Abstract:
Employee retention refers to the ability of an organization to retain its employees. Apparel
industry plays a major role in Sri Lankan economy. High level of employee absenteeism
and turnover is a chronic disease of this industry and various types of strategies are used
to generate employee retention intention in their minds. The main purpose of this study
is to identify the factors affect to the employee retention intention with special reference
to Brandix Essentials pvt. Ltd. Matara. With reference to the existing circumstances of
the garment industry, it is revealed that the necessity of redefining the modern retention
strategies rather than traditional salary, benefits package and compensation etc. Factors
of employee retention were considered as independent variable and it was categorized
to five theoretical perspectives, such as company image, rewards, organizational policies,
employee relationship and employee satisfaction. The employee retention intention was
dependent variable and it was measured under the variables of employee absenteeism and
turnover. As a descriptive study both qualitative and quantitative research methods were
used. Primary date was collected through a structured questionnaire with Likert 5 point
scale type questions and several interviews held with the management. Secondary data
were collected by organizational sources, exit interviews and other relevant documents.
100 machine operators were used for the data collection effort. Employee preferences
were measured by the mean values and compared in order to the demographic variables
and measured the nature of relationship among two variables. The mean values of
employee perception towards the retention factors are having favorable condition. But
the relationship among two variables is “o” and “weak positive”. But there was no any
significant importance (p>0.05) among the factors except company policies. It means
that company policies(p=0.03) have been influenced to their absenteeism and turnover
activities. Further discussions held with the management and collected data from the
exit interviews reviewed that employees are leaving from the organization due to their
personal factors such as marriage, family matters, health factors etc. Hence the findings of
this study would be important to the decision makers of the garment industry and further
suggestions were made.