Literature Review on Employee Retention in Food and Beverage Sector

This literature review explores the critical topic of employee retention within the food and beverage (F&B) industry. It begins by highlighting the significance of retaining employees, emphasizing the value of experience, reduced training costs, and improved company turnover. The review then delves into various theories associated with employee retention, including Herzberg's theory, and examines the importance of rewards, motivation, training, communication, transparency, and workload management. The need for employee retention in the F&B industry is further underscored by its hectic nature and the lack of innovation in work modules. The review also identifies key challenges, such as employee overloading, the lack of newness in work, and the impact of work-life balance. Finally, it offers recommendations for improving employee retention, such as implementing fair workloads, fostering open communication, and providing opportunities for professional development. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of the factors influencing employee retention in the F&B sector.

Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW
AN EMPHASIS ON SPECIFIC CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES IN THE FOOD AND
BEVERAGE INDUSTRY FOR RETAINING EMPLOYEE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Notes

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LITERATURE REVIEW
Table of Contents
Literature Review............................................................................................................................2
2.1 Significance of Employee Retention in Food and Beverage Industry...................................2
2.2 Theories for Employee Retention associated........................................................................4
2.3 Need for Employee Retention in Food and Beverage Industry.............................................6
2.4Challenges faced by the Food and Beverage industry in terms of Employee Retention........7
2.5Recommendations for the Employee Retention in Food and Beverage Industry...................9
References......................................................................................................................................13

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Literature Review
2.1 Significance of Employee Retention in Food and Beverage Industry
Employee Retention is definitely one of the major instances that needs to be present in
any industry to make sure that the working of the specific industry is done in a lucid manner. The
significance of employee retention in food and beverage industries in the world are due to the
following factors –
 Experience of Old employees –One of the major significance of the retention of the old
employees is the amount of experience that the old employee has in terms of work
purpose (Kitterlin & Moreo, 2012). The old employees with their years of experience in a
particular field will effectively earn more profit for the company than any new employee
who is just there for some months. The old employees have a better work capability as
they are capable of doing some amount of hard work without any support which would
not be the case for any new employee of the firm.
 Time for Training –The time for training of the new employee will be saved if there are
less resignation from the old employees and the time required for the training process will
also be much lower (Schmitt, Borzillo & Probst, 2012). The time for the training of the
new employees will be saved if there is a proper retention of the existing employees.
 Cost for Hiring –The cost of hiring for the new employees is comparatively high which
can impose a high charges on the organization. A separate team for HR is to be recruited
for the continuous hiring of the employees if the existing ones do not retain in the office
for long. The cost of hiring can be less if there is a proper retention of employees.

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 Turnover of the Company –Food and beverage industries generally experience a good
amount of turnover in terms of money which is affected by the employee work and their
dedication towards the same (Hong et al., 2012). The turnover of the company is majorly
affected by the workings of the employees and if the existing employees are retained,
there is a good possibility of better turnover of the company rather than continuous
change.
 Understanding of the Employees –The old and existing employees of the organization
have a better understanding of the situation and the company which can help in the good
turnover of the company and also to make sure that retention process of the employees
are done yielding good results.
 Work Pressure –The work pressure of the companies especially in the food and
beverage sector can be really high at times that needs the experience of retaining and
existing employees to cope up with. The work pressure capacity of the old employees is
really mass in comparison to the new employees.
 Innovation –The innovation process of the old employees is greater than the new
employees who are yet to get experience in the field. The process of innovation of the old
employees is majorly due to the amount of experience they have in terms of the work and
situation handling capacity (Sinha & Sinha, 2012). The innovation done by the old
employees is surely one of the major factors that is essential for employee retention.
 Potential of the old employees –There is a theory that the old employees have better
potential to work than the new employees as they have spent more time in the company
and have a better knowledge of the industry (Frey, Bayón & Totzek, 2013). The potential

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calculation of the old employees is done on the basis of the amount of work done which
is one of the major reasons for the success of any organization.
 Competitor Threat –There is a huge probability that the people who resign from a
particular organization go to their competitors for seeking job which makes the company
have one of the largest competitor threat in terms of their information being leaked. No
company would like to leak their information to a rival company which makes it one of
the major factors in the importance of retention of employees.
 Secrecy –The food and beverage industry has a number of secret recipes that they do not
share their recipes with any of the customers or the companies (Sinha & Sinha, 2012). If
such an existing employee who has the knowledge of the secret recipes or ingredients
resigns and joins a rival brand, there is a chance that their secrecy will be revealed which
can prove detrimental to the organization.
2.2 Theories for Employee Retention associated
There are a number of Theories for Employee Retention that are there to make sure that
the existing employees are kept with their demands met and can prove beneficial to the
organization. Employee Retention is defined as the process and procedure that is implemented to
stop an employee from resigning from a certain post in an organization. The various theories and
factors that help in Employee Retention are as follows –
 Herzberg’s Theory – The theory is also known as Duel Dimensional Job Satisfaction
Theory which is one of the major theories of the times as propounded by Frederick
Herzberg. The theory states that employee retention is possible by the implementation of
two sides of the same theory like reducing the dissatisfaction of the employees and
increasing the satisfaction of the employees in the longer run (Vasquez, 2014). The

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theory also states that with the implementation of the above theory, there is a possibility
that the amount of dissatisfaction of the employees will be reduced leading to more
employee retention and better efficiency at work. The theory also states that with the
better forces of satisfaction of the employees like rewards, appreciation and promotion,
there is an increased level of employee retention in workplace.
 Rewards –Rewards are one of the biggest motivating factors that helps to retain
employees in a hectic industry like food and beverage manufacture. Both monetary and
non-monetary rewards are considered in this aspect which is one of the major reasons for
the retention of the employees of the sector (Aruna & Anitha, 2015). If there are no
particular rewards in the working of the people of the industry, the retention prospect of
the industry will be higher.
 Motivation –Motivation is surely one of the major aspects of the industrial sector that
determines the amount of retention in the food and beverage industries. The food and
beverage industry is a very hectic industry that demands continuous participation of the
employees and also makes them aware of the requirements that the industry has in terms
of the employee participation (Mehta, Kurbetti & Dhankhar, 2014). Job motivation is one
of the major factors of the employees which makes sure that the employees are enough
motivated not to resign and continue with the existing job. The job motivation comes
from the authorities and other higher organizational leaders and also the monetary
measures.
 Training –Training is another major factor that is responsible for the higher retention of
the employees (Andrew & Sofian, 2012). If there is an apt training procedure with
required training facilities when there is a need for both the new and the existing

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employees, there is less chance of employee resignation which is the motive of the
industry. Food and beverage industry should increase their training facilities and should
incorporate more perspectives of training.
 Communication –Communication between the different sections of people of the
organization is one of the major factors that is responsible for the retention of the
employees in a particular organization. The communication process should be clear and
no middle man should be imposed (Terera & Ngirande, 2014). This helps the employees
from the grass root level to have a better understanding of the situation and make use of
that in an apt manner.
 Transparency –Transparency is one of the major factors that can help the organization
to retain the employees. If there is a transparency in the system of the enterprise, then the
retention of the employees is increased to a major level affecting the overall status of the
organization and also to make sure that the retention prospect is high (Cloutier et al.,
2015).
 Workload –Workload of the employee is surely one of the major factors that affects the
retention of the employees in any of the industries of the world (Mahal, 2012). Food and
beverage industry is one of the most hectic industries that has a huge amount of workload
for the employees making the retention prospect very low. If the amount of workload is
evenly distributed among the people of the organization, then there is a possibility that
the employees will have better retention prospect.
2.3 Need for Employee Retention in Food and Beverage Industry
There is a specific need for employee retention in the food and beverage industry due to
certain reasons that can be stated as follows –

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 Hectic Industry –Food and beverage industry is one of the most hectic industries that is
being targeted for the amount of work imposed on the people in different time spans
(Deery & Jago, 2015). The amount of workload prevent many of the workers to resign
from the post which makes employee retention one of the basic needs of the industry.
 No innovation in work –Though there are ample amount of innovation in the food and
beverage sector, there are just a few innovations in the work module of the workers
making the industry boring for working. The lack of innovation makes resigning one of
the major options that makes the retention of employees one of the major works.
2.4Challenges faced by the Food and Beverage industry in terms of Employee
Retention
There are an ample amount of challenges that is faced by an employee of the food and
beverage industry in the prospect of retention of the employees in the sector. The major
challenges that are being faced by varies from the expectations from the employees, work being
given to the employees and even to the hectic work schedule of the employees being employed
(Bakarić, 2014). The challenges for the employees in the context of food and beverage industry
of the world can be summarised as follows –
 Overloading employees –The employees of the industry are being overloaded with
works and tasks that are given to them by the authorities which make it one of the
primary challenges that are being faced by the food and beverage industries in respect of
employee retention (Terera & Ngirande, 2014). The industry has a history of overloading
employees the tasks given which makes the industry one of the highest in employee
resignation. Employees do not find time to do their personal work and have no balance in

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the work-life routine which make them excessively against the industry and they prefer to
resign the sector.
 No scope of newness –The scope of newness in the sector is one of the major challenges
that is faced by the employers of the food and beverage industry of the world (Martinez,
2013). Though there is continuous innovation in the service and the number of food items
prepared, there is no newness in the job and the working module of the people who are
working for the sector (Patel& Conklin, 2012). The lack of newness in the sector makes
the sector prone to resignation and also make sure that retention prospect is low in
comparison to other industries of the age. The introduction of newness in the working
should be included to make the working better.
 Management problem –The management problem is one of the major issues that needs
to be catered to make sure that the people in the organization are retained for a major
amount of time (Chen, 2012). The management issue is one of the major issue for most of
the sectors as the employees have a direct level of connection with the management and
their connection and communication is one of the major aspects that needs to be done to
make sure that the problem of management is solved to a major extent. The managerial
inefficiency of the industry makes sure that retention of employees one of the major laid
backs of the age.
 Poor performance –The poor performance of the employees of the organization is one
of the major reasons for the low retention of the employees (Bröring, 2013). The poor
performance of the people of the organization makes sure that the employee retention rate
of the industry is low in comparison to the other industries of the times. Poor
performance of the people of the food and beverage industry makes sure that the people

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of the concerned industry have their own levels of flaws in the work which makes it one
of the most vital challenge of the concerned sector.
 Training and development –The training and development of the employees of the food
and beverage industry is one of the major factors that determine the amount of
resignation that is being provided by the people of the concerned sector (Bayona-Saez et
al., 2017). The amount of training and development makes sure that all the problems of
the employees are being resolved and as a result of which the rate of employee retention
is very high and to the point.
2.5Recommendations for the Employee Retention in Food and Beverage Industry
There are a number of recommendations that can be applied to retain employees in the food and
beverage industry which is as followed –
 Increase Salary –One of the chief motivations of the people working in a food and
beverage industry is the monetary motivation that is inclusive of the increase in salary of
the same. The workers who are working for the organization have to be given better
salary structures to make sure that the workers do not opt for the different sectors and
stick to the organization for a longer period. Monetary benefits are one of the greatest
source of motivation for any worker and so one of the greatest motivation is the increase
in salary (Andrew & Sofian, 2012).
 Motivation –Other than the monetary benefits given by the organization to the
employees, non-monetary benefits like motivation can also help to make sure that the
people of the organization stay at the place for the longer period of time. The motivation
factors like time and the behaviour of the staff and the authorities of the organization play
an important role in the overall process.

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 Flexible shift timings –One of the other factors that help to retain that the workers stay at
the organization for a longer period of time is the use of flexible shift timings. The
importance of flexible shift timings lies in the fact that people can opt for the various shift
timings according to their preference and also the company is working for more or less
the whole day (Goode et al., 2013). Food and beverage industry is one of the most hectic
industries that needs the option of flexible shift timings to retain the employees.
 Holiday and other leaves –There should be a fixed holiday policy and leaves so that the
employees can join the organization knowing about the various facilities it provides in
terms of leaves (Palić & Bakarić, 2016). A fixed weekly holiday plan along with
systematic leaves are one of the major process in the organization which help to retain the
employees in the longer run.
 Appropriate policies –Appropriate policies in regards to the workers and their various
problems are one of the major reasons for the benefit of the term. The various policies
regarding work and other factors are there in the process to make sure that the workers
are working in a well manner (Deery & Jago, 2015).
 Better coverage for the workers –The workers should be given facilities other than
monetary benefits to the workers and should cover various things under their
perspectives. The better coverage of the workers should be made compulsory to extract
the amount of benefits in the process (Davis, 2013). The coverage of the workers should
be made compulsory to make them work for the organization for a prolonged period of
time.
 Management facilities –The management of the organization is one of the greatest
achievements that should be done in the process. If the management of the organization is

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made available for the workers and they listen to their complaints and problems, then
there is a probability that the workers working in the organization will have better
working experience and will stay in the organization for longer (Valta et al., 2015).
 Consistency –Consistency is one of the major factors of the employees that should be
advocated by the authorities to make sure that each and every employee of the
organization is given a consistent job level and security of job. With the given both the
accounts, the employees are less probable to leave the job.
 Training –Training is one of the base methods to make sure that each of the employees
have a sustainable method of staying at the organization. The training methods employed
by the organization make sure that each of the employees get the required amount of
training for the conduction of the job. In addition, if the employees have any of the
doubts in regards to job and their work role, the training process can be really helpful in
the same (Frey, Bayón & Totzek, 2013)
 Incentive –Incentive can be one of the major sectors in the process and an effective
incentive measure is there to make sure that each of the employees of the organization
should be provided enough incentive for the working of the organization in the given idea
(Garcia Martinez et al., 2013). The incentive methods and earning tactics should be very
clear for the employees to provide them with the work.
 Communication –Communication is one of the basics of the retention of the employees
in the process. The communication process needs to be assessed in the way so that the
overall communication between the employees and the managers or the authorities are to
be made transparent. The transparent mode of communication should be made possible