AN ASSESSMENT OF PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES TURNOVER AND EMPLOYEE RETENTION PRACTICES: THE CASE OF ETHIOPIAN REVENUES AND CUSTOMS AUTHORITY, EASTERN ADDIS ABABA BRANCH OFFICE

Abstract

The study assessed professional employees’ turnover and retention practices in Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority, Eastern Addis Ababa Branch Office. Employees are main sources for organizations in meeting objectives in both public and private sector organizations. Therefore, giving emphasis for employees becomes a big issue for any organization. Professional employees' turnover in public sector organizations like Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority, Eastern Addis Ababa Branch Office is more common. This study was therefore conducted to assess how serious the problem is. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to gather information through the utilization of a questionnaire and interviews. In order to collect primary data, a questionnaire is designed and administered to both current and ex-employees of the organization. In addition, interview was conducted with the management of the organization and the HR department personnel. The MS-Excel spread sheets was used to process the primary data collected through questionnaire. The respondents were drawn from the existing and ex-employees of the organization. One hundred ninety six (162) and twenty one (21) questionnaires were issued to the current employees and ex- employees out of which sixty two (62) and fifteen (15) were properly completed and returned, documents that were received from the HR department were helpful in determining the turnover trend. This research investigated the reasons why professional employees leave the organization and the reasons why they do not stay in the organization. Hence, the study revealed that the employees leave organization due to lack of potential opportunity for advancements or promotions poor employee employer relationship was not good, the organization has no formal employees' representative, the employees has no sense of belongingness to their organization, insignificant terminal benefits and pension schemes provided to employees, less flexibility in working condition to retain employees were among the points revolved by the employees. All these factors influence most ex-employees to leave and increased the intention of existing employees to leave the organization as well. It is, therefore, recommended that the organization should improve its compensation policy, develop clear retention scheme policy, encourage employee involvement to implement zero-discrimination and create conducive working environment to retain its experienced and qualified employees.