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Employee Retention Through Job Satisfaction
Paul L. Gerhardt, Jr.
NEED FOR THE STUDY
Employers have a need to keep employees from leaving and going to work for
other companies. This is true because of the great costs associated with hiring and
retraining new employees. The best way to retain employees is by providing them with
job satisfaction and opportunities for advancement in their careers. The saying, good
help is hard to find, is even truer these days than ever before because the job market is
becoming increasingly tight (Eskildesen 2000, Hammer 2000).
Eskildsen and Nussler (2000) suggest that employers are fighting to get talented
employees in order to maintain a prosperous business. Ray Hammer (2000) as well as
many other researchers/authors agree. Mark Parrott (2000) believes that, there is a
straight line between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. He believes that
today’s employees pose a complete new set of challenges, especially when businesses
are forced to confront one of the tightest labor markets in decades. Therefore, it is
getting more difficult to retain employees, as the pool of talent is becoming more-and-
more tapped-out. The research below, which focuses primarily on employee retention
through job satisfaction, supports this contention.
Employees that are satisfied and happy in with their jobs are more dedicated to
doing a good job and taking care of customers that sustain the operation (Hammer
2000; Marini 2000; Denton 2000). Job satisfaction is something that working people
seek and a key element of employee retention.
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Every person will have his or her own definition of what it means to be satisfied
with a job. Studies show that employees who are satisfied with their jobs are more
productive, creative and be more likely to be retained by the company (Eskildsen &
Dahlgaard 2000; Kim 2000; Kirby 2000; Lee 2000; Money 2000; Wagner 2000).
Research has shown that there may be many environmental features that can be
created and