IndexIntroductionMaintaining work-life balanceJob satisfaction and career advancementCompensationTraining and developmentConclusionIntroductionThis study offers a review of past literature, dating mainly from the last two decades, providing a historical and current understanding of employee retention employees and how it is perceived as a challenge to the hospitality industry, as well as explicitly detailing the factors that contribute to employee turnover or retention within the Hospitality Industry. These factors include aspects of work-life balance, job satisfaction and career progression, compensation, training and development, all of which are common and recurring themes in the vast amount of literature relating to retention specifically and specifically for business organizations. hospitality. to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Retention Employee retention is one of the most critical issues facing organizational managers due to skilled labor shortages, economic growth, and high employee turnover in almost every industry. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that managers recognize and appreciate the importance of retaining talented employees within their organizations for as long as possible and devise strategies in this regard. While employee retention is an important issue for many organizations, it remains largely underappreciated and overlooked. There is a limited amount of research that identifies and establishes the connection between employee retention and organizational retention efforts. High employee turnover and poor retention rates are a constant concern for organizations, thus requiring further research and questioning among hospitality academics. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, employee retention refers to “the extent to which an employer retains its employees and can be measured as the percentage of employees with a given length of service (typically one year or more) expressed as a percentage of the overall workforce.” Many sources in the literature describe a similar concept of retention. Workforce Planning, Wisconsin State Government (2005); an environment that encourages employees to stay employed, adopting policies and practices that respond to their diverse needs". Cardy and Lengnick-Hall (2011), summarized employee retention very simply as that which refers to the ability of a organization to retain its employees. Retention levels vary widely across industries and occupations within these particular industries. The hotel sector, on the other hand, is the sector with the highest turnover rates. Therefore, it turns out that they also have the lowest retention rate, especially and unsurprisingly in hotels. This is due to its "uninviting nature", particularly in relation to the negative perception of the sector, regarding the low wages received, unpleasant work, rigid working hours and little or no career progression opportunities for workers its employees. In a completed report by Deloitte (2015); The hospitality and tourism sector has been found to have the highest turnover rate of around 30% in the UK. Significantly higher than the national average turnover rate ofjust 13%. On the other hand, the annual retention rate within the industry is estimated at just 70%, which is considerably lower than the UK average of 85%. The workforce company “Deputy” (2018), identified low pay, inconvenient hours and lack of career advancement as the top 3 indicators of low retention rates. The data reinforces the idea that organizations need to focus on retaining their most valuable and talented employees. employees as it is becoming increasingly difficult to hire qualified employees even more so, due to the obstacle to the UK leaving the European Union. Therefore, emphasis must be placed on managing the talent that already exists within the organization. Panoch (2001), agrees that it is of great importance for organizations to secure their current skilled workforce and appreciate their value, as good employees are becoming much harder to find. As in many industries, loyalty remains one of the biggest challenges facing the hospitality industry. industry. It is undeniably difficult to successfully recruit and retain employees, especially due to the demand within the industry and the need for skilled workers, which is limited in supply due to the aforementioned negative reputation and nature of the industry. In studies completed by Mobley et al (1979), they considered a variety of factors that had a significant impact on employee retention, specifying determinants including pay and career advancement documenting the historical impact that these factors have had and lack of progress in the hospitality industry. In more recent years, these boundaries have been expanded to include family life and other life responsibilities outside of the workplace, now broadly defined as “work-life balance.” Reaffirmed by Dawson et al., (2011) hospitality occupations are generally seen as having low wages, long and irregular working hours, lack of job security and minimal opportunities for professional development. Factors that all have a notable and significant impact on employee retention: These key factors must be focal points for HR professionals within these organizations, as retention of promising talent is critical to organizational success and achieving a competitive advantage. As is evident from the literature, an employee's retention is not determined by any singular factor, but a number of issues concern and influence his/her decision-making process, regarding retention, as management must place emphasis on the implementation of strategic methods of employee retention by focusing on issues that influence employee retention within the organization. Below are factors that have been well documented and cited throughout the literature as the most significant in identifying the causes of low retention rates based on the level of work-life balance, compensation and rewards, training and development, as well as on job satisfaction and the perception of lack of career advancement. Work-life balance Work-life balance has become an increasingly attractive concept over the last 15 years, due to concerns that arise from an unbalanced work life, including reduced health and performance outcomes for both employees and employers. Work-life balance has been described as “the extent to which an individual is engaged in – and equally satisfied with – his or herwork and family roles". Attracting and retaining talented people becomes increasingly difficult due to specific demographic conditions and psychological tendencies" which implies that management within industries must be inclusive of employee needs. Nowadays , work-life balance is an increasingly important factor in employee retention. Traditional literature on this concept has begun to develop, however, this concept is not highlighted nor has much literature emerged on this topic specifically in the United States. hospitality sector. Long working hours and antisocial in the hospitality industry have also been well documented in research such as contingent work and the low pay received for doing so. Often, work-life balance has been considered a "privilege" by employers, including having a satisfactory amount of free time, flexibility in the workplace, and support for a work-life balance from superiors. If an employee has a significant lack of work-life balance, this can become clear through their work and performance, employees with heavy shifts and a low work-life balance are less focused on their work and show lower work performance. As work-life balance is a growing issue in society, organizations need to do more through their people resources department to ensure they have practices and policies in place to support such movement for their employees, reducing the quantity and recurrence of invasive working hours, ensuring that employees are not forced to sacrifice their personal lives, social lives and commitments (Lewis, 2010). A survey conducted by YouGov and Deputy (2018) found that 55% of employees say that more control over their working lives and shift patterns would help more workers stay in the hospitality industry. Work-life balance has been seen as an essential strategy for retaining staff, particularly employee retention. the most talented employees within an organisation, becoming increasingly recognized as a key driver of retention. Maxwell (2006), noted that not only would implementing such strategies affecting flexible working hours, arrangements and adequate breaks cover concerns about work-life balance, but this would also positively influence a employee to stay in an organization. encourages and enables an employee to be able to fully assume their responsibilities and contribute to their personal life, and fulfilling those commitments increases the likelihood of employee retention. It has been noted that there is a direct relationship between the existence of a work-life balance and retention – emphasis needs to be placed at an organizational level on creating and establishing a “harmonious” relationship between the two. Retaining talented and skilled employees is of key ongoing concern in the hospitality industry, once again, it must therefore be an area of ​​ongoing questioning for academics. It is very important to place emphasis on work-life balance strategies to influence an employee's level of satisfaction within their job role. The interconnection between work-life balance and job satisfaction is an extremely important approach to retention. Job Satisfaction and Career Advancement Job satisfaction is defined by Locke (1976, p.1304) as a “statepleasant or positive emotional result resulting from the evaluation of one's work or work experience". It can also be explained as “the pleasant emotional state resulting from evaluating one's work as achieving or facilitating the realization of one's work values. Therefore, any dissatisfaction arises from an employee having negative emotional states about their job. This is of paramount importance in the hospitality industry, due to its existing reputation, as discussed. An employee's level of satisfaction with their job is influenced by several aspects, including that of compensation, the work environment, communication levels and the organizational commitment instilled within the industry. employees by the organization. It has also been stated in the literature on this topic that there is a distinct relationship between an employee's job satisfaction and turnover intentions; the suggestion is that a markedly high level of job satisfaction then establishes lower levels of employee intention to part ways with an organization. Academics have even gone so far as to refer to job satisfaction as a primary determinant of an employee's intention to quit. The link between satisfaction and turnover intentions has been well documented, so it is the responsibility of HR professionals to recognize it. connect and address any existing dissatisfaction with operational and organizational procedures currently practiced within an organization. Once again, job satisfaction is a significant indicator of an employee's intent to quit, along with a number of other factors that include wages, hours, and other job variables – both highly important.important in preventing potential layoffs. It has been theorized that pay or (lack of) it can have a negative impact on retention in the hospitality industry and even lead to job dissatisfaction and as a result; also the turnover. In addition to the concept of “compensation” in relation to employee retention; another closely related factor is the topic “Career Advancement.” Appropriate salary and compensation initiatives apparently have a great influence on staff retention, as does ensuring career advancement opportunities for employees. Yang (2012) found in his sample that the vast majority of employees, those who resigned, did so due to career advancement opportunities elsewhere; as well as offering more than just career opportunities, as a strategy to attract and retain. This is supported by Rolfe (2005) who in his research observed that there is a direct relationship between an employee's professional development opportunities and that employee's retention. Highlighting the importance that personal and professional growth has for an employee and that promotional opportunities increase the likelihood and commitment to remain in one's job role and current organization. CompensationIncome and compensation, i.e. pay, are valuable determinants of job satisfaction, which is directly associated with employee retention. Therefore, demonstrating compensation is another important factor to consider when talking about employee retention. The topic of pay, salary, reward or benefits is a topic that appears continuously throughout the literature, many authors have different opinions, which need to be explored further. It was reported by Kifle (2014) that an employee's overall satisfaction comes from their salary and their.