How To Reduce Employee Turnover Reading Answers

Dec 7, 2022

How To Reduce Employee Turnover Reading Answers contains eight passages and 13 different types of questions. Candidates will be shown various question types with clear instructions in this IELTS Section. Reading Answers comprises three types of questions: Matching heading, sentence completion, and Choose the correct option. For the Matching heading, candidates need to thoroughly go through each passage. For sentence completion, candidates need to skim the passage for keywords and understand the concept. To choose the correct option, candidates must read the IELTS Reading passage and understand the statement provided.

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Section 1

Reading Passage Question

How to Reduce Employee Turnover IELTS Academic Reading Sample

The chief executive of a large hotel became aware that his company was experiencing an annual employee turnover of about 60 per cent, at an annual cost estimated between $10 to $15 million. This large amount of money was calculated based on three factors: the money spent hiring and training replacements; the cost to the business of lower productivity due to employees becoming familiar with the requirements of their new job; and reduced occupancy rates, due to poor guest satisfaction levels.
The Chief Executive knew that in order to save his company, he had to reduce the high turnover costs. Making up for the lost income due to turnover is not an easy task and many companies have not declared war on unwanted employee turnover because they have not taken the time to work out the costs of lost revenues and productivity. But the hotel boss decided to tackle the issue head-on by implementing a 4 point plan, the hotel first took the time to calculate their turnover costs; secondly to evaluate the main causes for the staff turnover and; thirdly to discuss some of the solutions to the problems and lastly to prioritize actions and evaluate future returns following implemented changes.
Within a two-year period, the results were significant. The annual employee turnover was reduced by 78 per cent and this impacted downtime due to training and guest satisfaction. The result was a $10 million savings for the company. Because most do not know the root causes of employee turnover and costs have often not been accurately estimated, causes are usually not known. As a result, solutions are commonly not targeted at a company’s individual, specific causes. The following is an examination of what the Chief Executive did to turn the hotel around.
Two factors were considered in relation to the calculation of costs: those departments who had the highest rates of turnover and those whose turnover had the greatest potential effect on profit. After some investigation, it was shown that some of the positions with the highest turnover rates such as cleaners and gardeners did not carry with them high associated costs. In fact, what was revealed was that only 6 percent of employees accounted for 43 per cent of the turnover. Positions that involved a substantial amount of time in training were the ones that attracted the highest costing. The analysis revealed that those positions within the hotel which had the greatest impact on profit were people like the front office receptionists and those working in accounts.
As unusual as it may sound, it is now a common understanding that offering employees more money is not necessarily a good solution to high employee turnover – often they leave because they simply dislike the work. Therefore, it was important to tackle the analysis from the perspective of what were the chief causes for staff leaving. A holistic approach was undertaken and several key findings emerged. The hotel found that fundamentally they adopted poor recruiting and selection practices. For example, it was shown that almost 35 per cent of the cleaning staff left after the first week and a further 25% during the first month. Candidates were being oversold by recruiters and left soon after they encountered unrealistic job expectations.
Devising solutions to these issues was the other half of the equation. As far as recruiting was concerned, they changed their approach by getting personnel from the hotel to handle it. Once this change was made, the attrition rates decreased substantially. To add to employee motivation, new staff were made aware of the mission and goals of the organization and how they would be paid above industry standard for striving to attain hotel values. New staff were shown where the hotel was heading and how they would have a guaranteed, stable employment situation with a major force in the hotel industry’ – it was even suggested that after a period of employment, new staff might be given the opportunity to contribute to organizational goal setting.
They had been losing many of their employees during the first month or two of employment, so they made new staff aware that bonuses would be offered to newly-hired employees at the end of their first three months which greatly assisted in goal setting. Staff luncheons and the in-house volleyball and basketball competitions remained an effective part of staff unity and development and a support program was also introduced to help all staff with any job-related issues which gave employees a heightened sense of being cared for by the establishment. Another area of change that proved successful was the introduction of the Valuable Employee Program (VEP). When a person was employed in the past they were assigned a senior member of staff who assisted them with getting used to their new job.
Due to the limitations of the senior member’s position however, they were often not in a position to explain any details regarding future advancement. Now, when staff are employed, they are clearly told what is expected in the job and where it might lead to the right candidate. Hotel surveys revealed that over 30 percent of employees were not satisfied with the career opportunities in their current jobs so the articulation of the definite and realistic opportunity for advancement through the VEP led to a major decrease in employee attrition. Once the ship had been righted and the relative returns on human resource investments had been calculated, setting priorities became a formality. Although at first a daunting task, the enormous cost of employee turnover offered an excellent opportunity for the hotel to improve profitability.

Section 2

Solution With Explanation

Questions 1-5.

Complete the summary below of paragraphs A-D of Reading Passage 2.
Choose ONE OR TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in blank spaces next to 1-5 on your answer sheet.

Training new employees; downtime as new employees get used to their new job, and unfavourable guest satisfaction levels all led to a large 1____________ for a large hotel. It was determined that the solution to these problems was in the reduction of the company’s 2___________. The hotel addressed these issues in 4 ways through the implementation of a 3_______________ . The efforts of the hotel chief executive decreased downtime and reduced employee turnover which, in turn, resulted in improvements in 4________________. The company position was improved by $10 million. It is not common for big companies to experience such 5____________

Answer: annual costs
Supporting Sentence: This large amount of money was calculated based on three factors: the money spent hiring and training replacements; the cost to the business of lower productivity due to employees becoming familiar with the requirements of their new job; and reduced occupancy rates, due to poor guest satisfaction levels.
Keyword: training, down time, guest satisfaction
Keyword Location: Paragraph A-D
Explanation: As previously stated, the cost of hiring and training new employees accounts for a large portion of a hotel's annual expenses. Due to new employees' low productivity and low levels of satisfaction

Answer: turnover costs.
Supporting Sentences: The Chief Executive knew that in order to save his company, he had to reduce the high turnover costs.”
Keyword: solution to problems, reduction in cost
Keyword Location: Paragraph B
Explanation:The company's chief executive realized that decreasing turnover was the only way to address this high cost. To do this, he made the decision to enact 4 policy adjustments.

Answer: plan
Supporting Sentences: “But the hotel boss decided to tackle the issue head-on by implementing a 4 point plan.”
Keyword: hotel, addressed issues, 4 ways, through implementation of (something)” are the key words.
Keyword Location: Paragraph B
Explanation: The hotel's manager made the decision to carry out 4 plans to deal with the situation. He first took the time to estimate the cost of staff turnover and then looked into potential causes. To discuss some potential solutions in this regard, to prioritize our efforts, and to assess how well our changes will pay off in the long run.

Answer: guest satisfaction
Supporting Sentences: The annual employee turnover was reduced by 78 percent and this impacted upon down time due to training and guest satisfaction”
Keyword: chief executive, decreased down time, reduced employee turnover, resulted in improvements’
Keyword Location: Paragraph C
Explanation: The annual staff turnover rate was decreased by 78%. This had an effect on the downtime because of the training and the guests' satisfaction.

Answer: savings
Supporting Sentences: The result was a $10 million savings for the company. Because most do not know the root causes of employee turnover and costs have often not been accurately estimated, causes are usually not known. As a result, solutions are commonly not targeted at a company’s individual, specific causes.
Keyword: not common, big companies experience, difficulty determining why
Keyword Location: Paragraph C and D
Explanation: The writer said that maximum companies do not dig into the main cause of high employee turnover, and do not calculate the cost accurately. Therefore many companies do not get the chance to see a huge saving of $10 million.

Questions 6-9.

Do the following sentences reflect the claims of the writer in the above passage? Answer in YES/ NO/ NOT GIVEN
YES – if the statement reflects the claims of the writer
NO – if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN – if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

6) It was surprising that positions with the highest turnover were not connected to high costs.

Answer: NOT GIVEN
Explanation: NOT GIVEN

7) There was a clear connection between high costs and length of training

Answer: YES
Supporting Sentences: Positions that involved a substantial amount of time in training were the ones that attracted the highest costing. Keywords- high costs and length of training
Explanation: The jobs in the hotel that require a lot of training are the most expensive. The cost increases with the length of the training period.

8) New employees were given an incorrect description of their job

Answer: YES
Supporting statement: Candidates were being oversold the job by recruiters and left soon after they encountered unrealistic job expectations.
Keywords: new employees and incorrect description
Explanation: Prior to now, when new hires encountered unrealistic job expectations, they used to quit their jobs because they had been given an overly optimistic job description.

Question 9-13

The above passage gives five effective changes in the hotel. Choose the changes from the below list A-K

CHANGES

future plans were discussed
staff luncheons were introduced
the regular sports program was started
defined job expectations clearly
recruited their own staff
new sporting facilities were built
goal setting was involved
offered bonus
began to meet new staff regularly
a support program was implemented
recruitment was done through employment service

Answer: A
Supporting Sentence: New staff were shown where the hotel was heading and how they would have a guaranteed, stable employment situation with a major force in the hotel industry’ – it was even suggested that after a period of employment, new staff might be given the opportunity to contribute to organisational goal setting
Keywords: discussed future plans
Explanation:New hires were informed about the organization's objectives and mission in order to motivate them. that in order to maintain the hotel values, their pay would be above the average for the industry. They were shown the direction the hotel was going in and told they would be given a guaranteed, secure job.

10.

Answer: D
Supporting Sentence: when staff are employed, they are clearly told what is expected in the job.
Keywords: clearly defined job expectations
Explanation: The job expectations and requirements are explained in detail to new hires so they are aware of what is expected of them.

11.

Answer: E
Supporting Sentence: As far a recruiting was concerned, they changed their approach by getting personnel from the hotel to handle it
Keywords: own staff recruiting
Explanation: The hotel's management altered their hiring procedure by giving hotel staff control of it.

12.

Answer: H
Supporting Sentence: They had been losing many of their employees during the first month or two of employment, so they made new staff aware that bonuses would be offered to newly-hired employees at the end of their first three months which greatly assisted in goal setting.
Keywords: bonuses, committed new staff
Explanation: Following their second month on the job, the new hires began quitting. In order to prevent them from quitting their jobs quickly, they promised them bonuses from the first three months of employment.

13.

Answer: J
Supporting Sentence: a support program was also introduced to help all staff with any job-related issues which gave employees a heightened sense of being cared for by the establishment
Keywords: implemented support program
Explanation: The establishment showed its concern for its staff by introducing a support program to assist the staff with work-related issues.

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