Abstract

The purpose of this study is to assess the factors influencing employees’ job satisfaction and turnover in Miahcha Enterprise and Njeiforbi Bakery in Molyko Buea. The study made used of a total population of 40 workers of the two enterprises as the study population. A cross-sectional sections- a 15 item scale designed to capture various aspects of job satisfaction, 5 item to scale to capture employees’ turnover and a number of demographic characteristics was used to collect data from employees of two bakeries in the city of Buea as mentioned above with 40 useful questionnaires, descriptive statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple regression analysis and the statistical package for science (SPSS) techniques were used to analyzed the data.

The hypothesis for the study was tested using regression technique for the relationship between job satisfaction and employees’ turnover. The findings from the study shows that promotion pay & benefits, relationship with co-workers, training and development all have a positive effects on employees’ turnover.

The study therefore recommends that the management of Miahcha Enterprise and Njeiforbi Bakery should take all the necessary steps to raise the level employees are satisfied.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1: Background of the Study

Organizational growth depends fundamentally on the human resources of the organization. Employees’ turnover is highly dependent on job satisfaction. This means that employees’ turnover is largely dependent on how they would be compensated, their working environment, relationships with co-workers, their job safety and job security and many more. A high level of employee turnover in the organization increases the cost of hiring new workers and decreases productivity. The turnover is the most focused area by human resource managers in the organization. In the words of Des & Shaw (2001), “the outcome of the increased level of employee turnover in the organization is also in the form of indirect cost like burden on the existing workforce, loss of social capital and low morale”.

The increasing trend of employees’ turnover enhances the cost and reduces the productivity and efficiency of the organization. Hence, it is crucial to study factors affecting the turnover of employees in the organization. Some of these factors include low pay, poor working environment, work-life balance, lack of recognition, ineffective communication, lack of opportunity for career growth and many more. Many researchers have examined the causes and consequences of employee turnover and have come to the conclusion that lack of job satisfaction is the major cause of employee turnover (Dadar, Jusoh, &Rasli, 2011).

Job satisfaction is outlined as psychological state of how an employee feels towards work, in various words, its people’s feelings and attitudes regarding variety of intrinsic and extrinsic elements towards jobs and the organizations they perform their jobs in. the g through companies these days which result in reduced productivity.

Today the business environment is very competitive in nature. This is because human resources are the aspect in every business organization. This is due to the fact that they are the keys in developing; reinforcing and changing organization’s culture. It becomes a challenge for the human resource managers to retain their employees for long period of time and also to minimize the turnover in the organization. As such, employees’ turnover has become a worldwide issue that has puzzled organizations, researchers and practitioners for years. Currently, employees’ turnover has affected most organizations in both developed and less developed nations (Tariq et al, 2013). Employees’ turnover can be conceptualized in terms of different categories which include: demographic (e.g. age, gender, educational level), occupational (skill level, experience, status), organizational related factors like firm size, job content, working environments, leadership style, pay scale, organizational structure, reward, job security ( Mobley et al, 1979).

Job satisfaction has been a widely studied variable in determining turnover of employees.  This is because job satisfaction can be used to understand turnover process (Hom and Kiniki, 2001). Increase in employees’ turnover in organizations increases the cost of hiring new labor force. If an organization tries to retain qualified, productive and loyal employees, it can gain high competitive advantage. Thus turnover is the most prominent area of focused by the human resource managers in organizations. Altogether, it can be assumed that the competitive existence of an organization significantly relies on effective management of employees’ turnover and ensuring that good performers and key personnel are motivated to stay and have no intention to leave the organization.

Employees are the happiest and extremely productive once their job offers them security from economic strain, recognition of their effort, probability to contribute ideas and suggestions, participation in decision making and managing the affairs, clean definitions of duties and responsibilities and opportunities for promotion, fringe benefits, sound payment structure, incentives plans, health and safety measures, social security, compensation and atmosphere of mutual trust and respect (Kuria, 2011). Hence; it is crucial to study the factors affecting the turnover in most organizations. Job satisfaction is influenced by an individual’s affective or emotional feeling which is controlled by personality traits but affection and cognition differ from one employee to another depending on their personality traits. Although some employees having low emotional stability may intend to quit their jobs for reasons other than dissatisfaction with their jobs or not being able to perform their jobs well (Zimmerman, 2008). This makes it difficult to ascertain the measures of job satisfaction that can generally be attributed to employees’ turnover. However, there are many factors that can be used to measure job satisfaction as already advanced above but the truth is what turns to be satisfactory to one employee may differ from another employee.

Many studies report that the relationship between job satisfaction and employees’ turnover is negative as dissatisfied employees are likely to leave an organization than satisfied ones (Khatri, Chong, & Budhwar, 2001; Linz, 2003; Iqbal, 2010). However, there are series of factors that can be advanced to measure job satisfaction which are the following; wages and salaries, relationship with co-workers and employers, working environment, job security, and many more.

This research work aims to find out the measures of job satisfaction that directly influences employees’ turnover. This also holds true for Miahcha Enterprise and Njeiforbi Bakery in Buea. Presently the problem of employees’ turnover is becoming a severe problem of greater concern of Miahcha Enterprise and Njeiforbi Bakery.

According to Seta, Paulus and Baron (2000), they pointed out some of the factors contributing to the satisfaction of employees. To them, the organization can properly and takes appropriate step to increase positive behavior among employees. Proper training in their work settings, growth opportunities at work; job security, and good compensation benefits for example might improve employees’ level of satisfaction in the organization.

The study tries to identify problems like pay and benefits, promotion, and working conditions which lead to dissatisfaction among employees at Miahcha Enterprise as well as Njeiforbi Bakery and possible high turnover. Therefore, to reduce the turnover intention of employees, the organization must find out the factors that caused the turnover intention and affect the job satisfaction of workers.

1.3. Research Questions:

1. Does employees’ job satisfaction influence turnover intention in Miahcha Enterprise?
2. What are the factors influencing employees’ job satisfaction in Miahcha Enterprise?
3. What are the impacts of working environment and reward systems on employees’ turnover?

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