Introduction
Working class people spend most of their time serving their employers; they are selling their intellectual properties, labours, time and works of their hands to their employer.
To stay in an organisation, there are some expectations that employees have upon their contract with their employer, the expectations can broadly be categorised as material, psychological, and social (Perrewé, Kalmar & Anthony, 2002). This paper elaborates why employees stay in a certain company: it will adopt a four level approach, the approach follows the following four concepts: what, how, when, and why.
What
Employees expect to get monetary compensation from their employer; they are selling their time, mind and efforts to the employer. An employer who offers a good package is likely to attract employees to stay in the company and have the willingness to go an extra mile providing more revenue to the company. According to motivational theories, people will be motivated if their efforts are rewarded, salaries, wages, allowances and other monetary payments are rewards for work done.
To stay further and feel comfortable with a certain employer, the salaries paid should reflect the efforts that the employee has employed. According to expectancy theory of motivation, there are there relationships that exists in an organization; Effort-performance, performance-reward relationship, rewards-personal goals relationship, if the above three relationships are observed, human resources are likely to spend longer periods with an employees (Buzzell, and Gale, 1987).
Since human beings spend most of their time in their employee’s premises, they need to be given a pleasant working condition; they need to have good environment to develop their career and a place where they get peace of mind. Good working environment goes further than the office interaction to extra-office activities like parties, team buildings, social functions and games.
When material needs and social needs of employees are well blend, then employees feel that their employer is fulfilling their expectation and thus they are willing to serve him longer. The packages should be enough to fulfil the employees’ basic wants and needs: where the government has set some minimal employment benefits, and then the employer should adhere to that (Black, 2003).
How
An employment contracts comes with an unwritten psychological contract; some psychological aspect can make an employee stick with a certain employer if these attributes are fulfilled. When an employee reports to a certain workstation, he expects to have peace and something to do that will eventually be beneficial to him.
The employee on the other hand promises to offer an employee the piece of work to do and pays for the work done. When the two parties to a psychological employment contract are operating well, then an employee is likely to stay longer with the employer (Armstrong, 2006).
People are motivated differently, while different stage in a motivation process takes different forms, according to Maslow’s hierarchy, there is a hierarchy of wants that human being want; an employee is likely to stay with that employer who offers the highest level of need as per the theory.
The theory bring forth that money is not the only motivator or reason why people work; there are people who work for esteem, pride and self-esteem. These psychological needs need to be fulfilled by either party for a good working environment (Swamson, 2009).
Why
Human resources need to work in an environment that they are given challenges and a chance to advance their career; those companies that have well defined career path and offer a room for creativity, invention and innovativeness are more likely to have loyal employees who are willing to serve the employer even longer.
Human being are competitive and are willing to work in those environments that will offer them a chance to compete with others and fulfil their mental ego that they can be better than others. They want to be recognised of their achievements.
Diversity in work place is another factor that is likely to keep employees with a certain employer, those companies who recruit from the Diaspora have a high rate of employees retaining. The increased number from different parts offers a good learning environment to employees (Stephen & Timothy, 2010).
According to Sigmund Freud theory X of motivation, human beings work because they are benefit from the work. It assumes that people are generally lazy hate working. In the contrary Douglas McGregor, theory Y, of motivation states that human beings enjoy working, but should be motivated if they have to be productive.
People thus require to be given incentives that will motivate them and make them like working; the employer who offers incentives is likely to have a longer stay of employees than the one who does not. Abraham Marlow theory of need recognizes different levels of expectation that employees expect from their employer. All the theories are of the opinion that people work to satisfy a certain need in them (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart & Wright, 2010). If employees have to get value in working, the employer should meet their expectation.
Human beings are social animals; they need to work in an environment where there is good communication among them and with the leaders. Where people are there, their different personalities is likely to bring about some friction amongst them; thus an employer who have good communication mechanisms that can solve employees problems is more likely to benefit from a longer stay of employees in his organisation (Rousseau, 1996).
When
The most pressing issue in human resources is how to satisfy their current human needs; the level that they stand according to Abraham Marlow theory dictates their expectations in the future. Employees are likely to stay with an employer who pays them well enough to cater for their needs and promises to increase their salaries to reflect the changing environment. They need to have job security and confidence that they will have continued employment in the near future and probably in their lifetime (Legge, 2004).
The retirement system operated by employers is another determinant whether employees will stay in an organisation or not. Organisations with efficient retirement schemes are likely to enjoy a longer stay with their human resources whose input will be facilitated.
Alongside future and current needs, employers who have programs that facilitate employees personal economic development enjoy a longer stay of employees; for example if an employer offers mortgage facilities or loan guarantees-ship, then such an employer is favourable (Harold & Michael, 1994).
Conclusion
Human resources are assets to an organisation, they need to be effectively managed and motivated so as they can stay longer with their employer. Experience is built with time thus; employees who have stayed longer in an organisation are more likely to make effective decisions than new employees are. As a policy of knowledge management, employees need to be motivated to stay longer in their organisation; at the end of the day the employer stands to benefit.
References
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Harold, F.,& Michael, D.(1994). Motivation: theory and research. New Jersey: Routledge.
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Noe, R., Hollenbeck, J. Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. (2010). Human Resources Management. New York: McGraw-Hill.
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Rousseau, M.(1996). Psychological Contracts in Organizations: Understanding Written and Unwritten Agreements. Newbury Park, CA: Sage
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