The effect of corporate culture on the retention rate of staff in the retail industry in Ireland.

Authors

Reid, Robert

Issue Date

2016

Degree

MBA in Project Management

Publisher

Dublin Business School

Rights

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Abstract

The purpose of this research project was to determine the effect corporate culture and policy have on the turnover rate of staff in the retail industry in Ireland. For a long time, the retail industry in Ireland has been plagued by high turnover rates, with no end in sight. This means that retailers right across the country spend vast amounts of resources every year on recruiting, selecting and training new staff. This is a costly procedure, which has a direct impact on the level of service a store can offer, pulls others from tasks to train new employees, and most of all, incurs substantial costs for the company, which has invested greatly in their employees only for them to take their skills elsewhere. This research project will identify the main factors contributing to low morale, low job satisfaction and, consequently, high turnover rates. This will be done via a survey, which will be distributed to and completed by retail employees from all across Ireland. Following the survey, four retail employees will be interviewed to further assess the problems that were expressed in the survey. This research project will also include a literature review of past literature related to this project. Information garnered from the literature will also help to guide the questions asked on the survey and in the interviews. As human nature plays a major part in this study, an ontological approach will be adopted. In the end, three major contributing factors were determined to be the cause for the high turnover rate in the retail industry in Ireland. These are salary, motivation and job satisfaction, and communication. This project then addresses these concerns and offers the retailers of Ireland practical advice, which they can implement in their own organizations to help improve their turnover rates. Author's keywords: Retention, Turnover, Corporate culture, Corporate policy