Employee Retention Strategies and Project Management Report for CST

This report analyzes employee retention strategies within the context of project management, focusing on a case study of CST, a multinational communications software and systems developer. The executive summary highlights the importance of employee engagement and retention for organizational success, especially in the face of competition. The report delves into the background of employee retention, identifying key strategies like mentoring programs, providing distinct paths towards organizational success through learning events and workshops, fostering trust in senior leaders, and promoting referrals and internal recruitment. The discussion section provides insights from various research papers to support the recommended strategies. The report emphasizes the critical role of line managers in fostering employee engagement. The conclusion underscores the significance of implementing these strategies to enhance employee engagement, reduce turnover, and improve the overall performance of CST.

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Executive Summary
Proper retention strategies are fundamental to retain employees. In order to successfully foster a
workplace environment which stimulates employees, managers must sincerely involve
motivation-building practices into its corporate culture. Furthermore people managers are
identify as the initial point of contact with employees and work with utmost integration with
employee and manage daily relationships with them. As a result every organisation must have an
employee engagement strategy which must be comprehensively articulated and robust in order to
increase the level of employee retention within their organization. Companies in recent times
have been witnessing a huge loss of three major tenders its rivals due to lack of employee
engagement and enthusiasm towards the company. The paper provided comprehensive insights
on CST, a multi-national communications software and systems developer serving the defence
and emergency services industries which has been experiencing loss to its competitors with a
declined market share and must act responsive to its employees’ need and demands. The paper
further analysed retention strategies which CST will evaluate to efficiently make its employees
feel valued and engaged to retain them.
Background
Employee retention is identified as techniques implemented by the management in order
to help the employees engage with organisation for a longer period. Employee retention
strategies have travelled a long way in order to motivate and engage the employees so that they
can intrinsically stick to the organisation for the maximum time and contribute utmost efficiency
(Deery & Jago, 2015). As CST has been experiencing struggles in retaining its employees to its
tough competitors, the company must assess strategies to successfully retain its workforce and
increase level of employee engagement.

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Discussion
Alnıaçık et al. (2014) have revealed that the role of line manager in efficiently fostering
the level of employee engagement remains highly critical as over 90% of organisations utilise
line manager’s open door policy.
Aguenza and Som (2018) has revealed some effective methods which CST can
implement to efficiently retain as well as attract its employees and enhance employee
engagement level to reduce the chance of employees to seek opportunities elsewhere.
 Mentoring- A mentoring program as per the view of author that is integrated with a goal-
driven feedback method tends to offer a structured method for developing strong
associations within an organization (Bode, Singh & Rogan, 2015). It is vital to note that
implementation of strong mentoring program would facilitate struggling organizations
like CST to pair off an experienced employee with a fresher or a less experienced one
with a significant goal to develop specific skills and competencies (Deery & Jago, 2015).
Efficient mentoring teams will further offer performance feedback and design a highly
individualized career development plan.
 Provide distinct paths towards organizational success- As learning cannot serve as an
addendum or reflection it must be identified as a primary focus of any project
management companies. CST being a project management organization must efficiently
set up periodic learning events or workshops which will be conducted on a separate basis
from daily work patterns (Bode, Singh & Rogan, 2015). As learning is intrinsically
incorporated in the every project employees must be leveraged and encouraged in posting
queries when they encounter any challenges or obstructions while executing any vital
projects. However as per the view of Alnıaçık et al. (2014), efficiently investing on

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employees’ knowledge development can aid in talent retainment as well as intellectual
asset during times of tough competition among rivals in the industry. Thus by helping
workforce acquiring skills, CST can both implement these strategies in their current role
or further establish its role towards achieving promotion and keep employees engage,
energized and invested in their company (Deery & Jago, 2015).
 Foster trust and reliability in senior leaders- In this highly competitive business
domain, employees must exhibit immense reliance towards the proficiency level of upper
management. Soosay et al. (2016) has noted that TSA Management and Accuraco instead
of endorsing about excellence and quality or compels their employees to do greater
amount of work. However, it has engaged and enthused its workforce by enacting
policies which signify high amount of reliability, trust such as mitigating any forms of
authoritarian style of management.
 Promote Referrals and Internal Recruitment- Alias, Noor and Hassan (2014) have
stated that efficiently offering employees with impressive referral schemes tend to reduce
areas of misinterpretation of job expectations. On the other hand, author has witnessed
that existing workforce can pragmatically describe a position as well as the work
environment to individuals whom the current employee is referring. Furthermore, as per
Soosay et al. (2016) another important way CST can concentrate the impact of their
turnover rate is to promote internal recruitment, as current employee base tends to be
well-equipped about their flexibility with the organization.

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References
Aguenza, B. B., & Som, A. P. M. (2018). Motivational factors of employee retention and
engagement in organizations. IJAME.
Alias, N. E., Noor, N., & Hassan, R. (2014). Examining the mediating effect of employee
engagement on the relationship between talent management practices and employee
retention in the Information and Technology (IT) organizations in Malaysia. Journal of
Human Resources Management and Labor Studies, 2(2), 227-242.
Alnıaçık, E., Alnıaçık, Ü., Erat, S., & Akçin, K. (2014). Attracting talented employees to the
company: Do we need different employer branding strategies in different
cultures?. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 150, 336-344.
Bode, C., Singh, J., & Rogan, M. (2015). Corporate social initiatives and employee
retention. Organization Science, 26(6), 1702-1720.
Deery, M., & Jago, L. (2015). Revisiting talent management, work-life balance and retention
strategies. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(3), 453-
472.
Soosay, C., Nunes, B., Bennett, D. J., Sohal, A., Jabar, J., & Winroth, M. (2016). Strategies for
sustaining manufacturing competitiveness: Comparative case studies in Australia and
Sweden. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 27(1), 6-37.