Abstract
Demonstrating the effectiveness of human resources (HR) programs has been a dilemma for HR professionals for years. This study addresses that problem and takes a step in closing the gap in the lodging industry. The researchers reviewed the effects of rigorous management training programs that focused on frontline leaders and their relationship with the employees who interact with guests. Data from a 2-year period (during and after the intervention) were analyzed based on employee-related factors, primarily turnover and employee satisfaction as measured by exit surveys. The researchers measured the impact of training over time. The results suggest this approach can be used by HR professionals to argue that management training programs lead to greater employee satisfaction and a reduction of employee turnover that offsets the cost of the training.
INTRODUCTION
Human Resources (HR) departments have been searching for proof that they were getting a significant return on investment (ROI) since the early 20th century when they were called “Personnel” departments. HR departments have been working to justify their expenditures for employee training to upper management and to accountants so they could continue designing the programs they intuitively believed were essential. Will the time and expense devoted to training increase productivity, profitability, employee satisfaction, and guest satisfaction enough to warrant the expenditure? It is obvious that many hospitality companies are not convinced training pays off. An American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) report indicated that only 8% of U.S. companies collect data and estimate their ROI for training (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2007). Given this, is it any wonder that training departments are some of the first victims of cutbacks during economic downturns?
HR leaders have long struggled to be included in executive meetings. Finding a way to quantify the benefits of training programs could be a ticket to these important leadership sessions. Creating the image of HR as a value-adding department and not just a group to handle government regulations is a topic of concern in much of HR literature. One of the most frequently asked questions is, “Does HR pay for itself?” More and more of the traditional HR functions have been outsourced, including benefits administration, compliance training, risk management, labor, and in some instances, staffing. The message is clear in a business environment. Things can only be justified if they add to quarterly profits. If you cannot quantify a positive result, do not request funding.
The hospitality industry is a highly guest service–oriented business where encounters between employees and guests determine the success of the business. Consequently, hospitality researchers and business leaders have acknowledged the significance of hiring and retaining competent employees and have arguably considered the company's employees as the most valuable asset to hospitality firms. Therefore, training and retention quantifications are an important avenue to explore.
Even though there are numerous studies on Human Resource Management (HRM) practices, few studies have been conducted to empirically demonstrate and measure the effectiveness of certain HRM practices that applied to the lodging industry, which puts a high priority in reducing its employee turnover.
The objective of this study is to contribute to the literature on HRM practices by describing a pilot study of a lodging company where new and revised management training programs have been implemented to its supervisory workforce over a period of time. The specific goals of the study are to:
| 1. | Identify appropriate dependent variables (i.e., outcome measures) to explore the effectiveness of new management training programs; | ||||
| 2. | Demonstrate the existence, and research significance of, a time lag that may be crucial to measuring the impact of HRM interventions; and | ||||
| 3. | Measure the impacts of management training programs from two employee-related sources, one from primary data (employee responses to an exit interview survey) and the other from secondary data (employee turnover). | ||||
LITERATURE REVIEW
HRM practices, programs, and training have been developed and applied to the areas of recruiting and selection, training, benefits administration, and enhancement of employee perception or satisfaction over the years (Baumann, 2003; Lee, Heard, & Koh, 2000). The relationship between the various HRM practices and actual performance of the company has been examined in previous studies. These studies identified a list of dependent variables, such as employee turnover rate, employee satisfaction level, and company profit to measure the effectiveness of HRM practices (Batt & Valcour, 2003; Humber, 2003; Huselid, 1995; Kalleberg & Moody, 1994; Lee et al., 2000; Lloyd, 2000). For the purpose of this study, turnover rates and employee satisfaction levels have been chosen as the appropriate variables to measure the real benefit and effectiveness of the HRM practice in question: management training programs. Company profit was not considered because it may be affected by other significant factors, such as the economic situation, the development of new products, or a change in customers’ preferences or tastes.
Employee Turnover
Employee turnover has been a major managerial issue in the hospitality industry, where the annual turnover rate is estimated to be as high as 300% (Hotel News Resource, 2000). Consequently, there are a number of studies on the culture of employee turnover in the lodging industry. Iverson and Deery (1997), in their study on the employees of five-star hotels in Australia, empirically showed that the turnover culture itself is the most important determinant of employees’ intent to leave. Lloyd (2000) showed the existence of a significant disconnection between what companies believe causes employee turnover and why workers actually leave. Therefore, there is a dire need for managers to have a better and more accurate understanding of the actual causes of employee turnover.
It has been well documented that employee turnover involves a significant cost for the business. Turnover costs are categorized as separation costs, replacement costs, training costs, loss of productivity, and loss of knowledge (Pinkovitz, Moskal, & Green, 2002; Smith & Watkins, 1978; Tracey & Hinkin, 2006). A study estimated that replacing a non-management employee costs as much as 30% of the employee's annual salary, whereas replacing a manager incurs almost 50% of the manager's annual salary (Development Dimensions International, Inc., 2002).
Employee turnover has a direct impact on a company's productivity and financial performance. Harris, Tang, and Tseng (2002) used the Australian Business Longitudinal Survey data collected during 1995–1998 to try to quantify the impact of employee turnover on an organization's productivity. They also tried to derive the optimal turnover rate that maximizes a company's productivity and still allows for employee growth. In their study of multiple hotels in the United States, Simons and Hinkin (2001) provided an empirical test to show a strong association between high employee turnover and a decrease in hotel profits.
Despite the fact that there are a plethora of studies on employee turnover, relatively little research has been conducted to explore if management training programs have impact on reducing employee turnover.
Employee Satisfaction
Researchers in HR management have pointed out that departing employees can provide considerable insight into the problems they encountered while working for the company (Tracey & Hinkin, 2008; Woods & Macaulay, 1987). While the incumbent employees create the urgency for a company to act on the survey results, exit interviews enable a company to review the data and look for trends to better identify the fundamental problem areas in the workplace to enhance employee satisfaction levels and to reduce the turnover rate (Carvin, 2002).
Even though the significance of an exit interview has been acknowledged both in academia and in business, it is questionable whether companies have utilized actual employee exit interview data in order to make constructive improvements in their policies or practices. A study by Tracey and Hinkin (2006) stressed the value of exit interviews and demonstrated that there exits a negative correlation between the company's expenditure on employee exit interview process and total employee turnover costs. In order to best utilize departing employees’ opinions, it is crucial to develop an effective structure of exit interview questionnaires. A literature review identifies the following categories as the most relevant for exit interviews: job, management or supervision, company policies, and salary and benefits (HR Solutions, 2003; Personnel Policy Service, 2003; Sweeney, 2002; Woods & Macaulay, 1987). The data acquired from a well-designed exit interview can serve as a good measurement of HRM effectiveness.
Measuring the Benefit and Effectiveness of HRM Practices
The effectiveness of HRM practices in reducing employee turnover has been supported by a case study of New Castle Hotels. This case study identifies an open door policy, a peer review program, regular opinion surveys and an enhanced promotion policy as the main factors that reduced the New Castle Hotels’ turnover rate from 66.5% in 1999 to 57% in 2000. These are considered nontraditional programs that are based on values such as fairness, consistency, caring, and ethics (Hotel News Resource, 2000).
Several studies have empirically tested the impact of HRM practices on reducing employee turnover. Lloyd (2000) stressed the importance of internal surveys, exit interviews, and an open-door policy to facilitate open communication between employees and management. Cho, Woods, Jang, and Erdem (2006) also emphasized the importance of HRM practices such as labor-management participation programs, incentive plans, and pre-employment testing to maintain a high retention rate among nonmanagerial employees. Humber (2003), in a case study concerning Sofitel, suggested the significance of implementing comprehensive recruiting and training programs in order to reduce the turnover rate of the company.
The quality of the employee selection system has been identified as one of the most important factors in keeping good workers and reducing the costly employee turnover (Development Dimensions International, 2002; Huselid, 1995; Poe, 2003). Enhancing the quality of managerial leadership is also considered a key to improving the turnover problem (Development Dimensions International, 2002; Hotel News Resource, 2000). Lee et al. (2000) showed that the economic situation matters when it comes to the effectiveness of HRM practices on employee turnover. They identified job analysis as the most effective practice during the boom years and succession planning as the most effective during recession periods.
Motivating current employees and improving their satisfaction has drawn the attention of many researchers (Allen, Shore, & Griffeth, 2003; Harris et al., 2002; Poe, 2003). Sturman and Trevor (2001) noted that many organizations collect the data on employee performance over time but rarely utilize the wealth of data collected to help predict and manage employee turnover. The study pointed out that training, job enrichment or job change, and reward systems are key practices to retaining quality employees.
Love (2004) also emphasized the significance of turnover costs, which include but are not limited to recruiting, training, and loss of knowledge capital, and suggested analyzing the turnover-related data in order for the company to predict future turnover. Chevalier, Siebert, and Viitanen (2003) used personnel data from a panel of 400 shops in a U.K. retail chain to investigate the effect of pay incentives on labor turnover and productivity. They showed that a flat hourly wage system without any reward for tenure or individual productivity led to the phenomenon of negative selection—only employees with no or little outside options remain with the firm—and consequently created lower productivity.
A literature review reveals gaps in the areas of study sample and design that need more attention. A majority of the study results are based on findings from surveys conducted among business professionals, mostly HR managers. Surveying only managers creates a one-sided look at the issues that senior leaders and financial officers would find suspicious. By broadening the study to those directly affected by the training programs, a more robust examination can be developed, especially when line-level employees are included. As Huselid (1995) criticized, existing literature contains a methodological weakness due to the issue of “simultaneity” or even reverse-causality between HRM practices (independent variables) and the dependent variable(s) of the studies. Simultaneity issues have developed because many empirical studies could not afford to wait for a period of time after specific HRM programs were put into action. Hence, the study results might be seriously tainted by low internal validity.
METHODOLOGY
Instead of relying on the feedback from managers or HR professionals in order to measure the impact of management training programs, this study investigated changes in employee-related factors, such as employees’ turnover and satisfaction levels. While the managers and HR leaders’ impressions of the programs’ success are really immaterial, feedback from the actual line-level employees are believed to be a valid outcome measure of the intervention.
Study Site
The study was conducted with a lodging company that is located in the northeastern United States. The company operates two hotels. One is a historic, Colonial-style leisure and meeting hotel with just over 220 rooms. The other, located in the same city, is a full-service conference hotel with over 150 rooms when the study was conducted. The average number of employees in the company's HR database was about 700, of which about 75% were part-time, line-level employees.
As described before, a major initiative by this company was to develop and implement quality training programs for its managerial personnel. Through the analysis of outcomes, specifically employee turnover data and exit survey responses in reference to employee satisfaction, this pilot study suggests an approach that can be implemented by others in the industry to quantify the benefits of quality management training programs.
HRM Interventions: Enhancing the Quality and Rigor of Manager Training Programs
Several major training programs were developed and implemented within the company in 2002 with a specific focus on its managerial workforce. A four part training program was implemented for leaders. First, mandatory training for current and new managers was implemented company-wide in order to help them conduct the hiring and selection process more effectively. Training on applicant interviewing technique and on a Web-based application process was required for those involved in hiring. Second, comprehensive training programs to enhance the awareness of modern workplace challenges were developed so that managers became more capable of dealing with issues, such as sexual harassment, workforce diversity, and the employee discipline. Third, a training program was implemented to help managers recognize and utilize a type of scientific index that analyzes the new employees’ job-related characteristics and their strengths and weaknesses. The purpose of this third initiative was for the managers to have a better understanding of the significance of matching new employees with the jobs that are more appropriate fit for their work-related characteristics. Finally, a standardized and rigorous employee performance appraisal system was established. Previously, each department has utilized its own appraisal system with different degrees of rigor and frequencies. A well-structured performance appraisal system based on actual compensable factors with high validity was applied to every department of the hotel after its managerial personnel were given the new appraisal training ().
TABLE 1 Intervention and its Major Contents
In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of those new or revised management training programs, the dependent variables were chosen that measured how these interventions actually affected hotel line employees over time. The major rationale of this decision is that the benefit of managerial training programs needs to be quantified by measuring their impact on line employees rather than by asking perceptions of HR professionals or operation managers; improving the quality and rigor of management practices will help those managers conduct their HR responsibilities more effectively, which will enhance employee satisfaction and consequently reduce their turnover; and the real impact of these new initiatives, just like other policies and programs, will be realized after a certain period of time.
Employee Turnover Data
For this study, annual employee turnover rate was calculated by dividing total number of annual employee termination by average annual number of employees. The total number of annual employee terminations was acquired from the company's HR database, which included both resignations and discharges. The average annual number of employees was calculated by adding up all 12 monthly average numbers of employees and dividing it by 12.
The employee turnover rates for the years 2002 and 2003 were calculated. The employee turnover rate for 2002 represented the one when the key management training programs were first implemented. The turnover rate of 2003—1 year after the implementation of those programs—was calculated to see if there was a significant change in the company's turnover rate between 2002 and 2003 in order to allow for the impact of the new interventions to be realized in the workplace.
Exit Survey Data
After each employee left, an exit survey form was sent via regular mail along with a postage-prepaid return envelope. The total of 31 survey questions were developed based on a literature review of existing survey formats. Those items represent factors that are expected to measure employee satisfaction levels in regard to job/company, supervisor/manager, policies/practices, and pay/benefits. Respondents were asked to rate their satisfaction level on each item using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied). Two weeks after each termination, a survey packet was sent to the mailing address provided by the employee. The survey packet was not mailed to the former employees who were discharged to minimize a potential concern of outliers in the data set. A total of 506 (2002) and 290 (2003) exit surveys were sent out.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The data analysis showed that the company achieved significant improvement in both reducing its employee turnover rate and enhancing employees’ satisfaction level.
Result 1: Reduction in Employee Turnover Rates
During the period of study, this company was able to reduce the total number of annual employee turnover from 660 in 2002 to 383 in 2003. Because the average number of employees during that time period was 737 and 676 respectively, the overall annual turnover rate had been significantly reduced from 89.6% in 2002 to 56.7% in 2003 (). In other words, after the intervention in 2002, the company successfully retained almost 40% of the employees it would have lost based on the 2002 trend. The overall turnover rate of this hotel company, especially in 2003, is remarkably low considering that about 75% of the hotel employees are part-time workers who in general have relatively lower job stability and have higher turnover rate than full-time workers.
TABLE 2 Statistic of Employee Turnover
The results shown in indicate that the company significantly reduced turnover rates for both full-time and part-time employees. Between 2002 and 2003, part-time employees’ turnover rate dropped from 107% to 70.5% whereas the full-time employees’ turnover rate dropped from 34.8% to 18.8%. A 34% decrease in part-time employees’ turnover rate is a significant improvement in such a short period of time, but a particular attention needs to be paid to a remarkable reduction in full-time employees’ turnover rate. Considering much higher costs involved in hiring and training full-time employees and the loss of knowledge, skills, and experiences of those employees, this significant drop (reducing turnover rate almost by 50%) implies a great contribution to the company's bottom line and human resources.
Result 2: Enhancement in Employees’ Satisfaction Level
A total of 99 (2002) and 45 (2003) responses to the exit interview surveys were collected for 2-year period and used for the study. The response rates were 19.6% and 15.5%, respectively.
shows overall increase in employee satisfaction across the four departments of the hotel. With very few exceptions, the employees who left the company in 2003 rated their average satisfaction levels across the four categories significantly higher than those from the 2002 survey. Particular attention should be paid to the increase of average satisfaction scores between the 2 years—over a 10% improvement for “supervisor” and over a 13% improvement for “overall opinion of the company as an employer” across the four departments.
TABLE 3 Changes in Employee Satisfaction Level: Exit Interview Survey Responses (2002– 2003)
At department level, the Conference Services and Lodging Operations departments showed very significant increases while the Banquet and Food & Beverage departments fluctuated. The improvement in employee satisfaction in 1 year is a strong indicator that the management training programs from a year earlier may have produced the desired effects.
Discussion
It is critical to notice that during the study period this lodging company did not experience any major variations in other potentially confounding factors that might have contributed to the significant improvements in the outcome measures (i.e., employee turnover and satisfaction level). In other words, there were no significant changes in the hotel's business operations, employee structure, or compensation and benefit programs during the 2-year period. Hence, the development and implementation of quality management training programs can be considered the only significant intervention that could have led to higher employee satisfaction and lower turnover rate. Current and new managers who received the rigorous training were expected to perform more effectively and efficiently particularly in their human resource-related responsibility. After all, the ultimate beneficiaries from quality management training should be their subordinates who are line employees. The study findings are not subject to a concern of a Hawthorne effect since the line-level employees were basically unaware of the newly implemented management training programs. Consequently, the choice of employee turnover and satisfaction as the outcome measures of the actual benefits and effectiveness of the intervention has high validity. This empirical fact supports the value of creating rigorous management training programs and suggests legitimate criteria to which hotel companies can pay attention when they would like to justify the investment in a certain HRM practice.
By identifying the postintervention reduction of employee turnover and a significant improvement in the employee satisfaction level over the 2-year period, the study results demonstrated the importance of a time lag in measuring the effect of major HRM interventions, such as management training programs for this study.
CONCLUSIONS
This study examined a new HRM intervention developed and implemented by a small, nonbranded lodging company that enhanced employees’ satisfaction level and reduced turnover rate. The study was designed to verify the effectiveness of the intervention and to measure the effect on those impacted by the training—the line-level employees—rather than on the managers who actually received the training. The authors looked at the direct employee-related factors as opposed to indirect measures such as management's perception or company profit margin. Because the training intervention was designed for a specific goal—improvement of managers’ performance in their HR responsibilities—that is the focus of the study and the measurement over time.
The study result shows that the enhanced quality and rigor of the company's training programs for its managerial workforce significantly increased employee satisfaction level and consequently reduced the turnover rate. The reduction in overall employee turnover rates both for part-time and full-time employees were significant despite the post-9/11 economic factors that may have influenced the employees’ intention to depart.
To accomplish this, the hiring process and related training programs were completely revised. Individuals being interviewed were given a more realistic job descriptions based on a thorough job analysis and were hired based on their talent as opposed to “warm body syndrome.” Prior to the interview training, the assumption was that a manager's skill in interviewing was intuitive and no training was necessary. Providing line managers with the requisite skills to become good interviewers allowed them to make better decisions about who best fit the organization and their particular team. Making the managers more accountable for the hiring process and ultimately for the turnover of employees heightened awareness and contributed to a sense of ownership and thus lower voluntary terminations. One of the tools that assisted the managers participating interviews was an index or matrix (properly vetted by HR experts and legal advisors) they could use to analyze an applicant's characteristics and suitability for a particular job. By better matching between the new hires and the jobs available, it is expected that the managers help prevent the company from losing its new hires due to a mismatch at the early stage of their employment.
This study also demonstrated that there was a significant improvement in employee satisfaction levels postintervention. In looking at the employees’ feedback on exit surveys collected in 2002 and again in 2003, it is obvious that the management training had the desired effect. The overall averages were increased over the 1-year time span in all measured areas.
This study has the following strengths. First, the data was collected over a 2-year period in order to avoid the simultaneity problem raised by existing literature. The new and revised management training programs were conducted in 2002 followed by its impact measurement during the period of 2002–2003. Second, the study has strong internal validity because there were no major changes in other confounding factors of the hotel that could have contributed to the changes in the outcome measures between the 2 years. Also, the study was based on data acquired directly from line employees’ turnover trends and their responses to exit interview surveys. Contrary to the previous studies that utilized the managerial workforce as study subjects, this study tried to measure the impacts of a management training programs from the perspectives of employees who are the ultimate beneficiaries (or victims) of those practices.
As with most research, there are some limitations that must be noted. First, a convenience sample was used for the study. Because of the nature of the study, one lodging company that initiated key training programs for its managerial personnel was chosen. Second, the response rate from exit surveys is less than 20% for both years due to the characteristics of mail surveys. While still valid, the authors feel obligated to point this out. Third, even though the study design provides relatively high internal validity to the research results, employee turnover still can be affected by external factors, particularly factors over which the company or managers have no or very little control. For example, economic conditions could influence employee turnover. Considering that 2002 was a period of economic decline in the lodging industry due to the terrorist attack on New York City on September 11, 2001, the economy was rebounding by late 2002 and early 2003; these events may have affected the results. Finally, the employee sample of the study is heavily skewed to part-time workers, who are mainly college students. This is not the case with most hotels in major markets. In order to validate the study results, further study is needed to see if the findings can be applied to the industry in general.
Despite the limitations of the study, it does demonstrate the power of HRM practices and that an ROI can be defined for the programs that HR creates. This could be the most positive aspect of the study and have the potential for the greatest future impact. The study results empirically support the significance of effective management training programs in enhancing employee satisfaction and reducing turnover. Since well-trained managers can be more successful in hiring and retaining employees who are motivated and ready to help the organization, it is crucial for the company to develop and implement rigorous training programs, particularly for its managerial personnel.
The significance of this study is that it demonstrates a method that HR professionals can use to establish the fiscal viability of training programs within their operations. The criticality of this study lies in the dwindling resources available to HR managers, in part due to Baby Boomers exiting the workplace, and the high level of voluntary turnover that seems to be endemic in the lodging and restaurant sectors of the hospitality industry. This study suggests a model for HR practitioners to follow that will enable them to measure and demonstrate the ROI of their management training programs. If training mangers about the hiring process, interview skills, and 21st century workplace issues can create a drop in employee turnover as seen in this study, it should be replicated in hospitality properties of all sizes and types. The demonstrated results are significant and can be used to build efficiencies for all hospitality operations.
| Major contents of | |
|---|---|
| Management training programs | the training programs |
| Hiring/selection training | • Interview techniques |
| • Legal concerns during the interviews | |
| • Effective utilization of a Web-based application process | |
| Trainings to enhance awareness of | • Sexual Harassment |
| modern workplace challenges | • Workforce diversity |
| among managers | • Employee discipline |
| Technical training | • Effective utilization of a scientific index that analyzes the new employees’ job-related characteristics and their strengths and weaknesses |
| Employee performance appraisal training | • Standardization of an employee performance appraisal systems across the departments |
| YEAR | 2002 | 2003 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average number | 737 | 676 | ||
| of Employees | FT employees | PT employees | FT employees | PT employees |
| 178 (24%) | 559 (76%) | 181 (27%) | 495 (73%) | |
| Number of | 660 | 383 | ||
| Terminations | FT employees | PT employees | FT employees | PT employees |
| 62 | 598 | 34 | 349 | |
| Turnover Rate | 89.6% | 56.7% | ||
| FT employees | PT employees | FT employees | PT employees | |
| 34.8% | 107% | 18.8% | 70.5% | |
| FT, Full Time; PT, Part Time. | ||||
| Food & | Conference | Lodging | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Departments | Banquets | Beverage | Services | Operations | Average | |||||
| Year | 2002 | 2003 | 2002 | 2003 | 2002 | 2003 | 2002 | 2003 | 2002 | 2003 |
| 1. Job/Company | 3.24 | 3.11 | 3.33 | 3.37 | 3.60 | 3.82 | 3.34 | 3.82 | 3.38 | 3.53 |
| 2. Supervisor | 3.61 | 3.64 | 3.83 | 3.83 | 4.09 | 4.54 | 2.96 | 3.98 | 3.62 | 4.00 |
| 3. Policies & Procedures | 3.39 | 3.15 | 3.55 | 3.44 | 3.33 | 3.81 | 3.13 | 3.62 | 3.35 | 3.51 |
| 4. Salary & benefits | 2.94 | 2.94 | 3.09 | 3.16 | 3.07 | 3.43 | 2.97 | 3.63 | 3.02 | 3.29 |
| Average | 3.30 | 3.21 | 3.45 | 3.45 | 3.52 | 3.90 | 3.20 | 3.76 | 3.33 | 3.58 |
| Overall opinion | 3.29 | 3.45 | 3.34 | 3.58 | 3.47 | 4.38 | 3.36 | 3.82 | 3.37 | 3.81 |
| Note: A 5-point Likert Scale was used for measurement (5: “very satisfied” to 1: “very dissatisfied”‘) | ||||||||||
Related Research Data
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