Tanja Verheyen and Marie-Anne Guerry
The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the practice of demotion. This study aims to do so in two ways: first, by investigating Belgian HR professionals’ key motives…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the practice of demotion. This study aims to do so in two ways: first, by investigating Belgian HR professionals’ key motives for practicing and not practicing demotion and second, by examining the reasons why HR professionals choose for these specific motives.
Design/methodology/approach
The explanatory mixed methods design is used: survey data are analyzed through cluster analysis resulting in insights into the motives for practicing demotion. Follow-up qualitative focus group interviews provide an explanatory understanding of the motives for practicing and not practicing demotion.
Findings
Low employee performance, optimization of the organization, employer branding and career possibilities are motives for practicing demotion. Demotivation, salary issues, a taboo and a lack of vacancies are motives for not practicing demotion. A cultural change, walk the talk, carefully selected vocabulary and transparent communication could possibly counter the motives for not practicing demotion.
Research limitations/implications
The use of terminology such as “downward career twist” instead of “demotion” in some questions of the survey might have influenced the answers of the Belgian HR professionals. In a focus group, no matter how small, participants sometimes tend to give socially desirable answers under group pressure, and this could influence the accuracy. Moreover, the HR professionals often expressed their own opinions, which they clearly dissociate from the views of the organization.
Practical implications
Organizations need to explore alternatives to motivate their employees in general and in particular in case of a demotion. This can be emphasized through a demotion policy. However, these alternative ways to motivate are important as extrinsic motivators such as salary are not the only way to motivate employees.
Originality/value
Motives for practicing and not practicing demotion are to the authors’ best knowledge never studied from a recent, Belgian HR perspective. These motives are contextualized in organizational justice theory. This study contributes to the demotion literature by elaborating the list of motives for practicing and not practicing demotion.
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Tanja Verheyen, Nick Deschacht and Marie-Anne Guerry
The purpose of this paper is to determine the occurrence of job level, salary and job authority demotions in the workplace through the analysis of Belgian Statistics on Income and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine the occurrence of job level, salary and job authority demotions in the workplace through the analysis of Belgian Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (SILC)-data of 2007-2011.
Design/methodology/approach
Three hypotheses are tested: H1: there is a gender inequality in job authority demotions. H2: the level of education and the probability of being subject to a job level, salary or job authority demotion are negatively correlated. H3: age is negatively correlated with job level, salary or job authority demotion probabilities. The cross-sectional data of the SILC cover a specific time period with data on inter alia living conditions. The longitudinal data give information on inter alia income and non-monetary variables over a period of four years. The authors estimate multivariate regression models for binary demotion variables. These analyses allow the authors to estimate the odds of being demoted. The authors discuss the demotion rates, the bivariate correlations and the regression analysis.
Findings
The data analysis result in the fact that base salary demotions are not commonly applied as literature and the Belgian law on salary protection endorses. Fringe benefits demotions, as for instance the abolition of a company car or a bonus are, however, more frequent. There is a gender gap with regard to job authority demotion. Highly educated respondents are less confronted with job authority demotions. Age is negatively correlated with base salary/fringe benefits or job authority demotion probabilities, but not with job-level demotions. H1 is thus confirmed. H2 and H3 only partly confirmed.
Research limitations/implications
Several analyses were restricted because the EU-SILC did not question all dimensions of demotion in detail.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the scarce literature on demotion and to empirical studies on demotions regarding job level, salary and job authority.
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Evy Rombaut and Marie-Anne Guerry
The main goal of employee retention is to prevent competent employees from leaving the company. When analysing the main reasons why employees leave and determining their turnover…
Abstract
Purpose
The main goal of employee retention is to prevent competent employees from leaving the company. When analysing the main reasons why employees leave and determining their turnover probability, the question arises: Which retention strategies have an actual effect on turnover and for which profile of employees do these strategies work?
Design/methodology/approach
To determine the effectiveness of different retention strategies, an overview is given of retention strategies that can be found in the literature. Next, the paper presents a procedure to build an uplift model for testing the effectiveness of the different strategies on HR data. The uplift model is based on random forest estimation and applies personal treatment learning estimation.
Findings
Through a data-driven approach, the actual effect of retention strategies on employee turnover is investigated. The retention strategies compensation and recognition are found to have a positive average treatment effect on the entire population, while training and flexibility do not. However, with personalised treatment learning, the treatment effect on the individual level can be estimated. This results in an ability to profile employees with the highest estimated treatment effect.
Practical implications
The results yield useful information for human resources practitioners. The personalised treatment analysis results in detailed retention information for these practitioners, which allows them to target the right employees with the right strategies.
Originality/value
Even though the uplift modelling approach is becoming increasingly popular within marketing, this approach has not been taken within human resources analytics. This research opens the door for further research and for practical implementation.
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Evy Rombaut and Marie-Anne Guerry
This paper aims to question whether the available data in the human resources (HR) system could result in reliable turnover predictions without supplementary survey information.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to question whether the available data in the human resources (HR) system could result in reliable turnover predictions without supplementary survey information.
Design/methodology/approach
A decision tree approach and a logistic regression model for analysing turnover were introduced. The methodology is illustrated on a real-life data set of a Belgian branch of a private company. The model performance is evaluated by the area under the ROC curve (AUC) measure.
Findings
It was concluded that data in the personnel system indeed lead to valuable predictions of turnover.
Practical implications
The presented approach brings determinants of voluntary turnover to the surface. The results yield useful information for HR departments. Where the logistic regression results in a turnover probability at the individual level, the decision tree makes it possible to ascertain employee groups that are at risk for turnover. With the data set-based approach, each company can, immediately, ascertain their own turnover risk.
Originality/value
The study of a data-driven approach for turnover investigation has not been done so far.
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Kelly Steenackers and Marie-Anne Guerry
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the determinants of job-hopping. More specifically, the authors investigate the effect of age, gender, educational level, organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the determinants of job-hopping. More specifically, the authors investigate the effect of age, gender, educational level, organizational size and sector on the job-hop frequency.
Design/methodology/approach
Due to a lack of an existing appropriate measure of job-hopping, the authors introduce a new measure, namely, the job-hop frequency. Based on the data collected from a survey in Belgium, a linear regression analysis is performed.
Findings
Through an empirical analysis, the authors show that age is negatively related to the job-hop frequency. Gender moderates this relationship. Therefore, the analysis supports the view that young women tend to job-hop significantly more than young men, but as they age, women are significantly more likely than men to remain within the same company. Furthermore, the authors find that the educational level has no influence on the job-hop behavior, indicating that having more job alternatives does not necessarily result in actual job-hop behavior. Both the sector and the size of the organization are found not to be significantly related to the job-hop frequency.
Practical implications
This research provides human resource managers more insight into the job-hop behavior of employees and offers some useful suggestions for their retention management.
Originality/value
Existing literature on turnover is very extensive, but literature on job-hopping remains rather underexplored. Therefore, the study extends previous research on voluntary turnover and job mobility by focussing on job-hopping in particular.