Addressing Low Employee Job Satisfaction And High Turnover In ASOS, An Essay.

The company has been struggling as the workers morale and performance is very low which is resulting in a lot of staff absences. The CEO thinks this might be because of resistance to a new policy they implemented and funding cuts. The new policy introduced changes to the employees working hours. The CEO believes having everyone at work strictly Monday to Friday from 9-5pm would increase productivity and collaboration between staff members. So staff members can no longer work from home or have flexible hours. There have also been funding cuts and the office kitchen no longer has free coffee, tea, biscuits or milk. The CEO wants to know if performance and morale are low due to this or something else.
   
What are the ways in which the job demands and resources can enhance employee satisfaction in workplace?
 
What are the range of demands and resources necessary for employees of ASOS in decreasing their turnover intention?
 
What are the issues regarding lack of job resources existing in ASOS that is leading to low job satisfaction and high employee turnover?
   
What are the recommended necessary actions to CEO of ASOS in dealing with the business problem of low job satisfaction and high employee turnover?

What can “thematic analysis” offer health and wellbeing researchers?

Literature Review

Addressing arising business problems are deemed to be important in addressing a business problem through employing a theoretical framework that can facilitate in dealing with most common business issues such as employee turnover and decreased job satisfaction. The company case that is selected to be analyzed in the current research is ASOS that is positioned as a British online fashion and cosmetic retailer focused on offering their own range of accessories and clothing in more than 200 nations (Albrech et al. 2015).

The company is dealing with issues of low employee job satisfaction and high turnover. The objective of the current report is to address a business issue through employing a theoretical framework that can facilitate in offering relevant information on business issues along with necessary explanations for business concerns. Moreover, based on the findings of the paper certain necessary recommendations are offered to the company in enhancing its business decisions and enhancing job satisfaction and employee turnover within the selected company ASOS.

Bakker and Demerouti (2017) indicated that several researches have been carried out in analyzing the job satisfaction level as implemented to distinct setting and has recognized job satisfaction to e dependent on several factors. It has also been revealed that employees those indicate nature of satisfaction towards their jobs is not that likely to be involved in frequent absenteeism and there are chances of low turnover. In contrast, research conducted by Bakker (2014) elaborated that job satisfaction enhances individual employee performance along with organizational performance. Previous researches have recognized a string association among job satisfaction and performance over the past years. Moreover, this has turned out to be a vital aspect to the human resource strategies on employee commitment, participation along with employee productivity. Coal (2015) stated that employee turnover is considered as a complex issue that takes place from employee job disaffection within the workplace. The reasons for employee turnover can be related with their slurries, designations along with work benefits offered by the organization. Previous researchers also investigated the impact of enhancing job satisfaction among employees and it was revealed that such measures have positive association in decreasing cumulative employee turnover rates in companies.

According to Braun and Clarke (2014) it has been observed that “Job Demand Resources Theory” has the proposition that motivation has a positive effect on employee job performance and on the other hand job strain has an adverse impact on job performance. The model below indicates six major components of this theory that includes job crafting, motivation, job performance, strain, self-undermining and job demands that impacts employee job satisfaction and turnover.

Job Demand Resources Theory

(Source: Debus and Unger 2017)

Halbesleben et al. (2014) explained that “Job Demand Resources Model” includes certain job and personal resources those impacts motivation or work engagement of employees at the time the job demands are high. The assumptions made under such model are relied on the premises of “Conservation of Resources (COR)” theory. Li et al. (2014) also added that in this theory the two mentioned job demands are considered to be the aspects of work that need increased effort and are related with psychological and physical costs. This theory proposes that the process of health impairment that initiates with employee job demands are hugely independent from the process of motivation that initiates with job resources.

It has been evidenced from the case of ASOS Company, it has been identified that there exist high levels of employee turnover with low job satisfaction. The business problem in such scenario is observed to take place from long working hours and the employees not being allowed to drink water or visits washroom for meeting company’s Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). Such Moreover, it has also been observed that in the company, the employees are not even paid for their extra working hours and moreover, they also faced with extra difficulty in attaining extra time off. These issues are resulting in decreased employee job satisfaction along with high employee turnover. From the research conducted by Denneson et al. (2017) it has been recognized that such business problem is related with the  two segments of job resources explained in “Job Demand Resources” theory. In consideration to the business case it can also be stated that the company is dealing with issue of not addressing the basic job demands or resources explained within the model. From explanation of Denneson et al. (2017) it has also been revealed that the criteria explained in this theory that includes “Self-undermining and loss spirals” is observed in case of ASOS that is leading to such business problem. This is stated as work pressure and exhaustion has adverse impacts on motivational process that can cause job strain and high turnover.

From analyzing the business problem in ASOS based on “Job Demand Resource” theory the managerial decision statement considered in this research is:

• To increase employee satisfaction and address the issues related with addressing the job demands and resources as mentioned within “Job Demand Resource” theory to develop work environment in increasing employee work engagement.

The research objectives based on the identified research issue and analysis of existing literature on the subject are explained under:

• To analyze the ways in which the job demands and resources can enhance employee satisfaction in workplace
• To investigate a wide range of demands and resources necessary for employees of ASOS in decreasing their turnover intention
• To analyze the issues regarding lack of job resources existing in ASOS that is leading to low job satisfaction and high employee turnover
• To recommend necessary actions to CEO of ASOS in dealing with the business problem of low job satisfaction and high employee turnover

Qualitative research data analysis can be explained as an investigation of textual, visual or artifact data along with explanations of such pattern in attaining suitable research outcomes (Foo, Salleh and Mamat 2015). Qualitative analysis employs social theory in order to decontexualise the raw data in segments along with recontexualising them in codes so that necessary research objectives or hypotheses can be developed (Hadded et al. 2015). Qualitative data for the research has also been gathered from conducting interview of 30 minutes with the staff members of ASOS Company. One floor manager (FM 1), one packer (PACK1) and three pickers (PICK 1, 2, 3) were selected and the interview was conducted onsite within a meeting room.

Application of Job Demand Resources Theory to ASOS

The interview questions and the responses that were offered by the selected participants are indicated under:

• Question 1: Explain the work conditions in the company95

FM 1: I am permanent employee of the company and I have my own office desk where everything is organized. This also helps me in accomplishing all my work in an easy manner. Moreover, I also develop certain employee motivation training sessions that can encourage them to work smartly under pressure.

Pick 1: The working environment of the company is okay, however, it lacks work timing flexibility and there is a high work pressure.

(Source: Authors Creation)

• Question 2: How do you like working conditions in your company?  Do you enjoy your responsibilities and tasks in your job role?

PICK 1: I have no such issues with the working conditions prevailing within the company. I am focused on meeting my daily targets in the company. However, sometimes I face certain concerns regarding break timings. Most of the people also do not take them because of extreme work pressure and for meeting the job tasks assigned by the management.

(Source: Authors Creation)

• Question 3: What do you understand by avoiding the management

PICK 2: Few individuals belonging to the management team are supportive and help in listening the issues faced by the employees. However, there are few members of the management those are rude and held casual behavior towards addressing the problems faced by us in attaining any job role or regarding any employee benefits offered to us. 

PICK 3: I am not that satisfied regarding the employee benefits or the work plan provided by the management. I work just to support my family. The pay structure of the company is not aligned with the job roles or overtime work because of which I feel panic and anxiety to meet KPIs set by the company.

• Question 4: Are you satisfied with your job?

FM 1: I am satisfied with my job and enjoy managing my team. However, I face certain concerns regarding the fact that the employees seem to have high expectations, they leave workplace and I feel work ethics are missing in the company. 

PICK 1: I like my job role but I feel bored at times as no fun activities happen in the company and I find work to be very monotonous.

PICK 2: Like I said before, I just work for supporting my family. The company has faulty facilities like malfunctioning scanners and coffee machines. The management is also not concerned to resolve such issues. 

Recommendations and Conclusion

Based on the findings of the research, certain recommendations are offered to the CEO of ASOS in dealing with the business problem faced by the company regarding low job satisfaction and high employee turnover rate: These recommendations are explained below:

• The management of ASOS is recommended to focus on addressing the basic personal demands of its employees in order to retain them and enhance their job motivation for persuading them in attaining common job objectives.
• Encouraging communication is another recommendation offered to the management in communicating with the employees through employing messenger application or live chats, internal newsletters along with project management. Such employee motivation is also deemed to be aligned with the work culture and implementing system that is well suited to the company.
• Offering training opportunities is necessary for the management to be offered to the employees based on the criteria of the “Job Demand Resource” theory that includes ensuring employee well-being, psychological contract fulfillment along with implementing processes of job control and feedback. Top-down and bottom-up approaches of communication must be utilized by the company in gathering employee feedback on the job benefits offered by the company and based on such recommendations certain necessary facilities and motivating job factors are to be incorporate in ASOS.
• For enhancing employee satisfaction levels and decreasing their turnover rate, the management of ASOS is recommended to incorporate certain considerations that include changing the way of working through decreasing overtime work and paying incentives for overtime. Moreover, changes also must include simplifying the process of work and implementation certain recreational activities to refresh minds of its employees during high work pressure. This can increase satisfaction and job engagement behavior among ASOS employees those are dissatisfied and are planning to leave the organizations due to no job resource benefits.

Qualitative Research Findings on ASOS

Conclusion

The company case that is selected to be analyzed in the current research is ASOS that is positioned as a British online fashion and cosmetic retailer. It has been evidenced from the case of ASOS Company, it has been identified that there exist high levels of employee turnover with low job satisfaction. The business problem in such scenario is observed to take place from long working hours and the employees not being allowed to drink water or visits washroom for meeting company’s Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). Moreover, the findings from the interview revealed that employees face certain concerns regarding break timings. Most of the people also do not take them because of extreme work pressure and for meeting the job tasks assigned by the management. To address the identified business problems, the company is recommended to the management of ASOS is recommended to focus on addressing the basic personal demands of its employees in order to retain them and enhance their job motivation for persuading them in attaining common job objectives.

References

Albrecht, S.L., Bakker, A.B., Gruman, J.A., Macey, W.H. and Saks, A.M., 2015. Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(1), pp.7-35.

Bakker, A. B. And Demerouti, E., 2017. Job demands–resources theory: Taking stock and looking forward. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22(3), p. 273.

Bakker, A.B., 2014. Job demands–resources theory. Wellbeing: A complete reference guide, pp.1-28.

Coal, A.B., 2015. A job demands–resources approach to public service motivation. Public Administration Review, 75(5), pp.723-732.

Braun, V. and Clarke, V., 2014. What can “thematic analysis” offer health and wellbeing researchers?. International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 9.

Debus, M.E. and Unger, D., 2017. The interactive effects of dual?earner couples’ job insecurity: Linking conservation of resources theory with crossover research. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 90(2), pp.225-247.

Debus, M.E. and Unger, D., 2017. The interactive effects of dual?earner couples’ job insecurity: Linking conservation of resources theory with crossover research. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 90(2), pp.225-247.

Denneson, L.M., Cromer, R., Williams, H.B., Pisciotta, M. and Dobscha, S.K., 2017. A qualitative analysis of how online access to mental health notes is changing clinician perceptions of power and the therapeutic relationship. Journal of medical Internet research, 19(6).

Foo, L.W., Salleh, E. and Mamat, S.N.H., 2015. Extraction and qualitative analysis of Piper betle leaves for antimicrobial activities. Extraction, 2, pp.1-8.

Hadded, M., Muhlethaler, P., Laouiti, A., Zagrouba, R. and Saidane, L.A., 2015. TDMA-based MAC protocols for vehicular ad hoc networks: a survey, qualitative analysis, and open research issues. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 17(4), pp.2461-2492.