IMPACT OF SELECTION PRACTICES ON EMPLOYEE RETENTION AT A SELECTED APPAREL COMPANY IN KEGALLE; WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE FIRST 6 MONTHS PERIOD OF EMPLOYMENT

Abstract

The objective of this study was to explore the impact of selection practices on employee retention in the apparel industry in Kegalle, Sri Lanka. The general objective of the study was to evaluate the impact of selection practices on employee retention. The independent variables studied were job specification, job incentives, personal attributes, and interview orientation. The dependent variable was employee retention. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population consisted of 174 employees from the apparel industry in Kegalle, Sri Lanka. Stratified random sampling was used to select a representative sample population of 120 respondents. The researcher conducted through a survey consisting of a structured questionnaire. 120 questionnaires were randomly distributed among the newly recruited employees of the organization. There were 30 questions related to four specific factors affecting employee performance. In-depth interviews were conducted asking 10 questions to 10 employees. In this research qualitative and quantitative data were analysed as the researcher adopts a mixed method. Qualitative analysis was done by narrative analysis and IBM SPSS statistical software was used to analyse the quantitative data. The study proved that the employment incentives and individual attributes were critical factors in influencing employee retention. The employment incentives are the most important factor for employee retention among all the factors. Although the job specification is more important factor of recruitment and selection process, the researcher identified it has less impact on the employee retention. The study further recommended that managers should focus on making jobs more appealing to the one who are interested, by creating different type of financial and non-financial incentives.