Why Do Employees Stay with ISS - Research Paper Example

Why do employees stay with ISS? BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL DATA HERE HERE Why do employees stay with ISS? INTRODUCTION ISS is a Facilities Service company headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. Since its inception in 1901 as a night watchmen service company, the organisation has undergone numerous transformations and evolutions which today include catering, disaster recovery, cleaning, property services and security. It employs over 43,500 employees that report to three main controlling divisions and layers of sub-management. ISS has recently been experiencing high turnover rates for most of its manual crewmembers (i.e. blue collar), despite best efforts to create an inclusive, career path-oriented leadership structure. Evidence of this leadership structure at ISS is provided by The Finance Director (2010) to include what is referred to as a multi-local approach to management. The company recognises the importance of providing localised service provision based on cultural needs. It suggests diversity as a focus for people development. The company’s vision is to “lead facility services globally – by leading facility services locally” (the-fianance-director.com, 2010, p.1). ISS is decentralised (uk.issworld.com, 2010), with the intention of using people as resources to improve company position. Instances of identifying management philosophy is available throughout the organisation’s website as being transformational, defined as using charismatic personality, vision championing, and coaching as a new management philosophy (Endrissat, Muller & Meissner, 2005). In this sort of ideal environment that is people-focused, it would appear, at first glance, that employees stay with ISS because of their devotion to local culture and people development. However, turnover in certain segments continues to increase, most noticeable in cleaning, security, landscaping, and other blue collar job roles. Is there an ongoing problem with the manual labour team that needs identification? Why are there no other areas of the business experiencing high turnover? This proposed research project seeks to identify: 1. What attitudes prevail in manual labourers that might not be present with office support personnel? 2. What factors are most important for manual workers in their position? 3. How do these workers, compared to other personnel, view the concepts of high excellence and skills-building at ISS compared to their own job roles? The objectives chosen will provide information about whether there are cultural differences between manual and support workers that impact relationships or communications. The research intends to uncover what meaning the blue collar workers give to their job roles in relation to status, their family, or through self-analysis. In order to identify why people stay at ISS, it is first important to identify whey they might choose to leave in favour of other employment and see if these identified needs are present in the manual worker environment. LITERATURE REVIEW Weiten & Lloyd (2005) offer results from a survey of global workers which identified that only 43 percent of workers making under £30,000 found a sense of identity through their jobs. Fifty-three percent of those surveyed offered that they merely worked just to make a living (Weiten & Lloyd). In this service industry, without being on a regular salary, it is likely that this manual segment is paid hourly at a rate lower than or near 30,000. If this categorises the general attitude of manual workers in this pay category, should pay be considered as a potential factor of interest when deciding why people remain with ISS? If this represented the whole of global manual workers, making under 30,000, would they be devoted to a large-scale employment package that reinforces opportunity through advancement and learning? According to Hennequin (2007) blue collar workers tend to build their own, very strong organisational culture. They do this, Hennequin offers, to explain their own dignity even when people in society offer them pressures that they are not successful, from a status perspective. This implies that people in society in the manual worker category might be experiencing social concerns about their earnings, their status as a societal contributor, or maybe even family-oriented problems. These emotions might explain the development of their own subculture that sympathizes with their own perceived status or job role. The development of a unique subculture amid a broader culture should be included in the research effort. Brereton, Beach & Cliff (2003) offer information about turnover in the mining industry, identified as an industry having very expensive human capital liabilities. Outside of the mining theme, this study further compares the mining industry to service industries, highlighting that most service companies can better manage high turnover rates because of matters of cost and lower human capital inputs. However, is this necessarily true for ISS? The company has their own development and training university that is part of their employment package or extended learning efforts. There is considerable cost associated with training and development at ISS because of these investments, therefore making turnover a serious issue. Hope & Mackin (2007) offer that as an employee gets one year older, their turnover probability rises by three percent. After marriage, the employee turnover probability rises to 22 percent in comparison to single workers (Hope & Mackin). It should be identified how the manual workers view themselves: either as human capital or just a regular manual worker. At ISS, the leadership identifies in the company website that cleaning crew work is “continually monitored” to make sure it meets “exacting standards” (uk.issworld.com, 2010, p.1). This means a system of controls have been developed that include management presence and dedication to a service excellence philosophy. At the same time, a client of the organisation describes service excellence and how ISS focuses its efforts at ward-level hospital cleaning in this high-risk environment (hefma.org.uk, 2010). Client commentaries about the company seem to refer back to the senior leadership team rather than those performing the excellent service. Are they continuously monitored with too much management presence or are the employees under-represented? It is important to identify these factors and the manual worker segments’ relationships with leadership. Ohta, Takeuchi, Yosiaki & Suzuki (1998) offer that occupation is usually considered a main socio-economic factor when perceiving employee self-value. It is necessary to identify perceptions among this group of how they are represented as contributing members of this decentralised organisation. PROBLEM STATEMENT ISS has a turnover rate in the manual labourer group that needs immediate attention. Turnover is not present in other employee segments, therefore there must be a distinction that makes one group want to remain with ISS and the blue collar workers contribute to higher turnover margins. METHODOLOGY This will take a qualitative approach to research, since it is dealing with the sophistication of emotions and perceptions. Questionnaires will be the chosen research instrument for this study as they will provide semi-structured guidance to explore issues surrounding organisational structure, the local versus group cultures, and their own self-identity as found or rejected through work practices and job role function. A sample size selected will include manual representatives and support personnel in completely different job roles. This should have at least six representatives of both teams, totalling twelve interview participants. The scope of this study limits the ability to conduct more in-depth, high sample surveying. Questionnaires will be considered for reliability and be structured with questions identifying key emotional triggers that might occur in the job environment. Additionally, these instruments will identify issues of relationship between managers and the external social environment. Analysis of the questionnaires will involve consulting with different secondary publications, such as industry-specific journals or educational resources in areas of sociology and psychology. The data will be compared to this literature theme to identify any weaknesses or opportunities in current ISS human resources policies or to offer insight into what drives self-concept in relation to job role as manual workers. CONCLUSIONS High costs of turnover may be explained through social theories or by understanding the internal dynamics of how the business is managed in all layers. Since it is decentralised, workers should have a better picture of the social and professional landscape to provide meaningful data on both. The literature provided possible connections with external social influence along with concepts most closely related to self-esteem development or simply a result of pay structure. This proposed study’s objectives should identify the key factor for why employees stay at ISS or choose to exist. CRITICAL PROPOSAL REVIEW The sample size chosen was realistic and achievable and should provide measurable results. All limitations have been considered as the researcher can gain access to internal employees without conflict to meeting study objectives. Issues of being able to replicate the instrument in two controlled conditions were considered when choosing the questionnaire as the qualitative tool. Rejection of quantitative research was based on need for less statistical correlation and more interpretative focus. The literature review identified factors that could potentially cause problems with turnover with lower-paid, manual segment group efforts to try to link them with the ISS leadership and management philosophies. This proposed research study should require only two to three months to develop, perform and analyse; a reasonable target. REFERENCES Brereton, D., Beach, R. & Cliff, D. 2003, Employee turnover as a sustainability issue, p.6. Mineral Council of Australia. http://www.csrm.uq.edu.au/docs/MCApaperTurnover1.pdf (accessed April 6, 2010). Endrissat, N. , Muller, W. & Meissner, J. 2005, A guided tour through a Swiss German leadership landscape, Academy of Management Conference. Hope, J. & Mackin, P. 2007, The relationship between employee turnover and employee compensation in small business. http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs308tot.pdf (accessed April 7, 2010). Hefma.org. 2010, Hospital Cleaning – How ISS is helping create a step change in cleaning. Health Estates & Facilities Management Association. http://www.hefma.org.uk/source-article/hospital-cleaning-how-iss-is-helping-create-a-step-change-in-cleaning/492 (accessed April 7, 2010). Hennequin, E. 2007, What career success means to blue-collar workers, Career Development International, Bradford. 12(6), p.565. Ohta, A., Takeuchi, K., Yosiaki, S. & Suzuki, S. 1998, Differences in lifestyle and perceived health in different occupations in a community, Journal of Occupational Health, Vol. 40, pp.325-333. The-financedirector.com. 2010, Cleaning and Facility Services. http://www.the-financedirector.com/contractors/business-process-outsourcing/iss/ (accessed April 8, 2010). Uk.issworld.com. 2010, Cleaning. http://www.uk.issworld.com/career/apply/pages/information_for_applicants.aspx (accessed April 7, 2010). Uk.issworld.com. 2010, Your Growth. http://www.uk.issworld.com/career/your_growth/Pages/our_people_strategy.aspx (accessed April 8, 2010). Weiten, W. & Lloyd, M. 2005, Psychology Applied to Modern Life, 6th ed. Thomson Wadsworth. The transformational leader is visionary, inspirational, encouraging, has integrity, decisive, and performance oriented. What is the Meaning of Leadership? A Guided Tour through a Swiss-German Leadership Landscape* Nada Endrissat, Werner R. Muller and Jens Meissner. Academy of Management Conference. 2005. Read More