Employee Engagement and Retention at Philips Trust Corporation

72 Pages
Published On: 06-11-2023

Acknowledgement

There are several people that I would like to thank who helped me throughout the process of this research
Firstly, I would like to thank my husband, Stephen Jones who has supported me throughout the entire course but also has really assisted me in this module.
Thanks to Kay Collins and Paul Niland (PTC Directors) for giving me the opportunity to embark in this program and for all the help and understanding throughout the different assignments especially with this one.
I would also like to thank 2 people that have been key since day one, Michelle Mountford and John Yates.
Michelle has been an absolute rock to me, and I could not thank her enough for being there for me since day one, I have made a friend for life.
I would also like to mention some other fellow students Vicky Williamson, Steve Lamont and Fran Mulcahy.
A final thank you goes to my mother in law Aileen Jones, amazing woman, her patience and understanding have been incredible when looking after my 2 girls when I needed to go to my lectures or needed to do some study.

Executive Summary

This report provides an analysis and evaluation of the current engagement and retention practices at Philips Trust Corporation (PTC) with the objective to identify reason for high staff turnover at senior management level.

This report has been written from an outside-in perspective and showcases views on the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation together with any associated threats and concerns.

The methods of analysis include primary and secondary data such as employee survey, focus groups and evaluation of exit interviews. All data can be found in the appendices.

Results of data analysed show that the organisation has some work to do in order to become properly a well-run establishment, however, none of this is insurmountable.

The report finds the prospects of the company in its current position are not positive. The major areas of weakness found in the investigation and needs remedial action by management are:

Company strategy with shared values
Employee communication
Engagement practices

Recommendations discussed include:

Strategy: Go back to basics and outline the strategy. Why are you doing what you’re doing? The Value Disciplines Model by Treacy-Wiersema was recommended

Improve Employee communication: effective approach to internal communication will be cohesive and strategic and support a culture of trust and openness which will enable two-way relationships between people and the organisation.

Implementation of an employee engagement program with emphasis on Learning and Development, empowerment strategies and enhancement of psychological contract

The report also investigates the fact that the analysis conducted has limitations. Some of the limitations include:

Covid 19, the implications with time constraints and research requirements. Furthermore, the sample size was small; only 10 participants. However, to in order to gain further and more accurate data, exit interviews were also examined.

1. INTRODUCTION

Philips Trust Corporation Ltd (PTC) was incorporated on the 6th of December 2017. The board is made up of one Trustee and 3 directors.

The purpose of the business is about family asset protection trust and investments. Business revenues for 2018 were £34 million, and this represents a year of record growth for the organisation.

Based in Salford and employing over 80 legal associates across the UK, the workforce is mainly dominated by millennial. The self-employed consultants involved are on average age of 45 years plus.

PTC has a strong equality policy in place; 60% of the workforces are women and 40% are men covering both groups (permanent staff and self-employed consultants).

With regards to staff turnover, PTC currently faces a significant challenge at senior management level, which has proved to be costly, particularly in a small business-like PTC.

Chruden (1980), Testa (2008) in their studies have found that, high turnover rates of skilled professionals can pose as a risk to the business or organisation, due to lack of human capital management (such as skills, training and knowledge). Notably, given the natural specialisation of skilled professionals, these employees are likely to be reemployed within the same industry by a competitor.

1.1 Rationale

Whilst PTC has a strong financial stability, the company is not well known yet within the industry. PTC operates within a very niche and competitive market where skill shortages are prevalent. Retaining the talent pool has been a challenge since the inception of the company.

In December 2018 PTC performed an Employee Engagement Survey, the highlights being: a response rate of 65.3%; 45 employees completed the survey of which only 27.8% were “often or always satisfied at work”

Employee turnover from 2018-2019 at senior management level was 39%; 41% of leavers had less than 1 year of service and the time invested in recruitment per role was approximately 3 months. In contrast 2019 average turnover rates in the UK by legal staff according to Xpert HR was 12.4% (Testa, 2008).

PTC invested over £18,000in 2019in recruitment fees specifically for the recruitment of senior managers. The average salary of a manager is £48,000 plus commission. This salary is competitive in the industry; however the number of managers leaving has continued to rise.

As the company continues to grow the board of directors recognise that it is essential to improve employee engagement and retention if the company is to remain competitive within the marketplace.

1.2 Aim& Objectives

The aim of this research is to crtitically evaluate the reasons for poor employee engagement and retention at senior management level and make recommendations for improvement.

The main objectives are:

1) Critically analyse and discuss existing literature and contemporary HR policy & practice relevant to engagement, job satisfaction and the link to retention of senior managers.
2) Investigate and analyse engagement, turnover and retention data within the senior management level in order to identify trends.
3) Analyse through primary research senior manager views on current engagement and retention practices at PTC.
4) Draw conclusions and evaluate options to improve retention, proposing costed solutions and a proposed plan of implementation.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

The literature review is effective to identify in-depth knowledge and understanding about the employee engagement and retention policies through which the leaders try to retain strong and experience employees for the benefits of the organisations. The theories and models of employee engagement and retention are effective for the researcher to conduct the research and fulfil its above mentioned aim and objectives, where gathering the theories and models related to employees engagement and retention strategies will be helpful for the researcher to maximise skill and knowledge for further analysis and evaluation.

2.1 Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is important for the organisations in the recent era of globalisation to manage the staff members and maintain diverse workforce for better activities and organisational performance. The leaders try to be fully engaged with all the employees in order to develop suitable working atmosphere as well as maximise strong bonding in the workplace. It is the responsibility of the leaders to manage the employees and engage them in the workplace in order to maximise their values and improve their interest to work efficiently in meeting the organisational aim and objectives. As opined by Terera and Ngirande (2014), the employees are the major stakeholders of the organisations to achieve organisational objectives in long run, where the leader and senior management team try to handle the staff members and continuously improve their performance in long run. There are several drivers of employee’s engagement through which the leaders can improve collaboration and engage all the staff members in the organisation.

Figure 1: Drivers of Employee Engagement

As stated by Tarique and Schuler (2010), quality of work is one of the drivers of employee engagement where job security, safety of the employees and work life balance are mandatory for the staff for successful retention and engaging them in the workplace. The leaders try to develop suitable organisational culture for engaging the employees and provide them job security and safety at the workplace for managing them and ensuring values creation for all the staff members. On the other hand, the working practice plays a crucial role where the leaders try to empower all the employees in the organisational decision making behaviour as well as give autonomy and freedom to share their opinion in the workplace. Sense of accomplishment must be maximised at the workplace for successful employee engagement which further helps the staff members to feel valued at the workplace and their interest would be maximised to perform better with their capabilities. The tasks are distributed efficiently among the employees according to their educational background, skill set and capabilities and this is also an important factor for employee engagement, where the leaders share clear roles and responsibilities of each member in the workplace. This is also effective for the leader to engage each employees and building strong corporate relationship with them (Schaufeli et al., 2002).

People management is another factor which has crucial impacts on the employee engagement and in this context, the leadership skills are necessary for managing the employees at the workplace. According to Shuck and Wollard (2010), the leaders must follow the organisational ethical practice and include all the staff in the working activities. The leaders try to manage transiency and accountability in the workplace as well as respect each member. Giving equal opportunity to each employee as well as maximising internal communication and collaboration is effective strategic planning of the leaders to engage with each staff members and create values for them. High communication and collaborative practice at the workplace help to develop strong corporate relationship as well as maximise trust and loyalty among the employees. This is also playing an important role to engage all the staff and manages them efficiently in the workplace. The organisational leaders also try to improve supervision quality to monitor the performance of the staff and rather than criticising their tasks, the leaders try to encourage them and direct them with proper information and strategy so that the performance would be improved in long run. The employees are interested with such supervision quality and cooperation of the leader for maximising their performance where the employees try to be efficient in managing their performance in long run. As stated by Nabi, Atimed and Rahman (2017), career opportunity and the developmental scope at the organisation are other drivers in managing employee engagement in the workplace. The leaders try to arrange different training and development program for providing the chance of personal and professional development to the employees. This is also considered as motivation factor which increases the interest of the staff and helps them to be engaged in the workplace for better performance management. Hence, career developmental scope is beneficial for the leaders to engage the employees and give them effective support and direction for better career and maximising their performance.

In addition to the above drivers, rewards program is another driver which helps the employees to be engaged with the organisational activities and get motivated in the workplace. The monetary incentives, structured salary as well as the benefits and recognition are beneficial for the leader to motivate the employees and improve engagement with them for long run. According to Khan and Aleem (2014), the company practice is another major driver to engage the staff members and retain them for long run. The company practices such as diversity management, inclusion of all the employees, high communication, and performance management, enabling strong organisational infrastructure as well as high performance management, innovation and creativity are the major strategies of the leader to build strong corporate relationship with the employees and retain them for long run. The organisational practice of inclusion and diversity are effective for managing cultural diversity and develop relationship and bonding with the staff members. The leaders try to treat all the employees equally irrespective of their age, gender, skill set, cultural background and language gap. The leaders also try to develop partnership working practice where all the employees are included and embowered for sharing their experience and knowledge and work together for achieving the organisational objectives. This working practice is also inspirational which further provides a scope to the leader to engage with each member and improve trust and loyalty among them.

2.2 Ways to engage Senior Managers

It is mandatory for the leaders to enhance all the senior managers in the organisation, which provides a scope to the leader to develop strong team and achieve organisational success in long run. In this regard, the leaders try to set effective mission of the firm and share the mission and strategy with all the senior managers. The leaders also try to influence the management team to take active part in the organisational activities so that they can share their perception efficiently. The leaders try to empower each senior member to influence their decisions and help them to share their experience and knowledge in making appropriate organisational decision. As opined by Wallace and Trinka (2009), for engaging the senior team members, the leaders also improve engagement and develop strong relationship with them through discussion, open interaction and communication. High interactive behaviour, open discussion, arranging meeting with the senior managers as well as the sharing their thoughts are the major activities through which the leaders try to engage them and retain them for long run. The leaders also coordinate with them and give them freedom to choose working hours and maintain harmony in working efficiently (Weick and Quinn, 1999). Flexibility is the strategy through which the leaders can engage with the senior members and on the other hand, the leaders focus on promotional activities and recognition for the senior managers so that they can be motivated and concentrate on their roles and responsibilities in the workplace efficiently.

2.3 Impacts of employee’s engagement on the organisation

According to Todnem (2005), employee’s engagement is fruitful for the organisations, employees and also for the leaders. High employee engagement provides a scope to the leaders to retain the employees in long run and create values for them. Continuous improvement of their performance as well as motivate them for long run so that the employees perform better and get encouraged to show their innovation and creativity for better performance (Ghadi, Fernando and Caputi, 2013). Hence, the leaders can encourage the staff and lead them towards achieving success through employee engagement management. According to Gerst (2013), the employee engagement is also beneficial or the staff members in the workplace, where the company policy and practice are effective to create values for them and improve their motivation in long run. The employees get personal and professional developmental scope for better career growth. As stated by Wiley (2010), the employees also get better incentives and monetary rewards as well as other non-monetary rewards to get encouraged and perform under safe environment. Hence, the employee engagement is advantageous for both the leaders and the employees in long run to maximise the performance and achieve future success. On the other hand, as stated by Carasco-Saul, Kim and Kim (2015), the employee engagement strategies in the organisations are beneficial for the organisations to maximise the overall performance as well as establish the business efficiently. Innovation and creativity of the organisations are also enhanced where the firms are able to achieve future success in a unique way. The organisations can fulfil its aim and objectives and secure future sustainable development by retaining the experienced staff and improving engagement with them. On the other hand, it is also possible for the organisations to gain high competitive advantage in the market and secure future sustainable development in long run (Johnson, et al., 2011).

2.4 Employee Retention

As opined by Govaerts, Kyndt, Dochy and Baert (2011), employee retention is the strategic planning of the human resource department of the organisations, where it is mandatory to retain and recruit the employees for the benefits of the organisations. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and the Herzberg’s two factors theory is the major model of employee retention through which it is possible to strategies the human resource management tactics of the organisations. As opined by Kahn (1990), Maslow’s hierarchy of needs refers to five major needs of the employees where the leaders are responsible to maximise the requirements of the staff and satisfy them in the organisational workplace for successful retention of the experienced employees.

According to Das and Baruah (2013), the five needs are physiological, safety and security, love and belonging, self esteem and self actualisation. For successful retention, it is mandatory for the leaders to fulfil the needs and create values for the employees. The leader try to develop structured salary and performance related pay so that the basic needs of the staff members can be fulfilled which are breathing, food, shelter, water and clothing (Jaaskelainen, 2011). Safety and security needs to be managed through providing job security, safe environment to work in the organisational workplace, social stability, health and employment. As stated by Guthridge, Komm and Lawson (2008), the leaders try to develop strong relationship at the workplace to fulfil the need of love and belongingness so that the employees are engaged to each other and maximise their values in the workplace. Self esteem and self actualisation needs fulfilment are also effective to retain the staff and engage them in long run. According to Ishigaki (2004), the leaders try to improve confidence, respect each members, manage recognition and morality, fulfilling commitment towards the employees for successful retention of the experienced staff members.

As opined by Cosack, Guthridge and Lawson (2010), Herzberg’s two factors theory is also effective to retain the employees and identify the factors through which the leaders would be able to strengthen their employee base. There are motivational hygiene factors through which employee retention can be possible. The motivational factors such as achievement and recognition, responsibility at the workplace, working condition, advancement and the scope for personal growth are effective to retain the employees and create values for them. The motivational factors further encourage the employees and give them suitable working environment for better performance. On the other hand, the hygienic factors are such as working condition, co-workers relations, company policy and practice, supervisor quality and base wage and salary. As opined by Azeez (2017), these are effective to retain the employees in long run., the leaders try to retain the employees an senior managers by restricting their base wage and salary, arranging performance related pay and other incentives and promotions so that it is possible to encourage them and retaining them for long run. Additionally, As opined by Gberevbie (2010), the leaders try to maintain safety and security by giving suitable working condition, supervisor quality where the employees are motivated to work with full capabilities and get engaged with the workplace activities (Ashton and Morton, 2005). These are the major strategies of the leaders to manage the employees and retain them for long run.

2.5 Employees’ Job Satisfaction and its Effect on their Retention

According to Anyim, Ikemefuna and Mbah (2011), employee job satisfaction is mandatory for the organisational leader to retain them for long run. Through giving monetary and non-monetary incentives and rewards, it is possible for the leader to engage all the employees and satisfy them in the organisational workplace. The organisational leaders are also efficient to manage the staff members and retain them in long run and thus the employee job satisfaction has positive impacts on the employee retention. Higher job satisfaction is effective for the corporate leaders to motivate the staff and retain them for long run. Strong employee base can be managed through providing job satisfaction and the staff members are motivated to perform with their full potential (Byrne and Kiersch, 2014). Hence, job satisfaction maximises the organisational performance by enhancing the creativity and innovation of the employees. Job satisfaction is also beneficial for the leaders to lead the employees towards achieving future success through change management, resolve the organisational issues and develop strong bonding and team work in the workplace. Job satisfaction is also advantageous for the leaders to recruit and retain experienced staff for better team building activities and managing the overall performance. Hence, According to Benn, et al. (2014), the organisations in the recent era of globalisation focus on effective human resource management to motivate the employees and ensure job satisfaction in long run so that it would be possible for the corporate firms to encourage the creativity of the members and ensure high quality performance for achieving future success. Suitable practice and organisational policies as well as internal organisational culture are helpful for maximising job satisfaction which further provides a scope to the corporate firms to fulfil its aim and objectives and run the business efficiently.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The methods that have been used are a mix method of primary and secondary data. The mixed method approach combines both qualitative and quantitative data (Collins and Hussey, 2009).

Smooth and efficient conduction of scientific research requires a procedure according to pre-determined steps to obtain the most valuable cognitive effects of the research.

Mixed methods were deemed most suitable for this report to better gain an understanding of how engagement practices have been negatively impacting retention levels at PTC.

3.1 Data Collection

The information gathered at source was primary data, according to Avasarikar (2007), “It is the data collected for a specific purpose or for particular objectives. It is customised according the requirements of the researcher. It exclusively focuses on current research problem. Primary data are collected for the first time.

As per Kotler et al. (2008), “Secondary data is information that already exists somewhere, having been collected for another purpose.” Secondary data is the data that has been already collected by and readily available from other sources.

3.2 Data Collection and tool design

Primary data has been collected by using information surveys and focus groups. Exit interviews have also been analysed to better assess the current challenges PTC is facing.

The sampling size in this research will be restricted to 10 employees (Senior Managers) including both male and female employees.

The reason for choosing a survey was to place the responses in a table format to identify the main areas of focus for critiquing and to use a medium of communication between researcher and the subject (Brace, 2004).

Following on from the surveys there will be focus groups conducted to further prove the findings of the questionnaires do correlate with the present situation.

3.3 Ethical Issues

For the purpose of the research, participants were explained the subject and purpose of the study prior to completing both the surveys and focus groups. Participants were reassured that, their responses were being given in total confidence and were not to be used for any other purpose.

3.4 Limitations of the research

The main limitation met by the researcher was the current pandemic situation and the implications with time constraints and research requirements. Furthermore, the sample size was small; only 10 participants which is another serious limitation to this research due to lack of effective data gathering. In order to gain further and more accurate data, exit interviews were also examined.

With all focus groups, the small sample size and purposeful selection of participants limit the generalisation of these results which lacks further in-depth analysis and evaluation. They do, however, suggest what other employees might say, despite not being intended to be broadly representative. These focus groups lend insight into the opinions of the employees with whom we spoke about their vision of the company at present.

4. DATA ANALYSIS

4.1 Philips Trust Corporation Employee overview 2018-2020

In 2018 PTC recruited 71.43% of its workforce externally (management roles) and 28.5% internally (non-managerial); of the externally recruited workforce 40% left within the first year of service. In contrast in 2019 the figures showed a drastic increase which negatively affected retention levels; 7.6% of roles were recruited internally (non-managerial) against 76.4% externally recruited (managers). The main decline identified was the amount of the workforce (60%), who left at senior management level.

2020 has seen a slight increase on the stability rate, however due to pandemic; the numbers do not illustrate the real picture due to the implications on the employment market. Professionals will be less inclined to change their employment at the present time since there is a registered decline in economy growth which links directly with jobs availability in the marketplace.

With regard to length of service, the data shows that only 30% of senior managers have been with the company for over a year, which reconfirms the constant change in management, which has led uncertainty and inconsistency within PTC. Furthermore, another implication of continuous staff turnover is the effect on the expertise, experience, and knowledge within the company.

4.2 PTC demographics:

As previously mentioned in the introduction, PTC has in place a strong equality and inclusive policy.

Current workforce is dominated by females; 60% to 40% male. This has been achieved thanks to a flexible working policy introduced in Q4 2019. This trend does not portray the reality within the legal sector; according to Annual Law Firms’ Survey 2019 conducted by PWC UK, 20% of the workforce of the UK within the legal sector was women and 80% men (Testa, 2008).

With regard to age group, PTC has a multi-generational workforce of which 50% are within the 25-34 age range, 20% in the 35-44 age range and 30% in the 45-55 age range.

4.3 SURVEY FINDINGS

Not all questions have been portrayed on graphs. The analysed answers have been specifically selected in order to respond to the second and third objectives of the study

employee survey data- full potential achieved at PTC

As per the findings, PTC is currently facing operational challenges with regards to how employees perceive the company and the EVP (employee value preposition). Over 40% of the current workforce does not believe that, they will achieve their full potential within the company. Furthermore, employees appear to believe that job descriptions at interview stage do not match the responsibilities attributed once in the job which has created confusion.

In addition to this, another major finding which has been outlined by current staff is poor communication. Directors’ expectations are not clearly outlined which has been significantly harmful in performance management reviews and leads to poor employee performance.

employee survey data- do you have enough autonomy to make decisions

The data highlights centralised company characteristics: 70% of participants agreed that, most of the time decisions are not explained and do not involve anyone other than Directors which has a massive negative effect on engagement. Participation and involvement do not appear to be important according to current practices.

Further to this, 40% of participants believed that senior management decision making power is minimal; however 20% believes that, autonomy increases if decision making aligned with Directors preferences.

employee survey data-do you feel the company aim

As per the first graph above, 40% of participants considered their work to be aligned with the company aims and objectives, however data also shows that there is still a high proportion of staff (30%) who believe that only some part of their work is aligned with the company’s objectives which if added to the 30% who strongly do not believe that their responsibilities are aligned represents a majority of staff who doubt the direction of the company.

The second graph suggests that 60% of employees believe they do not have a clear career path, which resonates with the findings within focus groups. Only 20% of staff seems to have a clear understanding of their career development plan internally, which is extremely costly as this appears to be one the main reasons PTC continues to haemorrhage staff.

4.4 Focus Group Data & Analysis

The focus group schedule is listed in Table 1. 45% show rate was achieved; with 9 total participants across the four groups (a completed survey percentage of 45% on average across the groups).Table 2 shows the number of participants for each of the groups.

Table 1. Focus Group Schedule

The groups were originally scheduled for the last week of March 2020, however due to Corona Virus they had to be rescheduled as per the indicated days above.

Table 2. Focus Group Participants

The following table show the number and percent of respondents for each question on the survey, including their responses

Question Number 2

Question Number 3

Question Number 4

Question number 5

Question Number 6

Verbatim Responses to Open-ended Survey Questions

The following are verbatim to open-ended questions on the survey. Because these responses were written in the survey participants, they are presented in verbatim form.

Question Number 7. – 9 Respondents

What do you consider to be the main downfall in today’s PTC management strategy?

Answers:

Directors have different vision of where to take the company next
Director inconsistency when following processes
Decision making power only lies on the director’s hands
Communication is a major issue
Workload is far beyond what is possible to be achieved and therefore always behind cases.
Centralisation of decisions
Directors split vision of the business
Distribution of work
Succession planning, more staff is urgently needed in key roles

Question Number 8.- 9 Respondents

If you could change one thing about your job, team, or company, what would it be?

Workload
Stressful environment
Director constant divided vision
More autonomy
Distribution of work
Communication
Directors leadership style
More proactive approach rather than reactive
Long hours in the office

Question Number 9- 9 Respondents

What opportunities for self-improvement would you like to have that go beyond your current role?”

Managing staff more freely without director’s intervention
Communication
Better understanding of the finances
Involve myself in a one of the new projects eg: insurances
Involvement in new projects
Decision making
Communication
Work in a new project

Question Number 10 – 9 Respondents

What kinds of flexibility would be helpful to you in balancing your work and home life?

Work from home one day a week
Ability to go home at 5pm
No being on called during weekends
Compound hours
Flexible start and finish time
Work from home
No working over weekend if a email comes through
No being on called if a director sends in an email
Compound hours

4.4.1 Focus Groups Findings

The findings above show that 40% of respondents believe communication between management levels is poor. 60% of respondents are concerned with their lack of power to make key decisions. These results show that senior management are concerned with the lack of career development plans for employees, their own lack of power to make key decisions, the poor communications between Directors and senior management and finally the overall direction of the company.

On the open questions every respondent suggested that, the directors could improve their delegation skills.

Finally, workload appears to be unmanageable across the senior management level; however, this issue is seen as less important when compared to other issues.

4.4.2 Exit Interviews Analysis

Employees who leave employment with Philips Trust Corporation voluntarily are encouraged to take part in a confidential exit interview, either with a member of the Human Resources department or with their line manager.

This report focuses on those employees, who chose to leave the organisation voluntarily during the period 1st Jan 2019 to 1st of Jan 2020, 6 out of 15 employees who left were part of senior management team.

Of the 6 managers who voluntary left, 6 completed an exit interview (100%). The analysis in the following report therefore covers feedback from those 6 individuals.

Summary of main trends and findings

Data collected from the leavers showed that, the most frequently cited reasons for employees leaving Philips Trust Corporation voluntarily were enhanced opportunity in another role (31%), inconsistency in the direction of the company (32%) and workload (27%)

The other frequently cited category which (7%) of voluntarily leavers selected were stressful work environment.

A small minority of employees mentioned issues such as their relationship with their line manager and lack of challenge as contributing to their decision to leave (3%)

Overall, however, attitudes of most people leaving Philips Trust Corporation remained positive towards the organisation. Organisational culture, relationships with colleagues and managers, benefits and job security were rated highly by leavers.

Analysis of data

The following section summarises the responses to the standard exit interview questions, over the period 1st of Jan 2019 – 1st of Jan 2020 and provides some analysis of the key trends identified amongst the 6 voluntary leavers who completed the exit interview.

Question 1: What factors contributed to your decision to leave Philips Trust Corporation?

The chart above shows the main factors affecting employees’ decisions for leaving the Philips Trust Corporation in 2019-2020. Employees were able to select more than one reason. The reasons most cited were as follows:

Enhanced Job Opportunity

Enhanced job opportunity remains the most cited reason for leaving. The ‘lack of challenge’ and ‘lack of advancement’ factors which also rated highly last year were much reduced this year, which suggests more employees are leaving for the prospect of better roles elsewhere, rather than due only to perceived lack of opportunities at Philips Trust Corporation.

In spite of some employees leaving for enhanced job opportunities, Philips Trust Corporation continues to offer a high volume of opportunities for internal promotions and job changes progression in these areas.

Inconsistency in company vision

32% of leavers mentioned inconsistency in Share Company vision mainly issue with the directors, Philips Trust Corporation has 2 directors that continuously tend to disgrace on a number of processes. This has proof to be a real constraint to the business as managers find very difficult to please both heads at the same time.

Another major finding affected by the inconsistency between the directors is communication; at there is constant discrepancies in the messages shared with the staff.

Workload

27% of leavers mentioned workload to be unachievable. The constant rotation of employees and the continues change in management has led to a considerable amount workload which have been impossible to catch up with, this has contributed to stress level to increase greatly across staff, 2019 recorded 22 days lost due to staff inability to work due to stress related absenteeism.

Question Number 2 who are you going to work for?

On the voluntary leavers who undertook exit interview, 71% were going to work for a new employer. Of these, 10% were going to work for another type of organisation across all sectors and 19% were going to work within the legal sector, however in another field.

Question Number 3

How did you hear about the job?

Leavers heard about new job via the following methods

Question 4: What is the remuneration package and benefits offered by your new employer?

46% of leavers went into roles which were paying higher salaries than they were receiving at the Philips Trust Corporation and 17% were going into roles which were paying a very similar salary.

This result ties in with the responses to question 1, where the two most selected reasons for leaving were ‘enhanced job opportunity’ and ‘salary’.

Question 6: Could Philips Trust Corporation have done anything to encourage you to stay?

Yes 36% No 64%

36% of leaving employees said that the Philips Trust Corporation could have done something to encourage them to stay (the main comment mentioned by almost all those who answered ‘yes’, was that, they would have stayed, if there was a more clear path for progression/ promotion and autonomy ).

Question 7: How would you rate the following categories in your personal experience with Philips Trust Corporation?

Leavers were asked to rate a variety of aspects of their working experience at PTC. The results are detailed below.

Positive Results

Less positive results

The areas which received the highest rating of either ‘poor’ or ‘unsatisfactory from the leavers which were ‘promotion prospects’, ‘manager’s leadership’ style and ‘training. ‘Promotion prospects’ ties in with the main reason for leaving identified under question 1. Perceptions of ‘manager’s leadership’ style and ‘performance management’ are likely to be enhanced once the planned work on encouraging coaching management styles across the organisation gets underway.

Question 8: How could we have improved your experience at PTC? What you would like to see changed?

6 of the 6 leavers provided comments in response to this question, across a variety of subject areas, including:

Question 9: Would you consider returning to PTC in the future?

2 out of 6 voluntary leavers said that they would consider returning to THE PTC in future, should clear changes be introduced.

Question 10: Would you recommend the PTC as an employer?

22.5% would recommend PTC as an employer, whilst 78.5 %answered ‘maybe’. Notably none of the respondents said that they would not recommend the PTC as an employer

Question 11: Do you have any additional comments you would like to make?

Some Positive comments were made by the 2 of the leavers and included the following:

Enjoyed time here, developed some skills to the point can get more enhanced position
Really enjoyed the time at PTC. The organisation and colleagues have led to career development. Would not be going onto new job without the experience gained.” –
Happy with management, given all the support needed. PTC always able to accommodate needs of employees.

There were also some less positive comments from 4 leavers, which largely reflected themes and comments reported earlier in the survey, or were quite specific to individual situations. More general comments included the following:

Issues not addressed - mentioned to management but not taken on board. No transparency in the department. Difference between how managers are treated in department.” - “Work harder to ensure culture of PTC is reflected in all departments. Communication needs improvement, “Some people feel they will never be promoted…need more communication between directors.

5. CONCLUSION

Overall, attitudes of most people leaving the PTC remains positive towards the organisation, with relationships with colleagues and managers both being rated particularly highly by leavers., PTC job security, location, benefits, and salary were also rated highly. 22% of leavers would recommend PTC as an employer and 20% would consider returning to work PTC in future.

The most frequently cited reason employees gave for leaving PTC voluntarily were enhanced job, poor communication at management, lack of clear strategy, lack of autonomy.

Promotion & opportunities

As explained earlier in the report, 37.6% of all vacancies filled at PTC were filled by internal candidates, however no for managerial roles. Internal recruitment is recognised as a successful process and certain role levels continue to be recruited for internally only.

Unfortunately, lack of commitment was registered by top level managers to investing in employees learning and career development programs, last year a learning programmed was introduced, however not properly used and foster.

Pay

Salary was mentioned as a contributory factor for not leaving Philips Trust Corporation, however the majority of employees were leaving for promotions and/ or looking for progression in their careers, which usually goes in hand with wanting to earn a higher salary.

Ineffective communication at management levels

This was mentioned and marked by every participant that, there is an imminent disconnect with both communications across management levels but most importantly there seems to be disconnect between the directors of the company with regards to the vision of where the company is to be heading.

Work life balance

Work-life balance was rated to very low. Flexible working applications have increased considerably since corona virus with 11 employees working with flexible working arrangements, including part time working and compressed hours, however a manageable balance of work has not been reached.

6. RECOMMENDATIONS

STRATEGY

Go back to basics and outline your strategy. Why are you doing what you’re doing? We would recommend using the Value Disciplines Model as below:

competitive strategies for market leadership

An organisation looking to define its direction and quickly gain a competitive edge may use The Value Disciplines Framework as a tool. More than a discipline, once you ‘stake your claim’ in one of these areas, an organisation can turn this into a philosophy that is embedded within the company. When that is achieved, employees resonate with the discipline and will aim to uphold it vigorously. It can almost become the WHY of the organisation, and this can not only give you a competitive edge but a cultural one as well.

The next is to introduce The McKinsey 7S Framework, to: • improve the overall performance of the firm • implement a chosen strategy • diagnose the problem inside the firm that is struggling with change • align people and activities following a major change.

Proper Management information

Introduce the Balanced Scorecard to:

Define vision: Be clear on what the overall purpose of the organisation is and what its strategic priorities are.

Identify perspectives and critical success factors: How do you interpret the four key elements and what do you have to do well in each to succeed?

Identify measures: What are the specific operational measures you will use to show you are delivering on your critical success factors?

Evaluate: Follow through on your chosen measures and keeping tracking them consistently over time.

Identify strategies and create action plans: For the scorecard to have value, you are prepared to take actions as a result of the information it provides.

Improving Communications

Effective internal communication is important for developing trust within an organisation and has a significant impact on employee engagement, organisational culture and, ultimately, productivity (CIPD, 2020)

A communication strategy is a must, it will heavily rely on the full support of the Directors as they are a key communication channel to the senior management team, there needs to be an inclusive dialogue rather than being a ‘top down’ exercise, in order to foster innovation, participation and involvement which will immediately enhance the psychological contract and therefore engagement and retention of seniors managers

Successful communication strategy should observe the following:

is built on a shared sense of purpose and aligned to organisational strategy,
receives attention and support from senior leaders
is driven by genuine dialogue. is part of good people management
draws on a range of digital channels and tools
is reviewed and assessed for effectiveness.

Development of Management

Skilled managers are critical to employee engagement, organisational success and well-being of employees (CIPD, 2020). A personal and individual learning and developing plan must be introduced and tailored to individual’s needs.

Following CIPD in their management development factsheet, there are some learning methods that are likely to be particularly relevant for the development of manager including:

Work-based methods:

Coaching and mentoring
Management Shadowing
Secondments

Other forms of development are:

Undergraduates courses
Qualifications for managers
Specialist courses etc.

7. Personal Reflection

To reflect upon this experience, I used Driscoll’s 2000 model of reflection.

As an individual, undertaking a research like this, in a language different to my mother tongue and in a depth, I never experience before it was very nerve racking for me. I was unsecure and the thought of getting the research into shape and up to MOL standards really worried me. Firstly, as it was a new experience to me and secondly because I simply felt I was not going to be able to produce an end result.

I knew I had to overcome this situation sooner rather than later, because of time scales and because I am determined to obtain this qualification which will enable me to get further in my career.

I gathered, my books and all material shared by classmates and Sarah Brown (tutor) and started to do all practice activities for which I created a daily plan. This measure greatly helped me as it boosted my confidence. From this point I could see that the research was becoming closer to what it was expected as I was cross referencing with some classmates.

I found my day plan to be great help throughout the entire assignment

This experience has taught me the significance of doing every activity on the modules but most importantly how crucial it is to at least dedicate 2-5 hours of learning a week

8. REFERENCES

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TAMKIN, P., 2004. High performance work practices. Brighton: Institute for Employment Studies
Macleod, D., and Clarke, N. (2009). Engaging for success: Enhancing performance through employee engagement: A report to government.
Schaufeli, W. B., 2015. Employee Engagement. Wiley Encyclopaedia of Management, 1-3. doi:10.1002/9781118785317.weom050021
Scott-Jackson, W., and Mayo, A.,2018. Transforming Engagement, Happiness and Well-Being: Enthusing People, Teams and Nations. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
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Allen, A. and Meyer, N. J., 1990. The Measurement and Antecedents of Affective, Continuance and Normative Commitment to the Organisation. Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology, 63(1), pp. 1-18.
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Clarke, D. M. a. N., 2009. Engaging for Success, London: s.n.
Gallup, 2016. Gallup Q12 Employee Engagement Survey. [Online] Available at: https://q12.gallup.com/Public/en-us/Features [Accessed 24 March 2019].
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Holbeche and Matthews, 2013. Employee Engagement Model , s.l.: s.n.
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International, O., 2015. Global Perspectives 2015: worldwide trends in employee engagement. p. 6.
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MacLeod, D. and Clarke, N., 2009. Engaging for Success, UK: BIS.
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Maslach, C. and Leiter, M. P., 1997. The truth about burnout. San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass.
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Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Paine, J. B. and Bachrach, D. G., 2000. Organizational citizenship behaviour: a critical review of the theoretical and empirical literature and suggestions for future reserch. In Journal of Management, 26(3), pp. 513-563.
Purcell, J. et al., 2009. People Management and Performance. Oxon: Routledge.
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9. Appendices

Appendix 1 Philips Trust Corporation SWOT Analysis

Appendix 2 Philips Trust Corporation Stakeholder Analysis (Johnson and Scholes)

Appendix 3 Philips Trust Corporation PESTLE Analysis

Appendix 4 Philips Gantt chart Research Study

Re: Notice of survey and instructions to staff participating

Philips Trust Corporation

Dear Team Member,

I am currently a student of Mol, presently undertaking my CIPD Level 7. The purpose of this questionnaire is to identify the motives behind a significant decrease of retention stability rate at Philips Trust Corporation in the last 12 months. Your answers have real impact into the findings of the research.

This survey will be completed anonymously by the senior manager team (10 participants); it will ask questions about their general perception of the company; the internal processes, retention of workforce through management engagement and company policies. It will take approximately 10 minutes to complete the questionnaire.

Your participation in this study is completely voluntary. There are no foreseeable risks associated with this project. However, if you feel uncomfortable answering any questions, you can withdraw from the survey at any point. It is very important for us to learn your opinions.

Your survey responses will be strictly confidential and data from this research will be reported only in the aggregate. Your information will be coded and will remain confidential. If you have questions at any time about the survey or the procedures, you may contact Maria Jones at: maria.jones@philipstrust.co.uk

Thank you very much for your time and support.

Focus Group

Re: Philips Trust Corporation investigating a business issue

INTRODUCTION

For this research, the focus groups were conducted between April 14thand April 17th, 2020. The goal was to gather enough information with regards current practices at Philips Trust Corporation, the perception of the participants and their expectations with regards to their role and the company in order to support conclusions and recommendation further explained on the research.

Data Collection

The focus groups were initially to be held at Philips Trust Corporation offices, however due to the pandemic, they were held online on a zoom conversation.

The focus group was held for approximately 90 minutes. Participants were not offered any compensation for attending the focus group but instead an early finish on the date the focus group took place.

Data Analysis

Comments from the focus group participants were analysed qualitatively. First a very brief explanation was provided to the participants, then we listened to and read through all responses to identify key statements and general themes and organised excerpts of each discussion so that recurrent themes could be identified and further analysed.

Study Limitations

As with all focus groups, the small sample size and purposeful selection of participants limit the generalisation of these results. They do, however, suggest what other employees might say, despite not being intended to be broadly representative. These focus groups lend insight into the opinions of the employees with whom we spoke about their vision of the company moving forward.

The focus group schedule is listed in Table 1. We achieved a 45% show rate, with 9 total participants across the four groups (a completed survey percentage of 45% on average across the groups).Table 2 shows the number of participants for each of the groups.

Table 1. Focus Group Schedule

The groups were originally scheduled for the last week of March 2020, however due to Corona Virus they had to be rescheduled as per the indicated days above.

Table 2. Focus Group Participants

Appendix A.

Focus Group invitation materials

I am a student of Mol, presently undertaking my CIPD Level 7. The purpose of this focus group is to identify the motives behind a significant decrease on stability rate at Philips Trust Corporation within the last 12 months specifically within the senior management team.

I would like to invite you to a focus group which will support this research and at the same time provide a great piece of intelligence for the directors of the company when making decision moving forward. The discussion will last no more than two hours. In appreciation for your time at the focus group, all participants will be allowed to finish 2 hours earlier than normal on the date the focus group takes place.

If you are interested in participating, please replay to this email by the 12 of March 2020. If you are available, I will call and e-mail you to confirm your participation.

Appendix B

Confirmation E-mail

I am writing to confirm your participation in a focus group about current engagement and retention practices at Philips Trust Corporation. The discussion is scheduled to last no more than 2 hours.

Please find below a link to the online meeting organise through zoom.

If you are unable to attend to the focus group, please let me know at least 24 hours in advance so that I can make appropriate arrangements. Also, if you have questions about the focus group, feel free to contact me by phone or e-mail. My contact information is below.

Really appreciate your willingness to participate and we look forward to seeing you.

Appendix C

Welcome!

Thank you for participating in this focus group. The main objective for this conversation is for you to provide me with your perceptions with regards current policies, processes, and procedures within the company. The findings will primary be used to assist with the research I am currently undertaking, as well as a tool for gathering as much information as possible to be provided to the directors of the company to hopefully influence their future decision making. I would like to communicate with the focus group participants to share their experiences and explain their points of views with examples if possible as it will allow us to really give meaning to the conclusions and recommendations.

Question Number 1.

Appendix D: Post focus Group