A Comprehensive Approach Towards the Turnover Problem in Front- Line Employees of Restaurants

Abstract

Turnover has impacted the hospitality industry worldwide and has made the retaining of talent difficult. Despite there being a lot of research on turnover there is still a lack of it on the subject particularly in the context of local restaurants. There is a need for more factors to be identified and also of how these factors initiate a decision-making response in the employees to help better understand the severity of each factor. This study sets out to explore the reasons involved in turnover in the local restaurants. It will help address the turnover problem by analysing the problem at a deeper level as it also aims to explain how these factors initiate a decision- making response, which can either be immediate or planned depending on the factor involved. This study uses a comprehensive approach to address the problem of turnover by making use of a process and a content model. The study spans over 13 local dine- in restaurants with in depth interviews conducted of 22 front- line employees. Semi- structured interviews are employed to gather the data and it was later analysed using the rigorous six step thematic analysis process, thus the study is a qualitative one. The results show there were 5 major themes in the data, that are identified as the major factors leading to turnover. This lead to the identification of four major decision making profiles. This study aims to serve as a foundation for future research giving a comprehensive approach to analysing the turnover problem in the hospitality industry.