Employee Turnover: A Challenge to Managerial Concern with Special Reference to Educational Institutions

Employee Turnover: A Challenge to Managerial Concern with Special Reference to Educational Institutions

Romi Research Scholar,

Department of Management Studies,

Sangam University, Bhilwara, Rajasthan

the sense that in industries, there is usually no emotional

Abstract- The present study is a meta- analysis of teachers turnover in some of the CBSE schools of repute at Mathura. The impact of turnover has received a considerable attention. The researcher believes that frequent turnover of teachers leave wrong impact on their stakeholders. Competitive salary and perks, flexible working hours and an employee-friendly work-environment are considered to be some of the key factors of employee retention. In spite of availability of these key benefits at most of the schools, the turnover of teachers has emerged as a great challenge often confronted by the school management which needs to be taken care of on a serious note.

The study investigates the actual reasons behind the aforesaid issue, its negative effects and possible recommendations. The researcher plans to administer a questionnaire with both close-ended and open-ended nature and carry out a personal interaction with the subject (CBSE school teachers at Mathura) for study. Secondary data will be used to find out the established factors. The data received will be analyzed, conclusions will be drawn, and recommendations will be made on the basis of that.

It is believed that the implementation of recommendations will ultimately turn into satisfactory retention level of talented teachers, establishing the need for career growth, ensuring employee satisfaction, increase productivity, and reduce the challenges of managerial concern.

Keywords- Turnover, Employee Retention, Productivity, Employee Satisfaction

1. INTRODUCTION

   The literal meaning of the term turnover is to quit the job. Turnover of employees in the organizations has emerged as a big challenge before the management. Various researches have been conducted by scholars in different parts of the country and abroad dealing with this burning issue of employee turnover. Researches show that there are certain avoidable and unavoidable reasons why employee turnover takes place.

   The field of education is an area which associates with it students, parents, teachers and school management. The profession of a teacher is a noble profession which has the responsibility to build the future of a nation. The turnover of teachers is different from turnover in industrial sectors in

   bonding among them. Turnover of teachers in an educational institution badly affects the teaching learning process. The efforts of school management to train its teachers go in vain. Besides it creates a problematic situation before all its stakeholders. Different scholars have come up with varied opinions about it. Haycock (1998, 2000) opines, Teacher turnover is receiving increased attention in education research and policy. The focus of this attention associates the turnover problem with the shortage of high quality teachers in low-achieving schools, suggesting that teacher turnoverdue to teachers either quitting the profession or transferring to a higher performing schoolleaves low-achieving schools with the least qualified teachers. Another opinion published in Quality Counts (2003) is also in the same line where it is acknowledged that teacher turnover contributes to the teacher gapthe dearth of well-qualified teachers for those who need them most.[1]

   The problem is so common, still so burning that anyone and everyone can be seen discussing about it and its after effects. Guin and Ingersoll (2004, 2001) states, Surprisingly little research has assessed the causal effect of teacher turnover on student achievement. [2] Teachers turnover in between the session definitely affects students achievement. High rate of teacher turnover causes disruption of curricular cohesiveness too. Researches in the field have shown that there are varieties of reasons for turnover of teachers ranging from their personal issues to professional expectations. In general, teachers and especially female teachers have to face situations like pregnancy, the demands of child rearing, and health problems, etc. which can be considered to be key reasons for leaving the profession. Among the professional reasons for turnover of teachers are job dissatisfaction, poor salary, poor administrative support, etc. It is worth quoting Hanushek and Lugue (2000) here who argue, While clearly important, teachers salaries are not all that matter- they show that teacher preferences across a range of job and school conditions may be just as important as salary in the retention decision. They further say, Teachers might be willing to take lower salaries in exchange for better working conditions" [3].

   Almost all the organizations undergo the situation at one time or other. Keeping all the above discussed facts under consideration, the present research is focused to see the turnover of teachers in secondary and senior secondary level CBSE run schools at Mathura.

2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Employee turnover refers to the total number of

   employees leaving or replacing the organization. The

   turnover problem, although high for the entire teaching occupation, affects beginning teachers more than others. It is a major issue in schools seeking for proper management to decrease its rate. Richard M. Ingersoll and Thomas M. Smith (2003) write at one place, The teaching profession has always been losing many of its newly trained members early in their careers, long before the retirement years. [4] Employee Retention can be taken as counterpart of employee turnover.

3. CONTEXT OF THE PRESENT RESEARCH The researcher takes teachers of some of secondary and

   higher secondary schools of repute in Mathura on random selection basis in order to know the reasons behind turnover. The researcher, during her interaction with teachers, observed that majority of them was not motivated and enthusiastic towards their job and duties. The problem under consideration was to explore the reasons behind teachers indifference towards their duties and leaving school. The researcher also tried to know about their expectations from the school management which were not being fulfilled and ultimately resulting in their de- motivation. The researcher believes that frequent turnover of teachers leave wrong impact on their stakeholders. Competitive salary and perks, flexible working hours and an employee-friendly work-environment are considered to be some of the key factors of employee retention. In addition to these the researcher also wanted to know (1) main reasons behind the teachers frequent turnover, (2) the importance of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in order to decrease teachers turnover, and (3) if employee-friendly work-environment works to manage turnover.

   Objective

   The study is carried out with the following objectives:

   • To explore reason behind frequent teachers turnover.

   • To explore and find out techniques for employee retention.

   Data Interpretation

   Interpretation of data took place at three levels literary interpretation tabular presentation, and graphical presentation. Age group is taken first criterion to see the impact of turnover in schools. Table 1 shares the information related to the age group of respondents. A major part 63.33% (19 out of 30) of respondents in this study was under 30 years of age. It is believed that people of this age group are usually more ambitious towards their joband responsibilities. 16.66% (5) out of them were in the age group of 31-40, 13.33% (4) were in the age group of 41-50 and it was surprising to see that only 2 (6.66%) respondents were above 50.

   No. of Respondents

   Table 1. Age related information

   Age group (in years)	No. of respondents	Percentage
   Below 30	19	63.33
   31-40	5	16.66
   41-50	4	13.33
   Above 50	2	6.66

   Graph 1. Age Group of Respondents

   No. Of respondents

   20

   19

   15

   10

   5

   0

   Below 30 31-40 41-50 Above 50

   Age Group

   2

   4

   5

   Gender is a key factor responsible for teachers turnover as in comparison to male teachers; female teachers have more responsibilities towards their families e.g., child upbringing, managing household activities and many more. So, the second criterion under consideration is gender. 60%

   (18) respondents taken for this study are male and the rest 40% are female.

   Gender	No. of Respondents	Percentage
   Male	18	60
   Female	12	40

   Table 2. Gender related information

4. METHODOLOGY

   The present research is an attempt to explore the effects of teachers turnover on their stakeholders in secondary and senior secondary students of some CBSE run schools of repute in Mathura. 30 teachers from 5 different schools were taken as samples. The data were collected with the help of the questionnaire which consisted of three parts (1) Biographical information of the teachers, (2) Close ended questions with 5 scales ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree ranked in terms of 1,2,3…, and (3) Open ended question(s) so that the respondents opinions related to turnover of teachers in schools can be collected.

   Whether a myth or a reality, it is believed that married teachers are responsible, free from deviations and distractions, and always remain focused towards new job opportunities (good increment, extra perks etc). While analysing the data, it was seen that maximum no. of respondents, i.e., 22 73.33% were married and only 26.66% (08) were single. Married teachers (male and female both) are having enough responsibilities in the comparison to single teachers.

   Graph 2. Gender of the Respondents

   No. Of respondents

   Graph 3. Marital status of the Respondents

   No. Of respondents

   Male Female

   Gender

   12

   18

   20

   15

   10

   5

   0

   No. of Respondents

   No. of respondents

   Table 3. Marital status Information

   Marital Status	No. of respondents	Percentage
   Single	08	26.66
   Married	22	73.33

   20

   8

   10

   0

   Single Married

   Marital Status

   22

   30

   Fourth criterion under examination was the qualification of teachers. Maximum of respondents, i.e., 14out of 30 (46%) were post graduate. Approximately 25% of them were graduates and the same percentage was of TGTs too (7 and 7 each). It was surprising to see that only 2 (6.66%) teachers among the 30 were PGTs.

   Table 4. Qualification related information

   Graph 4. Qualification of the Respondents

   16

   14

   12

   10

   8

   6

   4

   2

   0

   No. Of respondents

   14

   Qualifications

   2

   7

   7

   No. of Respondents

   Work experience makes one more employable. It opens new opportunities. It helps an employee build useful skills for career growth. The researcher wanted to see if the teachers working with these schools are experienced or not. Special care was taken of their experience at their present workplace. It was observed that maximum 10 (33.33%) respondents were having 2-3 years work experience. The second highest number was 9 (30%) with less than 1 year at their present workplace. 6 (20%) of them with 4-5 years of experience at the present school, and the least number was 5 (16.66%) only of those with more than 5 years of experience in the current school.

   No. of working years at current school	No. of respondents	Percentage
   Less than 1 years	9	30
   2-3 years	10	33.33
   4-5 years	6	20
   More than 5 years	5	16.66

   Table 5. Work Experience of Respondents in the Current School

   Qualification	No. of respondents	Percentage
   Graduates	7	23.33
   Post Graduates	14	46.66
   TGT	7	23.33
   PGT	2	6.66

   Graph 5. Work Experience in the Current School

   No. Of respondents

   Graph 6. Reasons behind Turnover

   No. of Respondents

   Less than 2-3 years 4-5 years More 1 years than 5

   years

   No. of years

   Regular increment

   Mediclaim

   No. of Respondents

   12

   10 15

   5

   5

   5

   1

   3

   0

   Alternative job Discrimination

   Working condition Location of work Relationship with Excess work load

   Lack of career

   Salary

   0

   4

   2

   0

   5

   6

   6

   8

   9

   10

   10

   12

   No. of respondents

   Reasons behind Turnover

   Table 6 gives the details of reasons why school teachers leave their jobs. Attempt was also to see these reasons according to their priority. The researcher is of the opinion that salary, lack of career advancement opportunities, excess of workload, teachers relationship with their colleagues, location of workplace, working condition, gender discrimination, alternative job opportunities, etc. could be some of the reasons of behind it. The data in the following table show that salary is the most important factor for 12 out of 30 why teachers plan to switch to some other place. The most important reason as per data is lack of career advancement opportunities and excess workload. 5 respondents for each of the two considered it responsible for turnover. The next reason under priority was working condition. Other reasons were also there, but that can be ignored.

   The next question placed before the respondents deals with their expectations from school management so that retention of teachers can be maintained. It was observed that 11 (36.66%) teachers expect that they should be given competitive salary and perks. 6 (20%) of them expect that the work-environment should be teacher-friendly. 5 of them expect that there should be fair provision of leave. 3 of the teachers demanded regular increment and the same number of teachers want performance appraisal system so that their contribution could get recognition. 2 of them also expect for medi-claim policies. Overall, the school management needs to pay attention to salary and perks, a suitable work environment and provisions of leave.

   2

   6

   Employee-friendly work-environment

   5

   Flexble provision of leave

   11

   Competitive salary and perks

   No. of Respondents

   Expectations of Teachers for Retention

   Table 7. Expectations of Teachers

   –

   Any other

   3

   Performance appraisal

   3

   15

   10

   5

   11

   5

   6

   2

   3

   3

   0

   Any other Performance appraisal Regular increment

   Mediclaim Employee-friendly Flexible provision Competitive salary

   0

   Graph 7. Teachers' Expectations

   No. of Respondents

   Teachers' Expectations

   Table 6. Reasons of leaving jobs

   Reasons for leaving the job	No. of Respondents
   Salary	12
   Lack of career advancement opportunities	5
   Excess work load	5
   Relationship with other colleagues	1
   Location of work place
   Working condition	3
   Discrimination	–
   Alternative job opportunities
   Others	1

   No. of Respondents

   Analysis of open-ended questions

   Opinions of respondents were invited in form of open- ended questions. The aim was to know how teachers turnover can be checked. 7 respondents said that promotion can check teachers turnover whereas 12 said that salary with incentive will work to decrease the rate of turnover. 8 of them said that motivation can decrease turnover whereas 2 said that there should be direct communication between teachers and top management. They believe that the real problem is not brought into the notice of the top management when mediators in the channel such as vice principal, coordinators, etc. are involved in it.

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Teachers frequent turnover is among the biggest challenge faced by any school management. Behind inadequate performance of schools, is teachers turnover can be considered to be the pivotal reason. Teachers are the backbone of the school specially skilled and trained teachers. The frequent turnover of teachers makes management system haphazard. The management spends lots of money in order to advertise the vacant positions. They invest their energy in mentoring and training new teachers. All this can be utilized in proper direction if the following things are taken care of:

• Majority of teachers switch their job due to incompetent salary. Some teachers leave school because of excess burden of work.

• In response to whether their expectations were met after joining the school 15 respondents out of 30 showed their agreement, 11 of them expressed their disagreement or strong disagreement whereas 4 of them did not respond.

• While asked if the training programme offered by their school were among the key reasons to join, only 4 showed their agreement or strong agreement. The rest 26 expressed their strong disagreement. It is suggestive of the fact that at very few schools training programme is an attraction for teachers to join it.

• In response if the external pressure is the reason of teachers turnover, 16 teachers did not show any agreement or disagreement 3 showed their agreement whereas 11 showed their disagreement. It suggests that external pressure is not a key reason of teachers turnover.

• The data suggests that 22 teachers agreed that the work environment at their school is satisfactory, 1 did not respond whereas 7 did not consider the work environment to be satisfactory. A satisfactory work environment can be a key factor for retention of teachers.

• Almost 90% of the teachers agreed that the working hours of their schools are satisfactory.

• 19 (approx 65%) teachers admitted that they felt stressed at work. The rest 11 showed their disagreement. However the question was close ended in nature, the reason of being stressed could not be traced out, and it is a matter of concern for the school management.

• 26 (approx 85%) teachers were observed to be happy with the nature of their work. 23 teachers agreed that they feel their job is insecure.

Finding and Suggestions

The analysis suggests that lack of competitive salary and perks is one of the major reasons behind teachers turnover in schools. It is suggested that the school management should provide perks and incentives to deserving teachers time to time. It will make them feel motivated. This motivation may result in better performance of teachers. Teachers below 30 years of age are more energetic and ambitious towards their job. They can be provided with proper training for a better productivity and outcome. Besides, the management intrinsic motivation can also be given to the teachers such as appreciation, promotion and participation which will decrease turnover of teachers as they will get motivated. It is hoped that implementation of these suggestion may help the school teachers get more equipped and skilled and at the same time teachers turnover can be checked to a great extent.

REFERENCES

1. Quality Counts (2003). Educational policy analysis archives, Published by Arizona State University. University of South Florida [Online] http://digital.lib.usf.edu/SFS0024511/00439

2. Guin, K. (2004). Chronic teacher turnover in urban elementary schools. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, , Vol. 12, No. 42, 1-25; Ingersoll, R. (2001). Teacher turnover and teacher shortages: An organizational analysis. American Educational Research Journal , Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 499-534 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3102/0002831212463813

3. Hanushek, Eric A., and J. A. Luque. 2000. Smaller classes, lower salaries? The effects of class size on teacher labor markets." In Using what we know: A review of the research on implementing class-size reduction initiatives for state and local policymakers, edited by Sabrina W.M. Laine and James G. Ward. Oak Brook, Il.: North Central Regional Educational Laboratory:35-51. http://www.ncef.org/pubs/teacherretention.pdf

4. Richard M. Ingersoll and Thomas M. Smith (2003). The Wrong Solution to the Teacher Shortage [online] http://www.gse.upenn.edu/pdf/rmi/EL_TheWrongSolution_to_theTe acherShortage.pdf