Investigating Factors Influencing Employee Turnover at Union House

This report delves into the critical issue of employee turnover at Union House, a well-known restaurant in Melbourne. The research explores the underlying factors contributing to staff departures, including working conditions, conflicts, and management practices. The study aims to identify specific challenges faced by the restaurant in the food and beverage industry and proposes actionable recommendations to improve employee retention. The report reviews relevant literature, outlines the research methodology employed, presents the findings through thematic analysis, and concludes with practical strategies to address the problem of employee turnover at Union House. It emphasizes the importance of understanding employee needs and creating a positive work environment to foster long-term employee commitment and organizational success.

Running head: FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE TURNOVER AT UNION HOUSE
Factors Affecting Employee Turnover at Union House
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE TURNOVER AT UNION HOUSE
Table of Contents
1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................2
1.1. Overview...........................................................................................................................2
1.2. Problem Statement............................................................................................................4
1.3. Research Aims and Objectives.........................................................................................5
1.4. Research Questions...........................................................................................................5
2. Review of Literature.................................................................................................................6
3. Chapter 3 – Research Methodology.......................................................................................11
3.1. Research Philosophy.......................................................................................................11
3.2. Research Design..............................................................................................................11
3.3. Data Collection...............................................................................................................12
3.4. Data Analysis..................................................................................................................12
3.5. Sample Size.....................................................................................................................12
3.6. Sampling Technique.......................................................................................................13
3.7. Ethical Considerations....................................................................................................13
3.8. Purpose or Outcome of the Research..............................................................................14
3.9. Limitations of the Study..................................................................................................14
4. Chapter 4 – Findings, Discussion and Analysis.....................................................................15
5. Chapter 5 – Conclusion and Recommendations.....................................................................20
5.1. Recommendations...........................................................................................................21

2
FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE TURNOVER AT UNION HOUSE
References......................................................................................................................................25

3
FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE TURNOVER AT UNION HOUSE
1. Introduction
Employee Turnover refers to the percentage of laborers that retire or resign from a
company within a certain period of time and who have to be replaced in due course for the
organization or company to grow, prosper and flourish or at the very least survive, in the market
or the industry in which it is seen to operate. Employee turnover takes place when the people
working for a company are not satisfied with the working conditions that prevail over here and
who wish instead to seek out a job elsewhere. To resign from a certain job post and move onto
greener pastures is quite common for skilled and unskilled employees alike, as everyone has the
right to a decent income and good working conditions. However, employee turnover is a term
that alludes to the regular resignation or departure of employees from a firm, indicating that not
all is well with the firm and that improvements need to be introduced in order to get employees
to stay and to continue working for the term over an extensive period of time. This assignment
investigates the factors that led to employee turnover at Union House, a well-known restaurant
that is situated in the state of Victoria in Australia. In order to conduct the investigation, the
research aims and objectives have been identified, the research questions have been framed, a
review of literature has been undertaken and the research methods have been selected and
described. The findings of the study are then discussed and analyzed in a thematic manner after
which a number of recommendations are provided as to how the problem of employee turnover
can be suitably addressed by an organization like the Union House in Victoria, Australia.
1.1. Overview
The problem of employee turnover is very acute for a firm, and it has to be addressed
immediately if the firm intends on thriving in its industry over a long period of time. Employee

4
FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE TURNOVER AT UNION HOUSE
turnover can keep a business organization from achieving its goals and objectives in a timely and
desirable manner. Employee turnover is a term which indicates that large numbers of people
either resign or are made to resign from a firm, depleting the human resources of the firm in the
process and depriving it of the manpower that it needs for the successful achievement of its
business goals. Employee turnover can be caused by a variety of different factors. To begin with,
the poor working conditions or job environment can induce an employee to give in his
resignation as such a person is not likely to feel the incentive and the motivation that is required
in order to perform well for the organization. Frequent conflicts with colleagues and the inability
to trust and get along with co-workers is another important factor that can lead to employee
turnover in a firm, with employees handing in their resignation because of irreconcilable
differences with their co-workers.
That employee turnover can be hugely detrimental for the wellbeing of a firm is
something that is established by the fact that sales figures and numbers are reduced when the
manpower in an organization is low. It is not possible for a business organization to achieve its
goals and objectives in the manner desired if it is short of the labor or the human resources that it
needs in order to complete all business operations and establish competitive advantage over
rivals. Employee turnover can also be a reflection of the fact that the management of the
organization is not doing a sufficiently good job of taking care of employees and providing them
with the incentive and the motivation that they need to perform to potential. If the number of
people resigning from a firm are at an all-time high then it is more than likely that the firm will
lack the skill and other resources which are needed to perform the duties and responsibilities of
the organization in a way that helps the organization to attain its goals as quickly as possible. The
managers of the organization will not be in a position to assign tasks and duties to employees if

5
FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE TURNOVER AT UNION HOUSE
there aren’t a sufficient number of employees in the organization to begin with. The business
operations of a firm can be suitably disrupted if the employee turnover in the organization is
high. Hence every effort has to be made on the part of a firm to prevent the issue of employee
turnover so that business operations are not affected as a result of this.
The inability of an organization to offer employees good jobs and services or the type of
work environment in which they can truly thrive can result in the employee turnover of the
organization being quite high. If the job roles that are performed by the employees of an
organization are not well suited for their skills and abilities and if the tasks that are assigned are
not the type they can perform with the credentials or the experience that they possess, then such
employees are likely to feel de-motivated and will shift their focus to jobs that are offered by
other organizations because they feel so out of place in the organization that has recruited them.
Such employees cannot even be incentivized to perform well because they do not possess the
attributes that are necessary to do a thorough job on the work front.
1.2. Problem Statement
The literature on employee turnover talks a lot about the factors that can induce people to
leave an organization and contribute to employee turnover but it does not talk about how the
management of such organizations can avert the problem of employee turnover or how employee
turnover can be influenced or impacted by specific types of industries such as the food and
beverage industry. The specific challenges that a business organization may be faced with when
the employee turnover is high, is also not addressed with the clarity necessary. This gap is
something that is going to be addressed by the present study that is being undertaken, which is to
assess the factors that contribute to employee turnover at Union House, a thriving restaurant in
Victoria, Australia.

6
FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE TURNOVER AT UNION HOUSE
1.3. Research Aims and Objectives
This research is characterized by the following aims and objectives –
 To understand the specific factors that contribute to employee turnover
 To determine the factors that contribute to employee turnover in the food and beverage
industry
 To understand the challenges faced by business organizations in addressing the matter of
employee turnover
 To determine ways and means by which the challenge of employee turnover can be
suitably addressed by an organization, especially in the food and beverage industry
1.4. Research Questions
This study seeks to uncover answers to the following research questions –
RQ 1 – What are the specific factors that contribute to employee turnover?
RQ 2 – What are the factors that contribute to employee turnover in the food and beverage
industry?
RQ 3 – What are the challenges faced by business organizations in addressing the matter of
employee turnover?
RQ 4 – What are the ways and means by which the challenge of employee turnover can be
suitably addressed by an organization, especially in the food and beverage industry?

7
FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE TURNOVER AT UNION HOUSE
2. Review of Literature
Lee et al. (2017) have made an attempt to study how employee turnover is something that is
entirely voluntary in nature and how businesses need to take cognizance of such volition on the
part of employees in order to able to address the matter of employee turnover better than what
they are able to at present. In the view of Lee et al. (2017) the problem of employee turnover is
something that has to be sufficiently understood on the part of business owners and managers
and a particular study has to be conducted on the voluntary nature of employee turnover.
According to Lee et al. (2017) employees who are working for a firm can choose to resign from
their job positions at any given point of time, without any by or leave if the work conditions of
the organization do not happen to suit them any longer. A concerted effort in the view of Lee et
al. (2017) therefore needs to be made by businesses to understand when it is that employees are
likely to leave and why they are likely to leave, in order to be able to handle or prevent employee
turnover from taking place in a firm. In conclusion it is argued by Lee et al. (2017) that business
owners have to play a role in understanding the people who serve on the employee base of the
firm, and engage with them on a one to one basis to find out if there is a possibility of such
employees in leaving the firm any time soon.
Hom et al. (2017) have undertaken detailed scholarship on the subject of employee turnover
as and how it has taken shape and form in the last one hundred years. According to the
researchers, scholarship on the subject of employee turnover is something that is quite dated and
it is stated that up to date research needs to be conducted on employee turnover in order to gain a
better understanding of the various dimensions of employee turnover, as also the ways by which
employee turnover can be addressed. The research has been done in quite a thorough manner and

8
FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE TURNOVER AT UNION HOUSE
the language that has been used in order to present the findings of the research is quite fluent and
comprehensive, making it possible for people to understand the results of the research quite
readily and easily. It is concluded by Hom et al. (2017) that while the existing body of research
on the subject of employee turnover is decent enough, there is more work that needs to be done
in this field so that a better understanding can be arrived at on the subject of employee retention.
There are many and varied dimensions of employee behavior that need to be taken into account
when understanding how and why employee turnover takes place and the means that can be
adopted in order to keep employees from giving in their resignation at a particular organization a
bit too easily.
Li et al. (2016) has talked about the role that the management can play in preventing the
problem of employee turnover in a given organization. In the view of Li et al. (2016), a trickle
down model is one that needs to be adopted in order for the problem of employee turnover to be
adequately addressed. The research that has been carried out by Li et al. (2016) is one that has
been conducted in the context of the casino industry. In the view of Li et al. (2016) the
management of an organization can play a sufficient role in detecting the reasons why employees
leave or resign from a firm, the main causes of them moving away from the firm and the ways by
which they can make their way back to the firm. According to Li et al. (2016) if the issue of
employee turnover is to be averted, then the managers of a business need to do everything that it
takes to keep employees working in the organization by ensuring the job satisfaction of
employees, by providing them with all of the benefits that they need in order to do a good job
such as pension and income among other things. Li et al. (2016) finally argue that the trickle
down model is the need of the hour, that this is the model which needs to be put to use in order to

9
FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE TURNOVER AT UNION HOUSE
get employees to express their concerns with the management, with which to understand their
requirements and in the process retain them in the organization.
The role that the emotions of an employee can play in determining whether or not he
wants to stay on in a particular job or not is something that also needs to be considered when
analyzing the ways by which employee retention can be achieved by a business organization, as
argued by Yoon-Na Cho et al. (2016). The most important emotion in the view of the researchers
that needs to be examined in this context is the emotion of job satisfaction. This, according to the
researchers is truly an emotion that can define how long it is that an employee wishes to stay on
in the workplace. This is the emotion which serves as the deciding factor when it comes to
understanding the intentions of an employee to stay on in an organization. As argued by Yoon
Na Cho et al. (2016), by looking at the satisfaction that is experienced by employees the
management of the organization will be in a position to understand the way by which the
satisfaction of employees ought to be ensured, the type of work environment that needs to be
created for their wellbeing and the steps that need to be taken to keep employees who are
dissatisfied from leaving the organization and going to work somewhere else. This, in their view,
will contribute to better work ethics and employee retention at the organization, since employees
are going to feel motivated enough to remain at the organization.
Kim et al (2017) have analyzed how the relationship that is shared between employees
and their supervisors can have a role to play in determining employee retention and employee
turnover in a given organization. According to Kim et al. (2017), this relationship is one that
determines to a great extent the type of satisfaction that employees experience at the place of
work. If the relationship with the supervisor is a good relationship, then it is likely that the
employee will want to stay on and work for the business organization over a long period of time.

10
FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE TURNOVER AT UNION HOUSE
If the relationship with the supervisor is a negative relationship, then it is more than likely that
the employee will want to resign from the organization at the earliest. Hence the crucial factor of
relationship with supervisors is something that definitely needs to be considered if the subject of
employee retention is to be well understood. The study which has been undertaken by Kim et al.
(2017) is one that has been undertaken in the context of South Korea and it is a quantitative
analysis which has been performed by the researchers for the sake of accuracy. It is argued by
Kim et al. (2017) that the supervisors of an organization can play the vital role in getting people
to stay on in the organization and that this is a factor which needs to be taken into consideration
if people who are working in an organization are to be duly motivated to remain there for long.
The manner by which corporate social responsibility is seen to reduce employee turnover has
been studied in a significant amount of detail by Carnahan et al. (2016). Corporate social
responsibility in the view of the researchers is an important social function that is undertaken by
business organizations and the role that is played by employees in the performance of CSR is
something that has a function in boosting employee retention. According to the research that is
carried out by Carnhan et al. (2016), the experience of employees must be considered in the
widest possible sense of the term, where CSR is concerned to judge their decision to stay on in
an organization for as long as possible. Corporate social responsibility is something that gets
employees to be actively involved in social welfare measures, and which is not something that
they would otherwise be engaged in had they not been part of a business organization. Hence the
important role that is played by CSR in job satisfaction and how this in turn gets employees to
stay on and work for a business organization is something that has to be studied and researched
upon as argued by Carnhan et al. (2016) to gain a better understanding of employee retention and
the ways by which the problem of employee turnover must be addressed by engaging in more

11
FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE TURNOVER AT UNION HOUSE
CSR have in turn been mentioned in detail by the researchers for consideration by business
organizations in various parts of the world .