This paper examines employee turnover and its consequences for organizational performance, with particular reference to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). It defines voluntary and involuntary turnover, then analyzes how high turnover rates damage employee morale, reduce productivity during transition periods, and generate additional replacement and preventive costs. The paper identifies four primary causes of turnover — job dissatisfaction, labor market conditions, poor human resource practices, and competing role commitments — before discussing how strengthening the employer-employee relationship and conducting regular attitude surveys can help organizations reduce turnover and retain valuable staff.
The paper effectively uses applied case framing — a common technique in business and HR writing — by anchoring every theoretical point to a specific organization. Rather than discussing turnover in the abstract, the author repeatedly asks "what does this mean for NARA?" This method shows instructors that the student can transfer general concepts to real-world scenarios, a critical skill at the undergraduate level.
The paper opens with a brief definition section establishing key terminology (voluntary vs. involuntary turnover), then moves into a multi-point analysis of how high turnover damages performance (morale, productivity, resistance to change, financial costs). A separate section covers the four causes of turnover drawn from Jackson, Schuler, and Warner (2011). The paper closes with a short discussion of employer-employee relationship strategies and a brief conclusion reinforcing the main argument.
Employees are regarded as a critical resource for any organization, and for this reason the importance of effective employee turnover management cannot be overstated. This paper examines employee turnover — its effects on performance, its primary causes, and the measures management should embrace to address it — with particular reference to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
According to Armstrong (2010), employee turnover is essentially the rate at which employees leave a company. As the Saratoga Institute (as cited in Deane and Sanjeev, 2004) explains, "turnover is calculated as the number of employee terminations in a given period — voluntary, involuntary or both — divided by the average number of active employees during the same period." Voluntary turnover, according to Goldstein and Hersen (2000), occurs when the employee initiates the separation. Involuntary turnover, by contrast, comes about when the separation is initiated by the company (Goldstein and Hersen, 2000).
It is important to note from the outset that, in addition to being financially costly, a high employee turnover rate also hurts organizational efficiency. To begin with, a significantly high turnover rate can effectively lower the morale of remaining employees and, consequently, their performance. Gitman and McDaniel (2008) identify turnover and absenteeism as two of the main morale and performance killers that managers need to watch for. As those authors further point out, the morale of other employees is significantly affected as they watch their colleagues leave — particularly given that, over time, employees tend to build close emotional connections with those they work alongside. In reference to NARA, a high turnover of supervisors could lower the morale and performance of employees, especially in cases where those employees have close working relationships with the departing supervisors.
Secondly, when supervisors leave, the organization may need to hire replacements immediately so as not to hinder operations. Those hired in such circumstances may lack the necessary skills and experience to effectively carry out the functions of their new positions. As Armstrong (2010) points out, while new employees are being trained, the organization experiences significant losses in output — particularly because new hires may not be as familiar with the organization's culture as those they replace. In regard to NARA, as a new supervisor is trained, work teams could report decreased productivity, and the effectiveness of affected divisions may inevitably suffer.
Resistance to change among remaining employees can be yet another reason why a high turnover of supervisors negatively affects performance. This resistance may be caused by what Griffin and Moorhead (2011) describe as the fear of the unknown — some individuals "fear anything unfamiliar" (Griffin and Moorhead, 2011). In this context, employees could withhold the support and attention a new appointee needs, whether by ignoring directions or resorting to outright sabotage.
Beyond these consequences, a high employee turnover rate can also generate significant additional costs, both replacement and preventive. Replacement costs are associated with finding new employees and include job advertisement expenses, interviewing costs, and similar expenditures (Armstrong, 2010). Preventive costs, on the other hand, are associated with the measures an organization puts in place to retain employees. At NARA, such preventive costs might include salary increases and investments in improved facilities.
Managers need to first identify the key drivers of a high turnover rate in order to successfully increase retention. Given the financial and operational costs of employee turnover outlined above, the importance of proactively managing and reducing high turnover rates cannot be overstated.
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