Managing People in Innovation: Reducing Employee Turnover at Ryanair

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Managing People in Innovation
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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................3
2.0 Explanation of why businesses might have high turnover rates................................................4
3.0 Examination of realistic ways to improve the motivation of a business’s workforce...............4
4.0 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................5
Reference List..................................................................................................................................6

1.0 Introduction
The report will include the reasons behind businesses having high labour turnover rates covered
within the aviation industry by specifying the example of Ryanair, which is a low-cost airlines
carrier of UK. A proper demonstration of the leadership styles required to motivate the
workforce by adhering to realistic ways will be discussed within the report. The different
methods and steps followed by the organizations in the aviation industry to boost the morale of
their workforce will be covered in the report.

2.0 Explanation of why businesses might have high turnover rates.
Employee turnover Rate
According to Storey (2016), the employee turnover rate is the number of employees who tend to
leave the organization where they are working within a specific time period. Employee turnover
rate comprises of the two categories of separation such as voluntary and involuntary separation.
Employee turnover rate is on the higher side in numerous industries and is a natural thing to
happen within an organization. Employee turnover occurs when the employees get demotivated
and do not feel the urge to work for the organization as they have been working for long in the
organization.
Reasons for businesses having high turnover rates
Businesses tend to have high turnover rates because of different factors. According to Sadgrove
(2016), employee turnover is a natural occurrence within different organizations and is initiated
by the various different factors influencing the operational activities within the organizations.
Recruiting numerous entry-level employees within the organizations does not help the cause of
the organizations as they face employee turnover within the organization (The Guardian.2015).
Recruiting the newcomers within the organization and providing them constant motivation is not
an easy thing to do and requires stable decision making by the management. According to
Argyris (2017), the organizations need to utilise the modern and advanced technologies in
introducing training methods for the employees which would prove to be beneficial to boost the
morale of the rest of the employees.
The aviation industry suffers from high turnover rates. Ryanair is an organization pertaining to
the aviation industry which faces the problem of employee turnover when the organization faces
problems in their business operations due to lack of business prospects during the off-season
when only a few passengers avail their services. Due to this reason, the low-cost airline's carrier
conducting its business operations in the UK has to forcibly reduce the salary of its employees
and employee turnover rate within the organization increases. Employee turnover also takes
place due to the management’s high handedness being exhibited towards their employees which
reduces the morale of the employees working in the organization. Employee turnover rate is on

the higher side if the organization fails to provide the desired motivation or the boost to its
employees in executing the various important operational tasks and activities going on within the
organization.
Ryanair also faces a high employee turnover rate within their organization as the employees who
work within Ryanair get opportunities to work in much-established organizations that would pay
them a considerable sum of money. According to Trevino and Nelson (2016), lack of support,
appreciation and motivation within the organization also makes the employees leave their jobs
and opt for more prospective jobs where they will be valued and will get the proper recognition
to execute their operational activities and tasks smoothly and efficiently. The relationships of the
employees with their managers in the organizations tend to degrade and the employees decide to
leave the organizations. The tax benefits are lowered in the aviation sector and this results in the
employees leaving their jobs to engage in jobs provided by other reputed organizations. The
labour unions of Ryanair are very much active and they look after the different activities of the
organizations as well manage their human resources in a smooth and efficient manner.
According to Bôto (2017), in the recent past, in the month of July 2018, the Ryanair airlines
faced massive losses around 20% in the first quarter of the year 2018 and the employees do not
get the necessary confidence to work for the betterment of the organization. The pilots get
involved in a strike by being a part of the labour union associated with Ryanair. The employees
tend to lose their jobs as they do not get the motivation from the management of Ryanair and
they are paid less by the management. The management of Ryanair could not manage the
grievance of the employees as they could not assess the demands of the employees and could not
identify the reasons why the employees were protesting. The management was not ready to
accept the demands of their employees and they felt that the costs of the staffs increased to more
than 30% and the flight hours were increased to more than 5% and the 3% per cent increase for
their staffs. The strikes of the employees were frequent and the organization did not pay any
heed to it. This led to massive employee turnover in the organization.

3.0 Examination of realistic ways to improve the motivation of a business’s workforce.
The autocratic leadership style followed within Ryanair tends to affect the morale of the
employees and employee turnover is on the rise. According to Blanchard (2018), the
organization needs to implement the effective strategies to change their leadership style to
transformational and democratic leadership styles within their organizations to effectively
execute the operational tasks and activities of the organizations. According to Western (2019),
transformational leadership style followed within the Ryanair organization will help the leaders
to react in accordance with the requirements of the situations or circumstances which exist within
the organizations. Employee motivation can be provided in realistic ways by the management of
Ryanair organization.
By applying proper leadership and motivational theories within their functioning, the leaders of
the organization tend to apply them within Ryanair so that the management of the Company can
adopt certain specific practices to develop employee engagement within the organization.
According to Western (2019), engagement with the employees in Ryanair by the leaders will
help them to acquire the much-needed confidence which will propel them to work for the
betterment of the organization in future. Conducting their business operations within the aviation
sector, Ryanair tends to adopt strategies to change their leadership style to transformational
leadership style so that the leaders can handle different situations arising within Ryanair. The
transformational leadership style followed within the execution of different operations helps the
strategies to be executed properly within the organization.
Maslow’s motivational theory is applied by the management of Ryanair to provide motivation to
their employees. The different steps included in providing motivation to the employees of
Ryanair by adhering to the theory of motivation are as follows:
Step 1: Physiological needs of the staffs of Ryanair are looked after and they need to be
redressed. The wages of the employees being reduced and the employees being forced to work
for the long duration within the organization tend to have an impact upon the morale of the
organization.

Step 2: Safety needs of the employees who are working for Ryanair needs to be addressed. Most
of the recruitments in the organization Ryanair take place with the help of outsourcing done with
the help of other agencies. Outsourcing might bring flexibility to the Ryanair organization but it
has a negative impact on the job security of the employees.
Step 3: Social needs of the employees working for Ryanair is addressed and the existence of a
good workplace culture helps the employees to maintain a good rapport and relationship with
their colleagues and the special bonding shared within the colleagues tend to maintain a
collaborative attitude with the peers and colleagues. Thus, the social needs of the employees are
fulfilled by the organization.
Step 4: Esteem needs of the employees are fulfilled within the organization by offering them the
specific incentives and bonuses by the leaders of Ryanair. The employees gain much-needed
confidence and the motivation to implement the necessary activities of the organization after
getting the basic performance appraisal from the organization. Certain commissions are paid to
the crew who render their service to the passengers in flights.
Step 5: Self Actualization needs require to be fulfilled by the management of Ryanair and they
adopt the practices which help in doing this. According to the research being conducted of all the
airline's Companies in accordance to the needs of self-actualization, Ryanair had the best
prospects of a promotion being followed considering all the companies of the aviation sector
(Abepro.org.br.2019). Ryanair thus keeps in mind the fact of satisfying and motivating the
employees by valuing them and providing them with benefits of a promotion in the ranks.

Figure 1: Maslow’s motivational theory practised in Ryanair
(Source: simplypsychology.org)

4.0 Conclusion
The assignment concluded and it covered the problem issue of employee turnover which is
recurrent in different organizations. The assignment laid stress upon the Ryanair organization of
the aviation sector and identified the reasons behind employee turnover in the Ryanair
organization. Different and realistic ways and methods will be followed in the Ryanair
organization to help them to boost and motivate the workforce. The leadership style within the
Ryanair organization to be followed was the transformational style of leadership and by applying
the Maslow's motivational theory; the employees were boosted within the organization.

Reference List
Abepro.org.br. (2019). [online] Available at:
http://www.abepro.org.br/biblioteca/TN_STO_233_362_28909.pdf [Accessed 17 Apr. 2019].
Argyris, C., 2017. Integrating the Individual and the Organization. Routledge.
Blanchard, K., 2018. Leading at a higher level: Blanchard on leadership and creating high
performing organizations. FT Press.
Bôto, R.F.N., 2017. Equity research-Ryanair Holdings Plc(Doctoral dissertation, Instituto
Superior de Economia e Gestão).
Sadgrove, K., 2016. The complete guide to business risk management. Routledge.
Storey, D.J., 2016. Understanding the small business sector. Routledge.
The Guardian. (2015). The three biggest reasons staff leave. [online] Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2015/may/06/reasons-staff-leave-business-
employees [Accessed 17 Apr. 2019].
Trevino, L.K. and Nelson, K.A., 2016. Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do
it right. John Wiley & Sons.
Western, S., 2019. Leadership: A critical text. SAGE Publications Limited.