Analysis of High Employee Turnover in Aviation (BUS201)

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Managing People in Aviation
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Executive Summary
The aviation industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. The aim of this report
is to identify and analyse the issue of high employee turnover rates in the aviation industry.
Employee turnover is the practice of replacing an employee of an organisation by another new
employee. It implies the number of workers who leave an organisation and are replaced by new
employees. It has a number of adverse effects on the industry and its growth and development.
This report will identify reasons for such high turnover rates and what effect it has on the
industry. It will also examine and discuss various steps that the aviation industry might take to
boost employee motivation and enhance successful operations.
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
1. Reasons for high employee turnover rates...............................................................................4
2. Ways in which the aviation industry can improve the employee turnover rates.....................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Reference List..................................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
The aviation industry refers to the kind of industry dealing with activities relating to mechanical
flight as well as the aircraft industry. It is one of the fastest growing industries around the world
and the airline industry of various countries consists of a huge number of operating airlines. The
aim of this industry is to provide high quality aviation services to its customers and emphasises
greatly on customer comfort and safety. However, one consistent issue that the airline industry
faces is the problem of high employee turnover rates. This is the practice of replacing old
employees with new employees in the organisation. This adversely affects the business along
with influencing its culture and development. There are a number of reasons, which lead to such
high employee turnover rates and it is important for the aviation industry to take proactive steps
to control its adverse effects and try to improve employee motivation and productivity
(Forbes.com. 2019).
1. Reasons for high employee turnover rates
In the aviation industry, employee turnover rates are high and the number of employees leaving
their jobs for other opportunities is growing with each passing day. New employees replace old
employees and this process has a number of adverse affects on the growth and prosperity of the
industry. According to reports, one in eight newly hired employees quit their jobs before six
months and the reasons for this are diverse (Abubakar et al., 2015).
Pull factors
The employees might get a better job offer elsewhere, which is more lucrative and offers him
growth and advancement in his career. They might get opportunities to work in a more
challenging environment where the work they would do is better and more interesting than what
they had been doing here. It might provide him with better work life balance along with a
number of benefits that encourages him to leave his old job and look for fresh opportunities
elsewhere (Burke, 2018).
Push factors
Apart from the reasons mentioned above, there might be instances in the workplace that
encourages employees to leave it and look for better job opportunities. These are normally the
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internal factors like low morale, unjust treatment in the workplace and unfavourable conditions
of work. Employees working in a place where there is no job security and miscommunication
among employees might make them want to leave the job and seek better opportunities where
they would have a secure job and a good coordination and cooperation among the various
employees. Other reasons for employee turnover may be activities such as harassment, bullying
and corruption in the workplace. Under these circumstances, employees may not want to work in
such an environment and may thus be forced to look for job opportunities that will be better and
favourable for them.
Apart from these reasons, there may be other factors leading to high employee turnover rates in
the aviation sector. Selection of incompetent candidates during the recruitment process along
with poor organising and executing of induction processes may lead to staff turnover in this
industry (Doronina et al., 2017).
Image theory
This refers to the examining and decision making process that employees use in order to decide
whether they should leave their current employer or stay with them. In this context, shocks are
the major factor that contributes to employees thinking whether they should leave ether current
job or not. These shocks are usually the effect of events resulting from situations inside or
outside the organisation. These may be result of change of circumstances like illness or death of
a family member, status of family, transfer of one’s partner to other locations, or the desire to
return home after working abroad. These factors make the employees contemplate whether they
should leave their present jobs and look for other jobs elsewhere (Flouris et al., 2016).
Therefore, it can be seen that whenever employees find better opportunities for career growth,
favourable work environment, job security and a good pay, they will leave their current jobs.
Airlines such as Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways provide a host of attractive benefits like
paid accommodation along with paid holidays and a host of other benefits and this may
encourage crew from low cost airline models to experience the full factor to these airlines. The
primary reasons for the growing ratio of employee turnover found over the years are lack of
career growth, low level of pay and change of careers of the crew (Hubbard et al., 2015).
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2. Ways in which the aviation industry can improve the employee turnover rates
The high rates of employee turnover have adverse affects on the growth and development of the
aviation industry. There have been rising cases of employees who are leaving their jobs and
looking for better jobs that offers them better pay and enhanced opportunities along with a good
career growth. This affects aviation industry greatly and has a negative impact on its business
(Jongsaguan et al., 2017). Therefore, it becomes important for the aviation industry to take
proactive steps to control employee turnover and the following steps can achieve this:
Being aware of the common pay standard and benefits:
It is important for the employer to be aware of the basic standard of pay and the various benefits
that are offered to employees in the aviation industry. He must make sure to pay his employees
accordingly and in compliance with the norm. For example, he will not be able to retain
experienced pilots and crewmembers if their salary and benefits differ massively from what is
commonly offered to other employees in other airlines. Compensation of employees adequately
can be a good way to retain good and competent crewmembers in an aviation business.
Attractive pay and lucrative benefits will act as a motivational tool to make the workforce work
harder and better for the organisation (Nahar et al., 2017).
Emphasising on proper recruitment process:
One of the most effective ways to reduce employee turnover is emphasising on the recruitment
processes and being particularly conscious while conducting the tests and interviews. Employing
the correct and competent employees will help in reducing employee turnover significantly.
Ensuring that the culture of potential employees matches with the organisation’s culture:
The employer should ensure that the potential employees who are to be hired in the company fit
in the overall culture. Not all companies have the same work culture and it is important to find
employees whose culture matches with the culture of the company where he works. Ensuring
this will save the company from staff turnover in the future (Yazgan, 2018).
Flexible schedules and other benefits for employees:
The employer should make sure that it offers flexible schedules for its employees and provides
them with adequate paid holidays, which will allow them to spend time with their families. This
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can go a long way in improving employee turnover in the aviation sector as the employees are
forced to spend a lot of time way from their homes and families.
Ensure career advancements for employees:
Employees must be given proper opportunities for career growth and development. No employee
will want to work in a stagnant work environment where there is no opportunity for him to grow
professionally. Employers should provide them with job security in order to retain them (Yeh,
2017).
Example can be taken from the Southwest Airlines whose employees are one of the happiest and
most satisfies in the world. The organisation has a high workplace culture and a highly engaged
workforce where all employees think and work together to share the profits that are the result of
their hard work. The employees in this organisation are one of the most highly motivated as well
as productive employees in the world and this is the result of their well being and career
development that is ensured by the organisation.
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Conclusion
The aviation industry is one of the largest and massively growing industries in the world today.
While it is considered to be an attractive career with huge growth opportunities, there are a
number of issues that jeopardise the success and productivity of the industry. One of the most
common issues is the problem of high employee turnover rates that poses significant problems
for the industry. The aim of this report was to analyse and identify the factors that give rise to
employee turnover along with discussing strategic ways in which it can be reduced and
controlled. It becomes increasingly important for the aviation sector to take proactive steps to
control this issue in order to fulfil its various organisational objectives and ensure profit
maximisation.
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Reference List
Abubakar, S.G. and Dogoji, B.A., 2015. An Investigation Into The Management Of
Organisational Culture And Its Impact On Employee Performance In The Context Of The
Aviation Industry: A Case Study Of Some Legacy And Low-Cost Airlines In The United
Kingdom. International Journal Of Advanced Academic Research, pp.1-19.
Burke, R.J., 2018. 1. Human resource management in the hospitality and tourism
sector. Handbook of Human Resource Management in the Tourism and Hospitality Industries,
p.1.
Doronina, I.V. and Aleshkina, M.A., 2017. Personnel Training for Aircraft Production in
Novosibirsk. Problems of Economic Transition, 59(7-9), pp.501-507.
Flouris, T., Yilmaz, A.K., Durak, M.S. and Tanrıverdi, G., 2016. Linkages between Risk and
Human Resources Management in Aviation: An Empirical Investigation and the Way Forward in
Selection of Ideal Airport Business Executive. Publication name, p.268.
Forbes.com. (2019). The Real Problem With Tech Professionals: High Turnover. [online]
Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2018/06/29/the-
real-problem-with-tech-professionals-high-turnover/#7bdb04e04201 [Accessed 5 Jan. 2019].
Hubbard, S.M. and Lopp, D., 2015. An integrated framework for fostering human factor
sustainability and increased safety in aviation ramp operations. Journal of Aviation Technology
and Engineering, 5(1), p.44.
Jongsaguan, S. and Ghoneim, A., 2017. Green IT/IS investments evaluation within the aviation
industry: A focus on indirect cost management. Journal of Enterprise Information
Management, 30(2), pp.206-225.
Nahar, R., Islam, R. and 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.
Yazgan, E., 2018. Development taxonomy of human risk factors for corporate sustainability in
aviation sector. Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, 90(6), pp.1012-1022.
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Yeh, L.T., 2017. Incorporating workplace injury to measure the safety performance of industrial
sectors in Taiwan. Sustainability, 9(12), p.2241.
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