Introduction
Employee turnover, the rate at which employees quit their job and are replaced by new ones, is a common occurrence in the contemporary busy and sophisticated organisational landscape (Killoren, 2014). Organisations are constantly grappling with this challenge as they incessantly seek to craft effective and efficient interventions that would decrease the rate of employee turnover despite the cause. However, given the different reasons, there is never a one-size-fits-all intervention to solve the problem. In most cases, the rate of turnover overlies such factors as termination, death, retirement, transfers, and resignations. Contextually, the C.E.O of Singtel is concerned about the high employee turnover that has been noted to result from resignations. Despite the grounds for a high rate of employee turnover, it tags along a host of other problems that often spell doom to the prosperity of an organisation. In this respect, Singtel is on the verge of a human resource crisis featuring such problems as high opportunity costs, time wastage in the selection and replacement of workers. In all the sectors and organisations, high percentages of employee turnover are linked to worst organisational outcomes which culminate into low productivity and potential collapse of the organisation (Williams & Potts, 2010). It is on such grounds that Singtel ought to find a quick and efficient solution to the problems. A timely intervention against the problems will not only ensure the organisation meets its goals in all the spheres, but will also prevent the company from a possible collapse due to inadequacy of relevant talent. In some cases, when more employees quit work, their colleagues will follow suit, and with time, Singtel may, instead of serving its clients, divert to the business of recruiting and training workers who will ultimately leave, therefore, wreath from massive profit losses.
Literature Review: A Theoretical Underpinning
According to the Singtel annual companywide survey, employees reported lack of motivation and lower perceptions of organisational justice. Their intentions to quit largely draw from these two aspects, therefore, it suffices to assume that the presumptive failure by Singtel to fulfil various needs of these employees is the primary reason they look forward to leaving the company. A profound comprehension of the situation is possible through the analysis of Abraham Maslow’s theory of needs and John Stacey Adams’ equity theory. However, it is critical to gain a prerequisite understanding of the concept of employee motivation. Employee motivation is a concept that connotes both an internal and external drive to effectively, with determination and commitment, perform tasks (Moran, 2013). It is a culmination of all the processes and procedures that a person adopts in their quest to perform any work-related activity to utmost perfection. Rewards are the greatest source of motivation and they classify motivation into two primary categories- extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic rewards come from within, and comprise psychological rewards like a person’s unwavering quest to accomplish a task since it makes them feel good about it or themselves while extrinsic rewards come from without, and includes trophies and money among others (Fair III & Silvestri, 1992). On the overall, studies that have been conducted to determine the impact of rewards on motivation have always been inconsistent. Pierce, Cameron, Banko and So (2003) embarked on a study that would examine the impacts of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation of the employees. They realised that rewarding workers for meeting their performance targets, which was evidently challenging, increased their intrinsic motivation; people who were not rewarded showed low levels of intrinsic motivation. Wiersma (1992) conducted a similarly scoped meta-analysis to summarise the inconsistencies that characterise studies on this subject. The analysis concluded that giving rewards by chance is a recipe for reduced intrinsic motivation. Earn (1982), in his study, also found out that increases in the pay increased intrinsic motivation. In summary, while these studies may differ in terms of the surrounding conditions, they all acknowledge that employee motivation is proportionally related to the rewards alongside other factors.