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This report examines the ways in which Australian employers retain skilled staff as well as the ways in which employers enhance their ability to use the skills of their people. The study involved a variety of organisations representing a cross-section of industries from small to large employers. It focuses on the role of human resource management practices, including fostering a 'learning culture' and high performance work practices. The study found that while strategies such as increasing wages and family friendly policies may increase an employee's job satisfaction, the key driver in determining if employees remain with an organisation is if they feel they are learning and progressing in their careers. It also highlights that training, especially nationally recognised training, is strongly tied to decisions made by employees on whether they will stay with their employer.

A podcast of an Interview with Andrew Smith about this publication is indexed at TD/TNC 94.160. Show less

This study explored whether career orientation is stable and whether predominant types exist by looking at the differences in specific demographic variables (age, years of work experience, employment level, gender, type of job and education level). These were examined through the framework of career success orientation in a Korean wireless communications company. The findings show that career success orientations were not the same by age, length of work experience, and employment level, and dominant career success orientations were based only on education level. The results imply that there are either generation differences or changes in career orientation and that theoretical re-investigation is needed in researching dominant career orientation by gender.

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This paper examines the role of interest in learning and career development. It is based on the view that one's interest is a major factor in educational achievement. Moreover, interest continues to play a substantial role in career throughout the life span. Interest is related to work adjustment and is a key feature of job satisfaction for many individuals. Most people would be prepared to acknowledge that interest is important for learning and working, yet they may not have a clear understanding of the extent of that influence or the extent to which it is able to be expressed. There is enough evidence to suggest that course offerings in secondary schools are widespread (well over 300 courses) but not focused. An important issue is to what extent courses should reflect the world of work - there is an argument that education should be quarantined from this function. Ultimately it is a policy question about the nature and purpose of education. Show less

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify behaviorally-based training for management trainees with a foundation in employees' beliefs about effective managerial behaviors, and the relationship of these behaviors to employees' satisfaction with supervision, company as employer, and job assignments. Design/methodology/approach - Manufacturing organization and social services agency employees (N=134) were surveyed by questionnaire and asked 'How important do you think it is that managers exhibit the following behaviors?' and 'How well does your manager exhibit the following behaviors?' Factor analysis produced three factors: Connection with employees, Vision, Autonomy. Employee satisfaction questions were included. Findings - Vision and Autonomy scales for 'How well does your manager exhibit the following behaviors?' showed significant, positive correlations for satisfaction with quality of supervision, and with company/agency as an employer. Connection with employees scale for 'How important do you think it is that managers exhibit the following behaviors?' showed significant, positive correlations for employees' satisfaction with job assignments Research limitations/implications - Future research should include employees' perceptions of what constitutes effective managerial behaviors. Study should be replicated in larger, multicultural organizations to assess the universality of these managerial behaviors. Practical implications - Specific recommendations for behaviorally-based manager training of management trainees, based on employee-identified behaviors, are provided. Originality/value - The paper is creative in its inclusion of employees in data collection of definition of effective managerial behaviors and is valuable to those interested in management trainee programs linking behaviorally-based development to employee satisfaction outcomes.

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This paper tests a central implication of the theory of equalizing differences, that workers sort into jobs with different attributes based on their preferences. We present evidence from four new time-use data sets for the United States and France suggesting that workers who are more gregarious, as revealed by their behavior when they are not working, tend to be employed in jobs that involve more social interactions. We also find that workers report substantially higher levels of job satisfaction and net affect while at work if their jobs entail frequent interactions with coworkers and other desirable working conditions.

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This research presents an analysis of factors predicting job retention, job satisfaction, and job performance of workers with mental retardation. The findings highlight self-determination as a critical skill in predicting the three important employee outcomes. The study examined a hypothesized job retention model and the outcome of the three regression analyses used to test the model. The intent of the study was to develop job retention strategies that could offer rehabilitation and [human resources] HR professionals a useful structure for understanding and implementing job retention interventions for people with mental retardation.

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The purpose of this study was to examine differences in career-related variables, such as career commitment and career satisfaction, based on employment status (temporary vs. permanent employees) and job type (professional vs. nonprofessional employees). With a sample of 302 employees working in information technology companies in Korea, it was hypothesized that among the professional employees there would be no significant differences in career-related variables between temporary and permanent employees, whereas among the nonprofessional employees temporary employees would have lower scores of the career-related variables than permanent employees. The hypothesis on career commitment was supported, whereas the hypothesis for career satisfaction was only supported for the nonprofessional employees. These findings suggest that professionalism can increase career commitment for temporary employees. The implications, limitations of the study, and the need for future studies are discussed.

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The concept of job-hunting is an important factor affecting university students' employment. This empirical study shows that while hunting for a job, graduates witness negative correlation between their expectation of the nature of work and the demand for occupational types and the accessibility to a post and monthly income; positive correlation between students' initiative and employment opportunities; positive correlation between salary expectation and real income; negative correlation between mental preparation for hardship and job satisfaction. Therefore, institutions of higher learning must strengthen their employment education, guiding students to foster a sound sense of competition, the concept of occupational position, mental preparation for vocational hardship so that students can rectify their attitude towards employment and adjust their employment concept, thus benefiting them in gaining a position.

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Purpose - Utilising data from 18 in-depth case studies, this study seeks to explore training, development and human resource development (HRD) practices in European call centres. It aims to argue that the complexity and diversity of training, development and HRD practices is best understood by studying the multilayered contexts within which call centres operate. Call centres operate as open systems and training, development and HRD practices are influenced by environmental, strategic, organisational and temporal conditions. Design/methodology/approach - The study utilised a range of research methods, including in-depth interviews with multiple stakeholders, documentary analysis and observation. The study was conducted over a two-year period. Findings - The results indicate that normative models of HRD are not particularly valuable and that training, development and HRD in call centres is emergent and highly complex. Originality/value - This study represents one of the first studies to investigate training and development and HRD practices and systems in European call centres.

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This study examined the current trade shortage in Australian industry from the perspective of fewer young people entering the trades. We investigated the extent to which certain variables (relationship with their boss/supervisor; relationship with their co-workers; extrinsic motivation within the compensation subscale; the use of emotion-focused coping styles rather than problem-focused styles; and apprentices' work expectations) could predict their intention to quit or stay in the job. Of the five predictors, only two (relationship with their boss/supervisor and/or their relationship with their co-workers) were found to have the ability to significantly predict intention to quit. Comparisons between Queensland and Victorian participants led to the conclusion that an apprentice's choice to stay in or leave their trade was individually specific, and was most likely not based solely on one explicit factor, but on a range of work-related factors, which they, personally, considered important.

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