The Relationship between Effective Communication and Employee Retention of Operational Level Employees in Apparel industry in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Human resource is the most valuable asset for every organization, which is generating unique competitive advantages. Retention of operational level employees has become a severe problem in apparel industry in Sri Lanka. The managements of most of the companies assume that weaknesses or deficiencies of internal communication system may be the reason for this unsolved turnover issue. Accordingly, primary objective of present research was analysis the relationship between effective communication (EC) and employee retention (ER) of operational level employees in Apparel industry, Sri Lanka. In this research 248 operational level employees were selected based on convenient judgment sampling method. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS. Effectiveness of the communication has been measured through supervisor support (SS), upward communication (UC) and quality of information (QI).Findings of the hypothesis 1 (There is a significant relationship between EC on ER) revealed that there is a strong positive relationship between EC and the retention intention of employees, hypothesis 2 (SS has significant relationship with ER) revealed that there is a strong positive relationship between SS and the retention intention of employees, hypothesis 3 (UC has significant relationship with ER) revealed that there is a weak positive relationship between UC and the retention intention of employees and hypothesis 4 (QI has significant relationship with ER) revealed that there is a moderate relationship between QI and the retention intention of employees. Based on the findings, SS has the highest positive relationship with ER. Demonstrating care about employees, providing counselling, strengthening connection between managers and employees and encouraging two-way communication are possible action for the company to improve communication. In order to establish healthy upward communication procedure within the organization, problem card system, employee satisfaction survey, and suggestion box systems can be introduced.