The impact of human resource practices on employee retention: A study of three private higher educational institutions in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Orientation: Human resource (HR) practices have a significant impact on building the perceptions that define the relationships between employees and employers. Hence, it is imperative to develop further knowledge on how these HR practices impact employee retention within the higher education context.Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between various HR practices and employee retention in an organisation. The article also investigates the effect of HR practices across employees of various demographic backgrounds, such as citizens and expatriates.Motivation for the study: The limited research was conducted on employee retention in higher education despite the fundamental role that higher education institutions play in driving innovation, developing knowledge capital and research and development.Research design: Descriptive statistical analysis and multiple regression analysis with a sample size of 270 employees working across three higher education institutions in the United Arab Emirates (UAEs).Main findings: The findings showed that HR practices can improve employees’ retention, with moderate positive perceptions amongst UAE citizens, but an unsatisfactory level of perception and effect of human resource practices amongst expatriates.Practical implications: The results indicate a difference in the effects of HR practices across various demographics within the same the section. Hence, HR management should be looking at a unification of HR practices to obtain unified results in loyalty, commitment and employee retention.Contribution: However, the results also indicated that this gap in employees’ retention can be minimised by improving on empowerment and compensation and benefits, with even more enforcements of training.

Brain drain in Pakistan's pharmaceutical industry: factors and solutions

“…The theoretical implications of this study emphasize the importance of providing well‐designed training programs, setting clear expectations and formal job requirements, and creating a culture that values employee growth and development. Pharmaceutical organizations need to prioritize the development of their employees to enhance their job performance and retain skilled employees, reduce brain drain, and improve the quality of services offered (Alajlani & Yesufu, 2022). This can be achieved by providing systematic and well‐designed training programs that enhance employee skills, attitudes, and performance and also emphasize the need for organizations to allocate sufficient budget to analyze the specific needs of training and evaluate the results to ensure that training programs are effective in improving job performance of the pharmacists (Aman‐Ullah et al, 2020).…”

“…The essential objectives of organizational human resource management include recognizing employees as valuable assets and striving to maximize their contributions. This can be achieved through activities such as training and development (Alajlani & Yesufu, 2022) and compensation and rewards (Boselie et al, 2021; Reina & Scarozza, 2021), as highlighted by various studies (Alajlani & Yesufu, 2022; Aleem & Bowra, 2020; Reina & Scarozza, 2021). Numerous studies have extensively examined the impact of training and development on employee retention, making it one of the most studied human resource management practices (Akther & Tariq, 2020).…”

“…Various organizational approaches and human resource management practices are being applied in pharmaceutical industry, such as employee training and development (Sekar et al, 2021b) and compensation and rewards to retain the employees (Khatun et al, 2023) (Wilkinson et al, 2018) and to enhance their job performance and level of job satisfaction, but stakeholders are still perceiving it as a cost (Aman‐Ullah et al, 2020; Feely et al, 2023). On the other hand, the empirical evidence presented by Alajlani and Yesufu (2022) demonstrates that training and development, job performance, and job satisfaction directly contribute to the retention of employees and same are coded by Sugiarti (2023) and Soliman et al (2023); Le et al (2023) have argued that these factors are also act as mediating factors for employee retention.…”

A munkaerő-megtartás HR szempontú megközelítése

“…Folyamatos visszajelzés a teljesítményről (Alajlani & Yesufu 2022) Kérdőíves megkérdezés: alacsonyabb a kilépési szándéka azoknak a dolgozóknak, akik a formális teljesítményértékelés mellett folyamatos visszajelzést kapnak a teljesítményükről.…”

The Effects of Recruitment, Selection, and Training Practices on Employee Performance in the Construction and Related Industries

“…They emphasized the importance of selection methods. Another recent study by Alajlani & Yesufu [37] examined the relationship between HR practices and employee retention, as one of the performance dimensions, in higher education institutions in the UAE. They found that HR practices can improve employee retention.…”