The Economic Impact of Employee Behaviors on Organizational Performance

Wayne F. Cascio

Chapter 14 in America at Work, 2006, pp 241-256 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Consider a recent quote from the Wall Street Journal (July 14, 2003): “It’s no longer about what you own or build; success is hinged to the resources and talent you can access.” Unfortunately, recent statistics indicate that American workplaces are not doing a very good job of managing the talent they currently have. Thus Only 14 percent of American workers say they are very satisfied with their jobs. Twenty-five percent say they “are just showing up to collect a paycheck” (The Stat 2005). From January 2004, to January 2005, 24 percent of American workers voluntarily quit their jobs, a 13 percent rise since the previous year. That figure varies widely by industry, though, with relatively low rates in manufacturing and transportation (roughly 15 percent), and relatively high rates in leisure and hospitality, retail, and construction industries (ranging from about 25–45 percent) (Employment Policy Foundation 2005). To appreciate what that means for an individual firm, consider the number of people Wal-Mart employed at the end of 2004—1,600,000 people (Fortune 500, 2005). Its annual employee turnover rate is 44 percent—close to the retail industry average (Frontline 2005). Each year, therefore, Wal-Mart must recruit, hire, and train more than 700,000 new employees just to replace those who left. Women now outnumber men in managerial and professional jobs, yet many leave even blue-chip employers because they do not feel valued, their companies do not offer flexible-employment policies, or their work is not intellectually challenging. Rather than leave the workforce, most resurface at companies that offer more progressive policies (Deutsch 2005).

Keywords: Irritable Bowel Syndrome; Organizational Performance; Business Unit; Customer Loyalty; Financial Impact (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-4039-8359-6_14

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781403983596

DOI: 10.1057/9781403983596_14

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().