An important part of human resource practices is Training and development of employees. Growing competition in market and globalisation make large and medium companies invest heavily in this this field to obtain future benefits. In this essay I try to discuss different attitudes of employees which ensure reduced turnover rate among them.

1. HOW TRAINING REDUCES STAFF TURNOVER IN
RETAIL SECTOR
BY: Natalia Sevidova

2. DECLARATION
I declare that this essay is completely my effort and piece of work based on study
conducted by myself. Any work or theory used in this dissertation have been duly
referenced and given proper sources. Moreover, the research has been conducted
according to the guidelines provided by BBK University.

3. Contents
INTRODUCTION 4
DEFINITION OF TURNOVER 5
WHAT IS STAFF TURNOVER AND HOW IT IS CLASSIFIED 5
WHAT CAUSES EMPLOYEE TURNOVER 6
 Relationship between Commitment and Turnover 7
 Causes of dissatisfaction at work 7
 Relationship between Training, career development and turnover 8
TURNOVER IN RETAIL SECTOR 8
HOW TRAINING REDUCES EMPLOYEE TURNOVER
HOW COMMITMENT STRATEGY IMPACTS EMPLOYEE TURNOVER 10
 Effect of Training on Employee Investment 11
 Effect of Training on Employee Reciprocity 12
 Effect of Training on Employees Identity 13
 Effect of Training on Employees Lack of Alternatives 13
CONCLUSION 14

4. INTRODUCTION
An important part of human resource practices is Training and development of
employees. Growing competition in market and globalisation make large and medium
companies invest heavily in this this field to obtain future benefits. In this essay I try to
discuss different attitudes of employees which ensure reduced turnover rate among them.
These attitudes include employee loyalty and commitment with company, employees’
willingness to invest time in company, lack of opportunities, career development
opportunity in company and others.In addition, this essay looks at the effect of training
on increasing these factors and as a result reducing turnover among employees. Experts
reckon training as an important tool towards gaining organizational goals. They believe
that training is best source of increase in employee turnover and retention. They also
believe that training is an extremely important part of human resources practice (Colarell
and Montei, 2006). There has been a considerable increase in training industry. Joyce
(2008) quotes statistics from The American Society for Training and Development and
says that from there was an increase of $135 per employee on the training programs from
2003 to 2007, whereas, there has been a slight decline in training expenditure from 2008
onwards (astd.com, 2010). Joyce argues that employers are still spending on the training
system during the financial crunch, which makes it even more important for the
company’s growth. Kaufman and Hotchkiss (2007) argue that although training can be
extremely beneficial for company’s growth, it can also be high cost for them. These costs
may vary from the salary of the trainer to the technology or material required for it. There
are other indirect costs, like productivity of the employee during and after completing the
training. Apart from all these costs, it is generally expected that the productivity of the
employees will increase at the end of the training program. There is two-way benefit of
training; the company will benefit from the increased output of employees, whereas, the
increase in productivity will ensure higher wages and better pay and rewards. Generally
the company will weigh its cost incur on training with the expected benefit derived from
the productivity of the employees. Besides the costs incurred on training, employee
turnover also plays an important part in the investment made on training. The company
will avoid investing more on training programs, if there are high chances of employee
turnover. Reason behind this is that the company will lose all its investment if the
employee leaves upon completion of the training. Keeping in view the turnover issue,
organizations decide very prudently about the investment they have to make in training
employees.
Companies should take into account all the factors, like the duration, cost and location of
training before starting the program (Frazis and Speltzer, 2005). Organizations usually
spent lot of money in hiring, training, developing and retaining their employees. This is
the reason that managers make all the effort to reduce the level of employee turnover
(Kevin et al., 2009). They said that there is no standardized procedure of reducing
turnover and managers should study different factors that may affect employees and
make them to leave the organization. The need is to develop strategies to counter and
minimize the factors that cause turnover. Globalization has made competition even
tougher between the organizations, so that they have to come up with products and
services which would make them unique. Employees are source of gaining competitive
edge in the market, as they can help provide high value services to the company. Also, if
retained by the company, these employees are not easily replicated by other companies.
Hence, managers should make every effort to understand the factors behind turnover and
try to minimize them as much as possible.

5. DEFINITION OF TURNOVER
There are various reasons behind employee turnover. Abassi et al (2005) describe
turnover as the circulation of employees in the job market from one organization, job or
profession to another or from being unemployed to employed. Whereas, Price (1977)
cited in Abassi et al (2005) describes turnover as the ratio of the employees leaving in a
particular period divided by the people employed in an organization in the same period of
time. He also said that the process of turnover starts from the time an employee leaves
voluntarily or involuntarily to the time another employee is hired and trained to fill that
space. This complete cycle is called turnover. According to Hom and Griffeth (2007), the
term turnover can also be used to describe the relationship between an employee and
organization upon their leave. They believe that an employee makes a conscious decision
to leave an organization. This decision is made after a long process of analyzing different
factors, internal and external. Internal factors can be the behavior of the manager,
organization policies, lack of career growth; while, external factors can be the better job
offer, higher wages, more rewards etc. This is also termed as push and pull factor. Push
factors are the internal factors of the organization that push an employee towards another
organization, while pull factors are external factors which attract the employee towards it
(Beach, 2009). He argued that either single factor makes the employee leave the
organization or sometimes both pull and push factors play significant role in employee’s
decision to leave. I have tried to look into the relationship between training provided by
organizations and employee turnover in retail organization. This essay will cover
different areas and factors that cause turnover and how these can be minimized through
training programs.
WHAT IS STAFF TURNOVER AND HOW IT IS CLASSIFIED?
Different authors have defined turnover as movement of employees leaving or joining the
organization (Nel, Werner, Haasbroek, Poisat, Sono & Schultz, 2008). As per the
definition, the writers do not consider transfers from one branch or office of the same
organization to another to be staff turnover, as it is a permanent activity. The authors also
explained the controllable and uncontrollable forms of turnover. Controllable turnover is
the one that is in control of the management. These include the voluntary turnover, which
means the resignation of employees and the termination from work. Such situations can
be avoided if the management plays proper role. To minimize the number of resignations,
managers should motivate employees, offer better salaries and bonuses, train them and
provide opportunities for career development. Similarly, terminations can be controlled if
the management recruits employees best suitable for the job, train them according to the
expectations and policies of the organization, provide support and guidance when
necessary and provide them with opportunity to utilize their strengths. Also, effort should
be made to mould the behavior of the employee according to the environment and
policies of the company. They should be provided with opportunities for proper
socialisation. Uncontrollable staff is the kind of turnover which cannot be controlled or
avoided by the management. These include unexpected accidents like death, downsizing
staff because of financial loss etc. Similarly, Price (1997) has stated that difference
should be made between avoidable and unavoidable turnover. He explained that
avoidable turnover is in control of the management and the reduced or prevented. It is
pertinent to mention here that retrenchments because of financial loss and cost-cutting
would be counted as involuntary turnover (Schultz & Schultz, 2006). They pointed out
that in some situation this may be voluntary as well; such as employees resigning due to
lack of bonus in worse financial times. Nel et al (2008) pointed out that both voluntary
resignations and terminations are controllable by the management. However, some

6. authors stressed that resignations are voluntary turnover, while terminations are
involuntary; adding that both these can be measured and controlled by the management
(Swanepoel, Erasmus, Van Wyk and Schenk, 2003). Some authors supported Nel et al
(2008) definition and stated that turnover is the movement of employees leaving the
organization (Globler et al, 2006). Although they say that that voluntary and involuntary
turnover are different from each other, but they do not give any specific differences
between the two. But they clearly stated that there is a direct link between job satisfaction
and staff turnover. They explained that management should identify and work on factors
which reduce employees’ satisfaction at work. Gordon (1991) defined staff turnover as
the number of voluntary resignations, while others define it as the number of employees
leaving the organization in a certain period of time (Newton & Davis, 1997). It has also
been observed that the cause of involuntary turnover may not be related to employees, as
it can be restructuring of the organization or downsizing the employees, where the
management has to let go of the employees (Price, 1997). North and Stone (2006) said
that turnover is a voluntary process, chosen by employees to leave the organization. They
said this process brings a balance between the benefits of organization and employee’s
aspiration for better opportunity and career development. These factors can be termed as
push and pull factors. Pull factors are those that attract the employee to the job market
and push factors are those organizational factors that force the employee to look for new
opportunities. Moreover, employees’ attitude towards career development and better
opportunities in the job market are major factors in voluntary turnover. Similarly,
organizations which do not invest in employees create push factors for them to leave.
Negrin and Kirschenbaum (1999) explained different attitudes of employees which affect
the turnover rate of organization. They said that voluntary turnover reflects an attitude of
employee who is in transition of jobs and looks for better opportunity while staying at a
job. Such employees react violently to the negative environment in the organization and
are the first ones to leave. Overall, it is the attitude towards career development that
drives the employees to quit their jobs for better ones. This can also be explained through
argument of market viability, which says that an employee who has greater control on
his/her professional abilities and is aware of strengths is bound to move more from one
organization to another. Greenberg and Baron (2000) explained that while considering
different aspects of turnover, this should also be noticed that sometimes turnover can be
in interest of the organisation and can prove to be beneficial. Turnover allows
organization to reduce its costs through fewer salaries and other financial benefits.
However, this can be money consuming with cost of recruiting and training new
employees necessary for specific fields. Also, professionals whose skills are less in
demand in the market are less likely to leave organizations frequently. It was necessary to
explain the difference between controllable and uncontrollable turnover, as this essay will
discuss controllable turnover and measures to reduce it. Focus will be on the training of
staff to help them in their career growth and reduce turnover rate.
WHAT CAUSES EMPLOYEE TURNOVER
Boxall et al (2009) have carried out a study in which they concluded that there are several
factors that affect the motivation level for job in a work place. They argued that all these
factors were linked with turnover, which appeared several times during the study. An
earlier research done by Mobley et al (1979) as cited in Morrell et al (2007) proposed that
factors such as age, duration at work, job satisfaction, job design and job commitment
were indirectly related to turnover, i.e., higher the level of these factors, lower the rate of
turnover. 2.2.1 Relationship between Job satisfaction and Turnover There have been
number of researches done on the relationship between the level of job satisfaction of an
employee and turnover rate. One of the researchers’ Lum et al (2008) suggested that

7. increase in the motivation and level of satisfaction of employees can lead to lower
turnover rate in an organization. It was also researched that job satisfaction is indirectly
proportional to turnover (Mobley at al., 1979; cited in Morrell et al., 2007). Similarly,
Griffeth et al (2007) found out that job satisfaction has a great impact on the turnover rate
of employees in an organization. They said that major reason behind turnover is
employee’s dissatisfaction with the management and a more interesting job offer from
another company.
Relationship between Commitment and Turnover
While there seems to be a strong relationship between job satisfaction and turnover rate;
researchers have also proposed that employee commitment with the organization also
plays an important role in the decision behind turnover. Lum et al (2008) carried out a
study on pediatric nurses, in which they concluded that commitment with the
organization has a direct relationship and a great effect on employee’s decision to leave
the organization. Mueller and Price (1990), cited in Lum (2008) said that there is a close
relationship between job satisfaction and commitment, as motivated and satisfied
employees tend to stay committed with the organizations for long time. Hence, they said
that there job satisfaction, commitment and turnover are inter-related to each other, as
both the variables affect the rate of turnover. However, Elangovan (2011) observed that
there are various turnover models which do not take into consideration the relationship
between job satisfaction and organizational commitment with turnover rate. He proposed
that there is a strong relationship between stress and job satisfaction and between job
satisfaction and organization commitment. He said that if the employees are under stress
at work, they are more likely quit the job as they are not satisfied. Similarly, a committed
employee is likely to hold on to the job for a long time.
Causes of dissatisfaction at work
There are various reasons that may cause dissatisfaction at work place. Researchers have
argued that among various factors, pay can be the most important factor in voluntary
turnover. Lum et al (2009) studied the effect of pay on the decision of employees to quit
work. They found out that the study gave mixed results, but higher number of employees
suggested that they would consider leaving the organization if they are not paid according
to their job. Similarly, there have been other studies that revealed that there is not a
strong relationship between pay, job satisfaction and turnover rate. However, Martin
(2008) carried out a survey to find out the importance of higher wages and career growth
among hospitality employees. He found out that these two variables can work as push
and pull factors in turnover rate. He explained that if an employee is dissatisfied with the
wage rate, he or she is likely to leave the job for another company which offers higher
wage rate. In another study carried out by Griffeth et al (2007), it was concluded that pay
and rewards have considerable effect on the satisfaction and turnover rate in an
organization. They analysed different variables including pay, employee performance and
turnover rate. Their study concluded that employees who give high performance expect
to be paid and rewarded accordingly. When the wage rate fails to meet their expectations,
they leave the job for better options. Griffeth et al (2007) also cite findings from research
carried out by Milkovich and Newman (1999). The later proposed that the high
performers look for collective rewards from the organization rather than individual
incentives. But when the organizations fail to fulfill their expectations, they tend to leave
the organization for better offers. Sometimes, pay or monetary rewards are not the only
reason behind dissatisfaction that may result in turnover. Tang et al (2009) carried out a
study including mental health professionals. They observed that different variables such

8. as attitude of employees towards money, job satisfaction and voluntary turnover. They
found out that attitude of employees towards money is also an important factor in
decision to leave the organization. They said that employees who value money more than
job satisfaction tend to leave the job voluntarily, as compared to those who regard job
satisfaction more important than money. Two things were noted in this study; pay or
monetary reward does not affect job satisfaction and dissatisfied employees result in
increased turnover.
Relationship between Training, career development and turnover
During the course of his study, Martin (2008) found a complicated relationship between
training, career development and turnover. He argued that training can affect turnover in
two ways; it can help decrease turnover rate and sometimes may result in increased
turnover rate. Martin further explained that with enhanced and improved career
development skills, employees will be satisfied enough to stay with the organization for
long. But they can also leave for another employer who will offer better options. This is
mostly the case when organizations are not able to provide challenging work according to
the employees’ skills. However, some researchers have concluded training has no impact
on the movement of employees from one organization to another (Shah & Burke, 2005;
Green et al., 2008). They concluded that training which is given by the organizations
result in reduce turnover rate, as the organizations are likely to build training programs
which will prepare their employees to meet future challenges or change in organizations.
Whereas, training obtained outside the organization leads to higher turnover rate. Another
study done by Chang (2009) focused on relationship between career development and
commitment towards the organization. He found out that when employees are committed
they are less likely to leave the organization. This is also because they see career growth
in their organizations. It was also seen that employees who have low career ambitions are
not committed with the company and hence tend to move frequently from one
organization to another. Chang (2009) also concluded that employees tend to stay long in
the organization when they see that the management is working for their benefit and
career growth. They would prefer an organization which has opportunities for internal
growth and promotions and provide training and professional advice.
TURNOVER IN RETAIL SECTOR
This essay is targeted towards investigating and critically analyzing the unique
characteristics of retail organizations and how these characteristics define their overall
strategies in retaining staff and reducing turnover and affect their respective
performances’ impact. Retail have been playing a very critical role in the world
economies. Retail organisations employ around about 9% of workers in the USA and 5%
in UK, France and Germany. In the UK retail are basically among the most earning
businesses and are biggest employers (Bennett, Iossa & Legrenzi, 2010). Before
investigating the impact the unique characteristics of retails make on their overall
strategy and performance, it is of utmost importance to establish a clear set of guidelines
to classify any organization as a retail Organizations. As per Salamnon and Anheier
(1992b), the lack of attention given to retail sector around the world has been more due to
the factors that are more conceptual than empirical. In order to define the boundaries
around retail sector, this essay will start with the following five big fundamental
classifying elements as suggested by Salamnon and Anheier (1992b): A) Formally
Constituted B) Private in basic structure C) Self Governing D) Serving every community
and class E) Commodity eccentric .These five elements will work as a guiding
mechanism for picking up right retail examples, understand the overall RETAIL sector in

9. any exemplary world economy. Once establishing the clear-cut boundaries around the
different sets of RETAIL, I attempt to establish the function of RETAIL and an attempt
will be made to understand the methodology used by retail organisations to retain staff.
But this is interesting to note that the retail system in different countries of the world
differ from each other. For example: In the US states have laws relating to the structure
of RETAILs and in the past few decades there has been a general tendency of liberalizing
the laws governing the structure of RETAILs in different states. This, in return, has
flourished the retail enterprises (Ware, 1996). In contrast, the there are no retail laws in
Britain. As per the British Laws, the RETAILs come under the folds of corporate law and
the organizations can only seek corporate status, but they must conform to the rules and
guidelines laid out by English Corporate Law (Ware, 1996). Till the 19th century, the
American and English Laws classifying the retail were quite similar (Ware, 1996). Three
elements are to be considered in RETAILs in Ukraine:
1) The first objective of retail is to provide necessary commodities and everyday use
products to the customer from all walks of society.
2) It is their responsibility to understand the needs of the customers and arrange
necessary products that fulfil their demands requirements.
3) The most important role is played by the employees or the staff in the retail sector.
Since retail is customer oriented, it is necessary that the staff is well trained and friendly
and deal with the pressures of customer service.
The free market system in the world economies basically consists of entities in three
different kinds of categories: a) Public Sector b) Private Sector c) Non-Profit Sector. The
entities in public sector are generally publicly traded, state-owned agencies, government
entities which come under the purview parliamentary office, statuary audit control and
established company laws. Whereas, the entities in the private sector operate under free
market competition, have their annual accounts subjected to independent public audit
system and they are controlled by ownership interests. The retail sector falls in the private
sector or the corporate sector. The organizations in this sector include a variety of
different entities such as family owned retail, public owned retail. Some retail
organisations are also going into different other sectors like charity, research and
scientific, educational, cultural or professional, private foundations etc., together with
some of the other entities, the RETAIL sector collaborates with the public sector in the
delivery of goods and services (Torres, Pina 2003). In the past three decades, the
importance of RETAIL has grown to a very large extent in the different world
economies. There also has been an increase in the size and the amount of resources
managed by the RETAIL. These reflective trends have made it quite important for us to
study the impact of unique dynamic characteristics of RETAIL on their respective
Strategies and Performances.The sector is faced with major challenges due to growing
inflation and financial crises in past few years. Although large number of people are
turning to retail after losing their jobs due to downsizing and financial cuts in their
organisation of employment. The only sector that welcomes people from different other
professional sectors, qualifications and skills is retail. This can be an advantage or a
disadvantage to the retail organisation. Advantages can be in form of cheap labour, which
is readily available any time. Also the organisation does not have to spend much on the
recruitment and training of the employees, as both these are standardised in retail sector.
Large numbers of employees required in the retail are for customer services. This may
create problems for a store, if the employees are not recruited after careful process. For
example, a person with IT background may not be good with customer service, so it will

10. be a great challenge for the person to deal with people face to face. Such an employee
will get de-motivated very easily and would look for other options in the market.
Similarly, if the employees are not given proper training they will not be able to cope
with the growing demands of the job. Training is necessary in the retail sector, as most of
the employees are from various backgrounds and have no formal training of being a retail
store employee. If the employees are not trained according to the demands of the job,
then the store would have to bear the loss of losing employees often. In the long run, the
retail organisation will end up losing more money in recruiting and training new batch of
employees.
HOW TRAINING REDUCES EMPLOYEE TURNOVER
Krueger and Rouse (2008) studied the effect of training and development programs can
have on the growth of various organizations. They studied various variables that were the
result of training, educational and vocational programs carried out in various
organizations. Variables included the productivity, improved performance, job
satisfaction, motivation and regularity at work. It was observed that these variables result
in reduced turnover rate in organizations. The researchers explained in presence of these
factors, commitment of employees towards their organization increases, which result in
reduced turnover rate. Thus, the strategy of reducing turnover by increasing employee
commitment level through training can lead to company growth and success. Although
there are various human resources strategies to increase commitment level of employees,
but this in this essay I will focus mainly on training programs of companies and its role
and importance. Scholl (2003) said that companies should develop strategies to motivate
and retain employees for long period of time. These strategies should be able to develop a
psychological and emotional relationship between an employee and the company. This
should be done in an attempt to tie up the employee for a longer period of time with the
company, which will help the company to reduce cost of hiring and training another
employee. This is the commitment strategy that can help human resource managers to
gain loyalty and commitment from the employees. This strategy can be used for almost
every human resource practice, for example, recruitment, selection, performance
management etc. But in this paper focus is on the training of employees and its effect on
turnover of employees.
HOW COMMITMENT STRATEGY IMPACTS EMPLOYEE TURNOVER
An employee who is committed with the organization will tend to remain with it for a
longer period of time. Researchers have conducted various studies to argue and find out
the accuracy of this phenomenon. The conclusion was that there are greater chances of a
committed employee to stay longer with the company than a non-committed one. Steers
(1977), cited in Green et al (2006) proposed that highly committed employees stay
hooked to the company for a long period of time than a non-committed one. He said that
highly committed employees have the urge to produce more at work, come to work
regularly and have a positive attitude towards the co- workers and the job. Thus, he
concluded that commitment is a significant factor in curtailing employee turnover.
Similarly, Arthur (2004) carried out a study on employees of two steel mills. On one mill
he studied the effect of commitment strategy, while on the other control strategy. Arthur
observed that the company that followed commitment strategy yielded business growth
and productivity. He also found out that the turnover rate in this mill was considerably
lower than the one which followed controlled strategy. Through this human resources can
make a great impact on the organization. By adopting a strategy human resources can
influence the employees’ decisions to change the organization and their attitude towards

11. the current organization. Also, when human resource managers adopt a commitment
strategy, then the percentage of employees leaving the organization reduces. Green et al
(2006) said that according to their study commitment strategy plays an important role in
retaining the employees. Their study revealed that the organization that practiced
committed strategy managed to reduce the rate of turnover from 19% to 10%, whereas,
the likelihood of job search was reduced from 26% to 15%. Owens (2008) came up with
results with his study of effect of training on organizational growth. Although his study
discussed different outcomes of training, he managed to find the relationship between
training and turnover rate. He found out that employees who had high commitment level
towards their organization, have high level of “turnover cognition”. High level of
“turnover cognition” means that the employee tends to stay for long period of time with
the company. When he applied T-test, it was calculated that turnover cognition had mean
of 33.44 with commitment to organization of 84.45; as compared to untrained employees
with mean of 29.32 and commitment level of 73.86. By calculating the level of
commitment in trained and untrained employees separately, it was helpful in proving that
more committed employees are, more chances of staying long with the company and vice
versa.
Commitment also plays an important role in job performance of an employee. This is
ascertained that a committed employee will perform well on the job, which ultimately
leads to employee retention (Walton, 2005). It is believed that when employees perform
well improves the working environment of the company, which increases the company
growth. There is a two way relationship between the growth of company and the
performance of employees. If the performance of employees is low or not up to the
expected out turn then it will affect the growth of the company. Of the several outcomes
of commitment strategy Walton discusses four most important variables, which impact
the turnover of the employees in a company. By discussing these four variables, we can
gain deeper insight into the relationship between training and turnover.
Effect of Training on Employee Investment
Investment is the time and effort an employee makes in return for higher rewards and pay
in future. Becker (2003) argued that the benefits reaped from the investment made in the
company can be in form of monetary or non-monetary rewards. He said that training is
also a benefit gained over a period of time, which may result in higher employee
commitment and increased investment in the company. Becker said this can be achieved
in two ways; by providing general training and specific training. General training
enhances employees’ general skills and provides them with basic skills to survive in the
job. These skills help the employee to perform in any company in the market. Kaufman
and Hotchkiss (2006) said that it is very unlikely that an employer will invest in basic
training skills, as the employers are able to use them anywhere in the job market. Another
reason that employers would avoid general training is that it is the kind of training that
almost every employee can benefit from and thus, it enhances the skill of the employees
all over the market. Keeping in view the market trends, organizations would have to
compete with each other in paying more to its employees to retain them. And even by
doing that, there are still high chances that the employees would leave the company as
soon as a better offer comes in the market. This way the company will have to bear
double cost of training the employee and hiring a new one when they leave. Contrary to
this, on-the-job or specific training is the one that is provided to employees which is
specific to the demands of the company only (Frazis and Spletzer, 2005). Through this
training only the employer can benefit out of it. This may include technical training
which is specific to the products or services of the company. This type of training differs

12. from general training in a way that it can only be given by the company and all costs are
born by them. The downside of this training is that employees may not be able to utilize
the skills learnt in the company with any other employer. The idea behind this training is
that the skills attained through this training are nontransferable to any other company, but
at the same time it enhances the skills of the employees which will be beneficial for the
company. This increases chances of career growth of the employees within the company
and reduces the chances of turnover to maximum level. Becker argues that due to its
nontransferable nature, this training is given by the companies and all costs are incurred
by the company. During the course of training the employees are not paid high and the
anticipation of getting a higher wage after training also keep them stick to the company.
If we compare Becker’s model with that of commitment strategy, we can see that
employees’ investment in terms of time, effort and wait for wage increase will lead to the
commitment with the organization. Thus, training becomes a side benefit which fosters
employee investment that leads to commitment and reduced turnover rate. There are
other researches that have expanded the works of Becker by blending the general and
specific forms of training. Pischke (2009) said that without even knowing some
companies give a blend of general and specific training to their employees. He argued
that general and specific training are dependable to each other. He said that companies
invest unknowingly in general training while providing with specific training to their
employees. Speltzer (2005) said that according to the research done by Employer
Opportunity Pilot Project, 63% of employees reported that the training that they received
can be transferable to other companies. Moreover, 90% of the employees believed that
their skills can be utilized in other companies as well. The results found by Speltzer can
be compared with the commitment strategy. This ensures that the time invested during
training and in anticipation of better wages and rewards can be taken as the commitment
towards the company, even in the situation when the employees know that their skills can
be used in other companies. This can actually make the employees more committed
towards their work and organization. Researchers have also said that employees
sometimes are unaware that the training they are getting can be used in other companies.
Regardless of this, employees spent more time on work, produce better work, their
performance improves; which translates into more rewards and high wages that lead to
commitment with organization and reduced turnover rate.
Effect of Training on Employee Reciprocity
Reciprocity means that two-way, that is an employee will be loyal and committed to the
company because the company has trained and enhanced the skills of the employees.
This is similar to the notion of being under debt, in which employee feels that he/she is
under the debt of the company. Researchers have argued that this notion can be useful for
the companies, as their training can play a major role in developing this feeling in the
employees. The kind of training that fosters the feelings of reciprocity in the employee
will ensure their commitment towards the organization. Glance et al (2007) argue that
organizations that provide training to their employees on regular basis have greater
chances of retaining them than the ones who do not follow this practice. They further
explained that the companies which have trained staff are able to adjust in the times of
change inside and outside the company. They carried out a research on organizations
with changing environments and recorded the effect on turnover. Their research
concluded that companies which had trained employees faced less resistance from
employees and low level of turnover, as compared to the companies with untrained
employees who were not ready to face the challenge of changing environment. If we see
this from the reciprocity view, it can be ascertained that the trained employees feel in
debt of the company and tend to stick with the company in times of change. This

13. commitment can also be due to the fact that the employees were already trained to cope
with the needs of the change, which may result in better work conditions and pay raise.
Also, this training may offer the employees an opportunity to increase their skills and
knowledge of their job, which they may not be able to get anywhere else. This also leads
to the sense of debt that fosters commitment and loyalty in the employees. Burke (2005)
observed that the trained employees who found their training relevant and beneficial for
their future goals have rated their companies very favourably and plan to stick to the
companies for long period of time.
Effect of Training on Employees Identity
Various researches have shown that there is a close relationship between the identity of
the employee and its job. So it can be said that training that increases the productivity of
an employee at work helps it to identify itself with the organization and enhances
commitment towards the company. When hired, the employee has to pass through a
formal training and plays a role of socialization for the new employees (Tannenbaum et
al., 2010). New employees have high hopes and expectation from the company when
they join. These desires and expectations when fulfilled by the company help the
employee to identify more closely with the company. Similarly, when a training program
fails to satisfy the demands and expectations of the employees then it turns into a
negative attitude towards the company. These failed or unmet expectations and demands
can lead to lack of commitment in an employee, which may result in higher turnover.
Similarly when the demands of an employee are met, then they feel greater affinity and
identification with the company, which leads to loyalty and commitment towards the
company. Green et al (2006) said that companies tend to give specific job training so that
they can identify with the culture of the organization, while also gain skills for career
growth. They said that Japanese companies like Toyota follow this path rigorously to
build level of association and attachment in employees with the companies, while also
giving them social identity. Bartlett (2009) said that training can increase the
identification of an employee with organization when used with a strategy. Social support
for training is one way of integrating employees in the culture of the organization. This
support comes from higher and middle management and also the co-workers which helps
the new employee to go through the training successfully and blend in with the
environment of the company. Due to this the commitment of employees towards the
organization increases and so reduces the risk of turnover.
Effect of Training on Employees Lack of Alternatives
Becker (2003) has described this in his model of general and specific kinds of training.
The kind of training that limits the job alternatives of curtails the opportunities for
employees outside the company leads to reduced turnover. There are several researchers
who have defended Becker’s work and expanded on the model. Lynch (2001) cited in
Green et al (2006) observed that young employees with specific training skills tend to
stay committed with the organization for longer period of time than the ones with general
training skills. She also found out that employees with specific training skills tend to get
more benefits than the ones with general training. Glance et al (2007) elaborated on the
“cherry-picking” phenomenon, which refers to the practice when companies wait till the
employees get trained and then attracts them with better offers and job opportunities.
They said that companies tend to steal the trained employees as they help in reducing the
cost of training while increasing their production. Due to this practice, organizations also
lose all their investment in terms of cost and time on their employees. This is the main
reason that companies stick to specific job training.

14. CONCLUSION
In this essay different models and approaches of training have been discussed to build a
theoretical framework for the study. In the first part of the essay various reasons behind
turnover have been discussed, such as, dissatisfaction at work, organizational
environment, career development, pay and wage rate and attitude of employees towards
work and money. Through the understanding of these factors the relationship between
commitment and turnover has been established. It was seen through various researches
that committed employees tend to stick to the organization for a longer period of time
than the non-committed ones. In the next phase, the essay focused on the literature that
explained ways through which commitment can be fostered in employees. These include
through employee investment of time and efforts, reciprocity between employees and
organizations, social identity of the employees and lack of job alternatives. Although
there are various other factors which enhances commitment among employees which
leads to lower turnover, but this paper focused on these four elements.
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