To gain insights about the nature and expenses of specific aspects of employee turnover, the authors gathered data from thirty-three U.S. hotels and found that the costs of turnover were generally higher for (1) high-complexity jobs; (2) independent properties; (3) high—average daily rate (ADR) properties; (4) large properties; and (5) high-occupancy properties. The authors also identified several activities associated with recruitment, selection, and training that were linked to lower overall costs of turnover. The results shed new light on the nature and consequences of turnover and provide some prescriptive guidance for managing this serious operational and strategic challenge.
For example, the Occupational Information Network, a warehouse of information about jobs that is maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor, shows that the specific vocational preparation score for a restaurant cook, which reflects the time it takes the average new employee to reach average levels of proficiency, is more than three months and up to two years, depending on the work context and other factors that may influence knowledge and skill acquisition (http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/35-2014.00).
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A median- or mean-split is a descriptive analytic procedure that divides a sample into two approximately equal subsamples. The result provides a basis for analyzing differences in the subsamples (e.g., mean comparisons using t-tests, analyses of variance, etc.). Due to missing data, a mean-split procedure was used to examine differences in the specific replacement activities in lower versus higher total turnover cost contexts.
5.
All references to statistical significance in this report were based on an analysis of variance procedure that used the various job, property, and market-related factors as independent variables and the cost of turnover categories as the dependent variables. Since the sample size was relatively small, a conservative p-value of .10 (one-tailed) was used.
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