RESEARCH ON BEST PRACTICES FOR IMPROVING EMPLOYEE RETENTION IN STEEL INDUSTRY

Introduction:

Human resource is the backbone of development for any organization. Employees play the key roles to drive a company effective, innovative and productive.? Separation of any effective employee is loss for an organization from the angle of company productivity and organization’s image could be damaged due to high attrition rate. If any organization take the employees as granted and behave like commodities, then the rate of attrition increases. All the employees are valuable assets for any organization and they must be treated with respect.? ?Employee retention in steel industry has become very important for organizations aiming for long-term success in the current, fiercely competitive business environment. Retaining talented and skilled employees is particularly vital in industries where the demand for specialized labour is intense. Skilled & semi-skilled manpower for steel industry are very limited in market and costs new hiring are also sometimes beyond the recruitment budget.?

Literature Review:

This study is to figure out the problems of high attrition rate in a select steel industry in West Bengal and identify the root cause of this problem. Also, it will help to find out alternative retention strategies which may be more effective and will help to reduce the attrition rate of employee. This research study has implied on one unit of JIL(Howrah) but it an be adhere for other manufacturing industry to improve the current employee retention practices. The research literature review is to know the employee retention strategies followed by the Jindal India Limited Jangalpur plant also, to find out the key factors to reduce the attrition rate. This review section will also help to showcase various aspects of Employee Retention Strategies and Retention Methodology which is being used in currently in JIL.

The smooth matching between recruitment and the company is very much affective to retain a potential employee in organization (Denton, 1992).

Engagement, recognition and importance of employee for work and career advancement opportunities are all important, when dealing with employee retention (Marx, 1995).

Growth opportunities which were offered by the employers are reduced due to turnover intentions of employees because the lack of training and promotional opportunities was the main cause for high-performers to leave the company (Allen, Shore & Griffeth, 2003; Steel et al., 2002).

Limitations:

All the employees are not focused to develop themselves with the organization. Therefore, they become burden for his organization. They can’t be a valuable asset for the organization and it can badly affect to that organization. A thoughtful and well-managed retention strategy can overcome this issue. In this policy, management can introduce specific strategies to retain good employees.

Other major restriction of this study is that survey made for this is in only for one plant of JIL i.e. Jangalpur Unit (Howrah) which is only one unit of JIL. Hence the outcomes of this study may not give clear picture of whole organization.

Methodology:

The research methodology for this proposal will involve a mixed-method approach. Primary and secondary data sources will be among the present employees of a steel company and going to collect a sample of 100 responses from this company. This will include both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis method.

Research Approach:

This approach is the methodological compass that directs our entire research endeavor, shaping the way we frame, investigate, and ultimately address the research question.

Employee Retention is a challenging part for the company. This study is to identify the loop-holes in current employee retention strategies. Employees are valuable assets for any company. To retain skilled and potential employees in the company, top management should make strategy to maintain the employee satisfaction.

Research Strategy:

1. Survey-based study

2. Avenues for Qualitative Insights: The Open-Ended Questionnaire

3. Purposive Sampling: A Thoughtful Selection Process Survey-Based Study

4. Balancing Quantitative & Qualitative Data: A Historic Approach

Collection of data:

This research is planned to collect the data set of primary as well as secondary. The primary data is the data which is collected from the mid-level and junior level employees of Jindal India Limited exclusively and reviewed for the study purpose (from Jangalpur Unit plant of Jindal India Limited,2023). On the other hand, the secondary data has been collected from same resource and is preserved for the study.

Survey Results/Outcomes:

Current Strategies:

Strength ->

1. The company has a very strong work culture and employees can ? work here with full potential.

2. The company environment is satisfactory to work comfortably.

3. Employees primarily satisfied to recommend his friend/known ? person to this company.

4. Employees get enough necessary tools to perform their jobs.

5. Employees get feel the value for the work they do.

Weakness ->

1. The management does not any practice to identify the best ? performing employees in the company.

2. Employees do not get enough appreciation from management or ? guidance from seniors.

3. The job security & motivation from seniors also not up to the mark.

4. The process of employee promotion and salary hike is also not ? very much acceptable to the employees.

5. The employees are stressed out with the over workload for heavy ? duty hours and lac of holidays. It impacted on the work and the life ? balance of employees.

6. The employees not frequently get the appreciation from ? Management and senior management for their well performance.

Strategies for improvement Employee Retention:

1.? JIL should create an employee committee and allow them to give ? suggestions that will allow the company to alternate the current work ? environment.

2. The company should lay down the duty hours or make sure of mandatory ? weekly-offs for each employee to take place; this will break the ? monotonous cycle and the employees will enjoy their work place.

3. The company should introduce the proper training calendar for each newly ? joined employee and make sure that each one must go through this ? process before starting their work.

4. Proper plant induction of each employee is also very necessary.

5. Easier approaches for doing the work and continuous motivation from ? seniors may increase the productivity of employee.

6. The performance-based appraisal policy is an important point of the ? improvements work culture, this will benefit all the stakeholders and allow ? the company to find out the best performing employees. PMS based ? promotion and competitive salary hike based upon the performance should be introduced, this may also reduce the attrition rate.

Future scope of work:

1.Major limitation of this study is that survey conducted by this study in only valid to one unit of JIL i.e. Jangalpur Unit (Howrah) which is only one plant of JIL. Hence the finding of this study should not be generalized to all other plants of JIL.

2. The research does not capture the full range of employee perspectives on retention strategies. Individual experiences and perceptions of employees can vary, and their feedback and insights does not fully represent in the research findings.

3. This study only stated the requirement for steady retention strategies in organization i.e. Jindal India Ltd. Data was collected in three phases in the year 2023. It may conclude that wage cuts had a detrimental and persistent impact on performance whereas wage raise did not result in any productivity gains.

Recommendations:

1.?Competitive Compensation Packages:

Companies should work on the compensation packages for employees to address their specific needs and preferences. This could include providing flexible healthcare coverage, and mental health support to promote well-being and work-life balance.

2. Performance based reward policy:

The management need to start practice to identify the best performing employees in the company. Quarterly rewards program needs to be conducted among the employee to boost their motivation. Employees should get enough appreciation from management or guidance from seniors.

3. Revised work calendar:

The employees are overloaded with the extra works due to heavy duty hours and lac of holidays & week-offs. This effects on the work and the life balance they have. Management needs to restructure the work schedule of plant worker and also need to revise the alternative week-off policy so that the employees get enough time to get themselves refreshed for work.

Conclusion:

This research finds out the need for steady and planned retention strategies in organizations i.e. in JIL. It is in consideration that the competitive environment that is reality by globalization. In JIL employee turnover is inferred from the impacts associated with employees, which indicates the unorganized traditional retention policies in JIL. The study however, proposes that JIL should maintain certain planned and structured employee retention strategies such as, establishment of proper retention plan, provide growth opportunities with the organization and independent to take decision-making process, personalized rewards plan, better career growth, adequate induction training and development program.