Aviation Industry Employee Turnover: Causes and Mitigation

This literature review examines the significant issue of employee turnover in the aviation industry, attributing it to factors such as mismanagement, lack of job satisfaction, inadequate training, and poor recruitment practices. It references motivational theories like Maslow's hierarchy to highlight the importance of fulfilling employees' basic needs for job satisfaction and security. The review also discusses the impact of insufficient training, corrupt management practices, and a lack of leadership on employee morale and retention. Furthermore, it addresses the role of unstable salary structures, inadequate promotion opportunities, and high-pressure work environments in contributing to turnover. The review concludes by emphasizing the need for improved HRM practices, better training programs, fair compensation, and a more humane approach to employee management to reduce turnover rates and foster a loyal and efficient workforce. Desklib provides access to this and other resources to support student learning.

Running head: EMPLOYEE TURNOVER IN AVIATION INDUSTRY
EMPLOYEE TURNOVER IN AVIATION INDUSTRY
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Author Note

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EMPLOYEE TURNOVER IN AVIATION INDUSTRY
Literature review:
Introduction:
Employee turnover is one of the biggest problems faced by the aviation industry all over
the world and the reason behind this is mismanagement, lack of job satisfaction, lack of proper
recruitment and many more. In order to mitigate the turnover, proper management is needed. In
this literature review evaluation of the issues behind the employee turnover will be discussed
properly.
Motivational theory:
According to the Healy (2016), management issue is the biggest problems in the aviation
sector because no proper structure is followed and employee motivation is also not done
systematically. Maslow’s hierarchy is the theory, which reveals the basic need of the employees
that management must need to concern. According to this theory, Maslow defines the five
fundamental need of an employee, and this is physiological, safety, esteem, love and self-
actualisation. When all these needs are fulfilled by the organization, proper workplace and job
satisfaction can be achieved.

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Maslow’s hierarchy
(Source: Healy 2016)
This is the best model, which is needed to be implemented in the aviation sector because
most of the time workplace environment is not adjustable and job security is another issue that
remains a concern for the employees. A report reveals that proper job security can motivate
employees and long-term relationship with the company can also be made. Employee turnover
can be reduced by this but according to the author in aviation sector most of the employees have
low educational qualification and have rose up the ladder from the lower ground level. In
competitive market, changing company for some extra bucks has occurred frequently and also
authority sometimes terminated many lower level employees due to their inefficiency. Job
satisfaction and job security are highly associated with the intensity of the effectiveness in the

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workplace. This source is also relevant because the theoretical implication is showing the
importance of the motivation and job security to retain the turnover. This source has the
academic viewpoint and has the subjective nature to find out the research outcome.
Lack of training and leadership:
Increasing the turnover rate in the aviation industry is one of the major problems in recent
scenario. The reason behind this as stated by the Demirtas and Akdogan (2017), is basically lack
of the management. Employee retention is one of the big factors for every organization, and
human resource management is involved with this. According to the author, lack of proper
training is one of the major issues facing by the aviation industry. Most of the work done in the
aviation industry is technical and sensitive. In order to facilitate the successful work, proper
training is much needed, however recently a report reveals that employees are not getting the
proper training according to their job description. Lack of training obviously lowers the
capabilities of the employees, and this causes the frustration among the employees, which leads
to the rejection of the job (Demirtas & Akdogan 2015). In an interview with an employee, who
resigned his job, revealed that lack of proper training lead him in to a tough situation where
every time supervisor misbehaves due to bad performance. Without training, it is quite tough to
handle the industry like aviation. This source is relevant with the research project and reveals the
issue in management, which will help to meet the research objective with the practical viewpoint.
Nahar, Islam and Ullah (2017) narrated that, behind this lack of training, a huge
conspiracy rotating every time. Corruption in the management is one of the reasons for this
situation, and generally, it happens from the root level in the aviation industry. In past year 23%
employees resigned from the aviation industry globally, which reveals that the problems in the

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management are very true and author reveals the lack of proper orientation of the job is the
reason. Employees often get confused how to interact with their job and how to co-operate
properly. Facilitating training can be the good option to retain the employees, but corruption is
intermingled with the management. The author revealed that in last year many higher authority
staffs were caught due to corruption. This source is relevant and addresses the research
objectives properly with a practical view.
Another managerial issue is the abundance of free time in the management. Basically,
managers or supervisors get lots of free time, and lack of proper guidance from the higher
authority drives them to take their job casually. Wong and Brooks (2015) stated that, in aviation
industry 40% workers come from substandard background to get some money and supervisors or
managers take these advantages by using this low-level workforce in everywhere. The objective
of the research of finding management issue in the turnover of employees in the aviation industry
is fully justified by this source and address the objective of research of finding the management
issues like lack of proper training and corruption from ground level. The source is fully relevant
and recent and is all about the lack of management in the aviation industry. It is basically written
on practical viewpoint, and practical consequences are important to find out the issue in order to
meet the research objective.
Obviously, proper training is also needed, and proper recruitment structure is also needed
to incorporate, but inefficiency is one of the most effective factors that must need to reduce by
facilitating the proper training, by establishing just environment in the workplace, proper salary
and many more (Sparrow, Brewster & Chung 2016). This source is also relevant and helps to
meet the research outcome with a practical viewpoint.

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According to the Wiegmann and Shappell (2017), most of the time abundant free time of
the supervisor let them take their responsibility casually. Proper training is needed to reduce the
certain accident in the aviation sector. In last year, the rate of accident in the aviation sector
increased 3.3%, and this is due to the lack of proper expertise in every field and lack of adequate
training for the employees. The supervisor needs to facilitate the healthy leadership attitude
towards the employees which will also help them to connect with the management and
miscommunication can be reduced which will help to reduce the turnover rate in the aviation
sector. This source is also helped to meet the research objective and relevant to the research
project with an academic viewpoint.
Job satisfaction:
Unstable salary structure is another issue in the aviation sector, which causes the
employee turnover. According to the Yilmaz and Flouris(2017), salary structure in the aviation
sector is very unstable and proper promotion structure of the employees is also not justified. The
promotional structure needs to renovate to retain the employees because if one employee found
that his post is the last position for him in the office then obviously motivation will decrease
automatically and ultimately resigning occurred. The author stated that better opportunity and
proper career prospectus is needed to reduce the employee turnover. Inequality in the salary
scheme discouraged the employees and management must need to evaluate the employees about
their cause of dissatisfaction. This source is also useful to understand the main issue in the
management and employee turnover is highly related to the bad salary structure. This is also the
practical viewpoint, and recent consequences are placed in it.

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According to the Analoui (2017), turnover rate in the aviation sector has increased 3.67%
in response to the last year. The reason behind this obviously the mismanagement of the
authority but employee’s inefficiency is another factor. Aviation sector using advanced
technology to provide their services and when employees are not able to meet the situation they
got frustrated and leave the job. This source is also relevant to the case study because it reveals
the issue in management for which employees are resigning.
Another issue that is also hampering the management in the aviation sector is the lack of
proper service rule. According to the Bratton and Gold (2017), every employee needs to be
rewarded as per his work, and this reward system is very important to retain the employees
because reward system enhances the workplace environment and also enhances the efficiency of
the employees. According to the author, lack of proper designation can lead the employee
towards the resignation and also toxic workplace environment created without proper service
rule. This source is also relevant and reflects the practical view.
A number of interviews reveal that the huge pressure in the aviation sector and the huge
amount of the sensible work affected the mind of the employees and soon they get the
discouragement. Wensveen (2016) also stated that, basically aviation sector is one such sector
that needs constant attention and conscious efforts to provide service this leads the employees
towards the depression. Near about 11.3% employees reveal this reason that work pressure in
this sector is just intolerable and mental and physical deterioration occurred regularly. This
source addresses the research outcome and justifies the issues in the aviation sector with a
practical viewpoint.
Proper recruitment:

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EMPLOYEE TURNOVER IN AVIATION INDUSTRY
According to the aviation international news (2018), there are many steps need to be
followed by the management to reduce the turnover rate in the aviation industry. Globally 23%
turnover occurred last year and most of the time lack management is the main reason behind this.
Proper training and supervising are essential to make the workplace favorable for the
employees; organized salary structure and job security is also needed to retain the employees.
Authority needs to be more specific at the time of recruitment to reduce the number of inefficient
workers (Belobaba, Odoni & Barnhart 2015). Flexible and good reward system needs to be
facilitated in order to enhance the performance of the employees. The objective of the research is
also meet by this source with the practical view.
Conclusion:
To conclude, it is evident that the aviation industry has been facing huge turnout rates and
this can be majorly credited to the problems of improper HRM practices. The employees are
unsatisfied from the kind of duties they are being assigned and they show displeasure in the
salary that they receive. The modification of the salary structure remains a recommendation that
has to be incorporated in the aviation department. The employees have been facing higher rates
of burnout in the industry and hence the HRM team must formulate policies of better training
and employee satisfaction should be maintained. The organizations should focus on treating
employees in a humane way rather than treating them just as workers. The employees are needed
to be retained in as it will also benefit the organization in creating a workforce that is loyal and
efficient with the working style.

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References:
Analoui, F. ed., 2017. The changing patterns of human resource management. Routledge.pp 36-
38.
Aviation International News. 2018. Aviation International News. [online] Available at:
https://www.ainonline.com/ [Accessed 3 Mar. 2018].
Belobaba, P., Odoni, A. & Barnhart, C. eds., 2015. The global airline industry. John Wiley &
Sons.pp 20-21.
Bratton, J. & Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.pp 71-
73
Demirtas, O. & Akdogan, A.A., 2015. The effect of ethical leadership behavior on ethical
climate, turnover intention, and affective commitment. Journal of Business Ethics, 130(1),
pp.59-67.
Nahar, R., Islam, R. & Ullah, K.T., 2017. Identifying the Factors for Reducing Employee
Turnover Rate in Aviation Business: Bangladesh Context. Australian Academy of Business and
Economics Review, 3(1), pp.39-46.
Healy, K., 2016. A Theory of Human Motivation by Abraham H. Maslow 1942–reflection. The
British Journal of Psychiatry, 208(4), pp.313-313.Wensveen, J.G., 2016. Air transportation: A
management perspective. Routledge.
Wensveen, J.G., 2016. Air transportation: A management perspective. Routledge. pp 225-233.

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Wiegmann, D.A. & Shappell, S.A., 2017. A human error approach to aviation accident analysis:
The human factors analysis and classification system. Routledge.
Wong, S. & Brooks, N., 2015. Evolving risk-based security: A review of current issues and
emerging trends impacting security screening in the aviation industry. Journal of Air Transport
Management, 48, pp.60-64.
Yilmaz, A.K. & Flouris, T., 2017. Linkages between risk and human resources management in
aviation: An empirical investigation and the way forward in the selection of ideal airport
manager. In Corporate risk management for international business Springer, Singapore. (pp. 141-
151).