Employee Turnover and Its Impact on Organizational Performance
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.
- Employee Turnover: An Overview: Defines voluntary and involuntary employee turnover
- Effects of High Turnover on Employee Performance: Morale loss, productivity decline, and added costs
- Causes of Employee Turnover: Job dissatisfaction, labor market, and HR practices
- Employer-Employee Relationship and Retention: Strategies to strengthen retention and reduce turnover
- Conclusion: Importance of identifying and addressing turnover drivers
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- The paper consistently grounds abstract HR concepts in a concrete organizational context (NARA), giving each claim practical relevance and demonstrating applied analytical thinking.
- It systematically covers both the causes and effects of turnover, creating a well-balanced argument that moves logically from diagnosis to implication to remedy.
- Multiple citation sources are used to support each major claim, lending credibility and showing engagement with the scholarly literature in human resource management.
Key academic technique demonstrated
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.
Structure breakdown
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.
Employee Turnover: An Overview
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).
References
Aamodt, M.G. (2012). Industrial/Organizational Psychology: An Applied Approach (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.
Armstrong, M. (2010). Armstrong's Essential Human Resource Management Practice: A Guide to People Management. Philadelphia, PA: Kogan Page Publishers.
Deane, W.J. & Sanjeev, A. (Sept. 2004). Measuring Retention Rather Than Turnover: A Different and Complementary HR Calculus. Human Resource Planning, 27(3), 6–13.
Gitman, L.J. & McDaniel, C.D. (2008). The Future of Business: The Essentials (4th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Goldstein, G. & Hersen, M. (2000). Handbook of Psychological Assessment. New York: Pergamon.
Griffin, R.W. & Moorhead, G. (2011). Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations (10th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S. & Warner, S. (2011). Managing Human Resources (11th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Wilton, N. (2010). An Introduction to Human Resource Management. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Create your account
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.