Focus group plan to address employee turnover in a state highway agency

Focus Group Discussion (FGD) Plan

The objective of this preliminary report is to present a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) plan that seeks to formulate recommendations to improve employee-employer relationships within the organization and develop strategies that will prevent: (a) the high rate of employee turn-over in the company; and (b) expected loss of additional personnel in the next 10 years through projected retirements. The FGD will provide insights about the sentiments, thoughts, and opinions of the participants/discussants concerning the presence/absence of motivation, satisfaction, and effectiveness in working in the state highway agency.

The Focus Group Discussion (FGD) Plan

There will be a total of three (3) sessions for three different classes of employees that will be interviewed. The first session will be the group of maintenance managers and engineers, while the second session will be composed of the maintenance workers. Sessions 1 and 2 will have 6-10 participants each. The third session, however, will contain a mixed combination of maintenance managers, engineers, and workers. For each class, 4 participants will be selected, thus creating a session where 12 discussants will be participating.

The rationale behind these grouping of employees and the number of FGD sessions is to identify, in general, factors that affect employee motivation and satisfaction, as well as influences of employee retention and loyalty for the agency. The first two sessions that will be conducted (that is, those concerning maintenance workers, managers, and engineers) identifies the motivations and satisfaction of each class in relation to their jobs. The mixed group, session 3, aims to determine the relationship the agency has so far cultivated vis-a-vis its employees, i.e., over-all workplace environment and employee-employer relations.

FGD Locations

Ideally, the FGD sessions must be conducted within the agency's FGD facility (if the agency has one). The motive behind the choice of the agency's FGD facility is for the participants' convenience, i.e., easy access to the facility, thereby ensuring high attendance rate of the participants. Furthermore, conducting the FGD within the agency's establishment will put the participants in sync with the discussion that will be conducted -- that is, employee motivation and satisfaction vis-a-vis the agency's workplace environment.

However, problems may arise when the agency's FGD facility is chosen, since the location may restrict the participants' freedom to express themselves during the session. Thus, as an alternative, and perhaps the best option for the location of the FGD sessions, an outside FGD facility is recommended, isolating the participants from any influences of the agency's administration. The choice of the facility must be accessible to all the participants and must be conducive to the discussion that will take place. It is also recommended that the agency shall provide the transportation for the participants to ensure high attendance rate in the said FGD sessions. It is important that the participants shall not have any knowledge that transportation is provided for by the agency to avoid bias in their opinions during the discussion.

FG Interview Guide

The questions that will be asked in the FGD sessions center on three primary themes that are needed for analysis to formulate effective recommendations on the agency's employee problems: (1) range of talents and skills each employee has based on job description and actual job performance; (2) employee motivation and satisfaction (individual and group) in their work; and (3) expected and actual outcomes of expectations of employees from the agency.

Part 1: Range of talents and skills- identifies the employee's abilities and level of job performance in the agency. Seeks to determine also the level of participation that employee has with the agency's over-all operations.

Please state your name, job description, and department (division).

What are the specific skills you have used in relation to your job/work?

What are the tasks that you have to accomplish everyday in your work?

Facilitation Techniques

Each FGD session will have three parts: the beginning, main, and closing sessions. The beginning session will include activities such as identifying the roles of each participant, moderator, and translator (if needed) in the FGD. As moderator and personnel consultant, I have the task to introduce the participants with each other to encourage a smooth discussion when the main session begins.

Setting the ground rules of the session and inclusion of different kinds of questions is imperative to ensure that the discussion will not deviate from the objectives of the FGD. Generally, open-ended questions are used for the session, but for probing purposes, accidental and hypothetical questions will also be included when needed. Discussions will recorded via tape and video recordings, in addition to note-taking from the assistant moderator.

Outline of agenda for the FGD

Beginning

Main Session

Closing

Check all equipment needed for the FGD (for note-taking and tape and video recording)

Arrive at the site early to arrange seating and equipment

Greet the participants and receive consent forms

Establish "small talk" to establish rapport with the participants

Start the main session when 6 participants have already arrived

Introduction; establish 'ground rules' of the session

Session moves toward the study's critical question

Encourage and control the discussion by:

Maintaining a friendly atmosphere

Appropriate and timely pauses and prompts

Probing

Rephrasing questions or answers of discussants

Using reminder and hypothetical questions

Asking of preliminary questions based on three categories (parts):

Part 1: Range of talents and skills each employee has based on job description and actual job performance

Part 2: employee motivation and satisfaction (individual and group) in their work

Part 3: expected and actual outcomes of expectations of employees from the agency.

Refreshments

Debrief the participants after the FGD session

DEBRIEF- meeting held to evaluate:

quality of the session skills and performance of the team responses of the team any changes in the design of question guides or lines

After the FGD sessions, analysis of each session's dominant themes based on participants' responses will be used to formulate recommendations to effectively prevent the agency's problems of high employee turn-over rate and expected loss of additional personnel.