou (2010) admits the necessity to consider job satisfaction as one of the main factors of employee turnover, and the improvement of the organizational culture is one of the possible solutions. This is why the second alternative cannot be neglected even in spite of its cost or the inability to predict its practicality in comparison with the effectiveness of the first alternative.
Women are eager to have special children centers and the work-life initiative to present at their work instead of being dependent on the organization’s brand. However, the company gets all chances to win a lot with the organizational brand change with time. This is why the choice of the company should be based on the evaluation of all aspects and, what is more important, on the further success of the implementations.
Cost
Alternative A
The introduction of the work-life initiative seems to be less expensive due to the attention to personal needs and expectations. It is expected that female employees are eager to put their family interests higher than their financial incomes and the quality of the work done.
Alternative B
Business and tactical strategies are more expensive still characterized by long-term effectiveness. Although rebranding may be cost-effective in the long term, the company requires immediate interventions to reverse the costly voluntary turnover of female employees
Desirability
Alternative A
Female workers are eager to have special centers to be closer to their children. The company demonstrates its intention to support a woman with her desire to have a family and be closer to her child/children, a woman is more eager to be a part of a team.
Alternative B
However, the management may feel indebted to undertake a rebranding exercise in order to position the company on the global business landscape.
Practicality
Alternative A
It is more practical to allow female employees to telecommute or have access to child day centers as such initiatives will assist them to raise their families and still be in active employment.
Alternative B
Workers do not like to be measured by rules.
Efficiency
Alternative A
Female employees with access to child day centers will be in a prime position to fulfill their family responsibilities with more effectiveness and efficiency.
Alternative B
Workers can work passionless if they have to follow a particular organizational brand imposed by the employer.
Implementation time
Alternative A
The initiative needs much time to be properly introduced and implemented.
Alternative B
Undertaking a rebranding process may take less time than ensuring that the company develops fully-fledged work-life initiatives for its employees
Findings and Analysis
The peculiar feature of the both alternatives is their effectiveness in regards to different parties: the first alternative (the development of the work-life initiative) is more effective for female employees, and the second alternative (the promotion of the organization’s brand) is more effective for the future development of the company.
Taking into consideration the current situation of the consulting firm and the necessity to reduce the level of female turnover, it is possible to suggest the first alternative as more effective and crucial for the organization under analysis (Joseph, Ang, Slaughter, 2015). In addition, the alternative that supports the work-life initiative charms with its ability to touch upon the humane qualities and consider the role of the family as a basis for the society’s development.
Of course, the level of professionalism is crucial for any organization, and the company tries to hire the most successful and promising workers to promote the services/goods/ideas of the highest quality. At the same time, a work of a company is successful when each its member is satisfied with the conditions. This is why as soon as a person gets the desirable conditions; he/she has more chances to present a good portion of the work.
It is also necessary to remember that female workers demonstrate a higher level of family responsibilities and the desire to support own children. So, female employees’ turnover can be considerably decreased in case the workers get a chance to combine their professional and family responsibilities and find out the desirable work-family balance.
Those female employees, who realize how priceless the company’s attention to their personal needs is, try to do their best to stay at work, demonstrate good professional skills and the desire to develop, and consider the expectations of the company.
This is why the first alternative with the possibility to find out the family-work balance is more effective and appropriate for ABB Consulting Inc. as this organization gets a chance to have loyal and qualified female workers checked by time, and the employees are provided with an opportunity to enjoy their family duties and work. By the way, not all female workers are eager to use this kind an opportunity at the same time. And it seems to be not costly to support a female worker from time to time
Recommendation
It is recommended for the company to start investing in work-life initiatives because its short-term benefits are evident indeed. There is no necessity to find a new stuff and think about the improvements that can meet new people’s expectations. It seems to be reasonable for the company to use the already checked employees, their skills, and knowledge and try to achieve the successful results.
In additional to the work-life initiatives, it is possible to support the idea of organizational rebranding that is based on the employers’ needs and demands. Still, this alternative seems to be less effective and practical because the employees can work passionless that can result in poor working outcomes.
It is also possible to use either both alternatives or, at least, their parts to achieve the results that can improve the work of the company considerably. Though it can be more expensive, still, it is characterized by a number of short- and long-term benefits. The company enjoys its rebranding on a global level, meets the demands of its workers, and supports the idea of special children day centers.
Time remains to be the only necessity that cannot be neglected to investigate the field and use the most appropriate steps such as to research female turnover, create questionnaires, implement the ideas, develop the centers, and introduce a new brand under which the company has to work.
References
Bellou, V. (2010). Organizational culture as a predictor of job satisfaction: The role of gender and age. Career Development International, 15(1), 4-19.
Cameron, E. & Green, M. (2012). Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the models tools and techniques of organizational change. Philadelphia, PA: Kogan Page Publishers.
Joseph, D., Ang, S., & Slaughter, S.A. (2015). Turnover or turnaway? Competing risks analysis or male and female IT professionals’ job mobility and relative pay gap. Information Systems Research, 26(1), 145-164.
Lee, T.H. (2012). Gender differences in voluntary turnover: Still a paradox? International Business Research, 5(10), 19-28.