assignment 8

Title of Your Paper

Introduction

The workforce is changing as new employees enter the labor pool. Over the next ten years, up to 61 million people in the U.S. born after 1995 (i.e, GenZ) will enter the workforce. GenZ have unique characteristics, and human resource managers (HRM) need to be prepared for possible new hiring and training approaches. One of the most important issues facing HRM is employee retention (RET). RET is defined as the intention of employees to stay employed. RET is critical for organizational success due to the costs associated with hiring and training new workers, the loss of business continuity when employees leave (i.e., turnover), and the loss of productivity when employees leave (Lee, Hom, Eberly, & Li, 2018).

Traditional research on retention has focused on turnover, which is a reactive approach to why employees have left. Current research on retention has focused on employees staying, which is a proactive approach of why employees want to stay. Retention strategies encompass those policies and procedures initiated by HR managers and organizational leaders to increase intention to stay.

One strategy to increase RET is employee engagement (EE), because employees who are engaged have high intention to stay with the organization (Vance, 2006). In the 21st century, EE is defined from the context of positive psychology as a “persistent, positive affective-motivational state of fulfillment in employees” (Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001, p. 417). According to current estimates, only about one-third of U.S. employees are engaged (Corbin, 2017). Thus there may be opportunities for HR managers and organizational leaders to increase EE in their human talent.

The purpose of this course-embedded research experience (CRE) project is to address the following three objectives: (1) What GenZ value in the workplace, (2) Identify recommendations GenZ have for increasing employee engagement, and (3) Identify recommendations GenZ have for increasing retention. These objectives are timely in today’s highly competitive global business market, especially with a multi-generational workforce. Results of this study may help employers and HR managers to anticipate workplace needs and possibly change HR strategies to increase EE and RET in new GenZ workers.

Methodology

Sample, Data Collection, and Analysis

A sample of 111 students randomly selected from among the population of Gen Z students at Lawrence Technological University served as study participants. Study participants were randomly selected from among the student body at Lawrence Tech to complete a computer-based survey. The survey was comprised of open-ended questions and ranking items. Qualitative data from two open-ended questions were analyzed for this report using thematic analysis: “What should employers do to help new GenZ employees feel engaged?”, and “What should employers do to increase retention?”. Qualitative data were analyzed utilizing thematic analysis.

Thematic analysis is a process for encoding qualitative information. The encoding requires an explicit “code”. This may be a list of themes; a complex model with themes, indicators, and qualifications that are causally related; or something in between these two forms. A theme is a pattern found in the information that at the minimum descries and organizes possible observations or at the maximum interprets aspects of the phenomenon. (Boyatzis, 1998, p. 4).

Each participant also ranked 15 items in terms of level of importance when the participant graduates college and begins job seeking for a full-time job. These items were analyzed using quantitative descriptive statistics. Ranking items were ranked by mean score (low-high = most important-least important). All analyses were conducted in Microsoft Excel.

Results

Sample Demographic Characteristics

Table 1 shows the demographic characteristics of the study sample in terms of gender, age, work status, college, and level. The gender of the sample was comprised of 40% female and 60% male. **FINISH THE NARRATION OF TABLE 1 FOR AGE, WORKING FULL TIME, AND LEVEL. **

Table 1 Demographic Characteristics of Study Sample

Characteristic	n	Percent	Characteristic	n	Percent
Gender			Working Full Time?
Female	45	40	No	91	82
Male	66	60	Yes	20	18
Age			Level
18-19	36	32	Freshman	27	24
20-21	49	44	Sophomore	21	19
22-33	26	24	Junior	41	37
			Senior	22	20

Qualitative Data

Thematic analysis results of the question “What should employers do to help new GenZ employees feel engaged?” are shown in Figure 1, and thematic analysis results of the question “What should employers do to increase retention?” are shown in Figure 2. Thematic analysis results are expressed as the percent of students who are not working vs. the percentage of students who are working.

Figure 1 shows the following six themes emerged in response to the question “What should employers do to help new GenZ employees feel engaged?”: Work Culture, Leader Feedback & Relations, Training & Development, Work-Life Balance, Autonomy & Self-Discipline, and Compensation. The distribution of themes across working and not working students shows students who are working recommend the top three recommendations to employers to increase employee engagement are Leader Feedback & Relations, Work Culture, and Autonomy & Self-Discipline; the top three recommendations from students who are not working are Work Culture, Leader Feedback & Relations, and Training & Development.

Figure 1 What Should Employers do to Increase Employee Engagement

Figure 2 shows the following five themes emerged in response to the question “What should employers do to increase retention?”: **FINISH**. The distribution of themes across working and not working students shows students who are working recommend the top three recommendations to employers to increase employee retention are **FINISH**; the top three recommendations from students who are not working are **FINISH**.

Figure 2 What Should Employers do to Increase Retention

Quantitative Data

Results of the rankings of items important when seeking a full-time job after graduation are shown in Table 2. As shown in Table 2 left column, the top five items important when seeking a full-time for students who are not working were Work-Life Balance, Compensation, Work Culture, Job Description, and Advancement. As shown in Table 2 right column, the top five items important when seeking a full-time for students who are working were **FINISH**.

Table 2 Rankings of Items Important When Seeking a Full-Time Job after Graduation

Ranking	Students Not Working (n = 91)	Ranking	Working (n = 20)
1	Work-life balance	1	Compensation
2	Compensation	2	Advancement
3	Work culture	3	Work-life balance
4	Job Description	4	Feeling valuable
5	Advancement	5	Work culture
6	Feeling valuable	6	Job Description
7	Collaboration	7	Collaboration
8	Leader Engagement	8	Leader Engagement
9	Safety	9	Safety
10	Autonomy	10	Autonomy
11	Feedback	11	Feedback
12	Recognition	12	Mentorship
13	Mentorship	13	Recognition
14	Job rotation	14	Job rotation
15	Paid Volunteering	15	Paid Volunteering

Discussion

Interpretations (What do the Results Mean?)

*Finish*

Implications and Recommendations (Why do the Results Matter? What Should be Done?)

*Finish*

Limitations and Future Research (What Can’t the Results Tell Us? What New Research Should Follow?)

*Finish*

References

Boyatzis, R. E. (1998). Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development. Thousand Oaks, CA US: Sage Publications, Inc.

Corbin, J. (2017). The Gallup 2017 employee engagement report is out: And the results…Nothing has changed. Gallup. Retrieved from http://www.theemployeeapp.com/gallup-2017-employee-engagement-report-results-nothing-changed

Lee, T. W., Hom, P., Eberly, M., & Li, J. (2018). Managing employee retention and turnover with 21st century ideas. Organizational Dynamics, 47, 88-98.

Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Leiter, M. P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 397-422.

Vance, R. J. (2006). Employee engagement and commitment: A guide to understanding, measuring and increasing engagement in your organization. In.SHRM Foundation, the Society for Human Resource Management Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/special-reports-and-expert-views/Documents/Employee-Engagement-Commitment.pdf