Introduction

Employee Retention

In today’s era of the customer-centric world, almost all the sectors are actively involved in the race of increasing productivity and at the same time, they also want to be top priority while coming to their preferred workplace. India is always known for its talent pool, and being a part of the Indian educational industry, companies are trying their hands on pulling the most suitable talent into their organisation. Whichever sector it is, might it be the corporate sector or academics, competition is everywhere between employees and also between the employers. Gone were those days when employees were treated as machines to produce services and products; now the market demands retention and commitment of the employees who are now renamed Human Capital. Committed employees bring great ideas to the table and also support executing those ideas into action. So, companies are now involved in the new race of gaining engaged employees for a long-run sustainability in the market. In India, academic sector is no less in this race. They are also equally involved in employee engagement practices so that talented academicians can be engaged and can showcase their expertise to the market and ultimately the goal of employee retention can be achieved. As competitions are going on, students have also increased their expectations from the institute where they are taking studies. Institutions are also equally enhancing their capabilities by adding new and demanding courses day by day so that they will attract the market. In the Indian education industry, institutes are keenly working on their employee turnover rates so that they can be minimised and hence can create a good image for the institution. Students also play a major part in retaining employees by giving their feedback in market about their expert teachers.

Employer Branding

Employer branding can be understood as good image of the organisation in the mind of employees and all potential candidates. Employer branding is not a work of single day, it needs to be cultivated every single day so that it can be maintained and enhanced throughout. A good organisation policy, good employee retention and good employee engagement strategy always pull back employees to your organisation. It is found in a study that 95% of job seekers are attracted to an employer’s reputation before applying for a job (O’Donnell, 2017). Another survey says that more than 66% of the candidates look for the employer’s culture and values before switching jobs (Burgess, 2016). All of these depict how employer branding is necessary to keep organisation going at pace. Because if we cannot attract the talent pool then we cannot think of a productive firm, and also future of the firm is at stake.

COVID-19

COVID-19 is a respiratory disease first spotted in Wuhan, China, in 2019, and then got spread all over the world causing severe health issues including causalities. According to the WHO reports, India reached 30,585,229 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 402,728 deaths by 5th July 2021 (https://covid19.who.int/). Due to its quick spread, international travel was completely stopped. It also affected so many sectors in the world. In India, we underwent two stringent lockdowns for such a long period, one in 2020 and one in 2021, and also few short-term lockdowns. Students started taking their online classes as schools and colleges were closed due to pandemic. Likewise, corporates declared work from home until 2021 for all the employees and operated from home themselves. It drastically affected our Indian economy as shops and almost all sorts of businesses were put on hold. Talking about employment, 100 million jobs were lost during the nationwide April–May 2020 lockdown, and during the month of May 2021, 15.3 million jobs were lost. This has resulted in an 18% jobless rate in urban areas of India, which is an additional burden on unemployed educated youth (Lingamurthy & Gunda, 2021).

Employment Situation During COVID-19

The unemployment rate rose to 4.4% by March 2020 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics) and it rose to 6.7% by December 2020. By March 2021, the unemployment rate edged down to 6% (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). According to the report submitted by Azim Premji University, the first wave of COVID-19 pushed 23 crore people below the poverty line. On 3rd June 2021, the unemployment rate stood at 12.4%, urban 15.1% and rural 11.2% (Roy, 2021). This study is intended to do a research on private academic institutions and the impact of their branding on employee retention during COVID-19. Figure 1 shows unemployment rate in urban areas for the year 2019 and 2020

Figure 1. Unemployment Rate in Urban Areas Across All Age Groups as per Current Weekly Activity Status.

Source: Kumar and Srivastava (2021).

Notes: Figures in %.

PLFS includes data for transgender among males.

Rationale of the Study

Employer branding is a well-known ever-growing practice among employers as it is also one of the main aspects of employee retention. There is very few research done on relationship between employer branding and employee retention, and it seems that this relationship isw not much explored especially during the pandemic, which gives strength to explore more on their dimensions. There are very few literature reviews found on this topic which show the path for further research in different industries. Our study will focus on academic sector. The proposed model from this research is targeted to give a clear understanding of various factors of employer branding (EB) and also it will show the impact of EB on employee retention (ER). This research will also help institutions to understand how employer branding can be used to nourish organisation’s competency matrix and management of a healthy EB. Further, this study can be a base for further research on the aspect of EB and ER and their linkage.

Objective

Taking into consideration the above concepts and objectives of the research during COVID-19 are summarised below:

• To identify the dimensions of employer branding.
• To identify the relationship between employer branding and employee retention.
• To measure the impact of employer branding on employee retention.

Literature Review

Researchers have gone through intensive literature reading and have gathered information on different dimensions of employer branding.

 

Research Gap

From studies conducted by various researchers, we have found number of dimensions supporting our study. Based on the above-mentioned table, the researchers have pointed out some dimensions to continue the study as these dimensions are not covered specifically for any in-depth study which claims to be a gap in the research. The authors have tried to find out the relationship between these dimensions with employee branding and employee retention, and they are as follows:

1. Corporate social responsibility: CSR is understood as an external business strategy as it influences the organisation’s financial aspect positively, and hence it increases positive relationship with the external stakeholders. In the context of CSR activities, employees may have a positive image of their organisation if it is concerned about the activities that could positively impact the community (Rupp et al., 2006), as it enhances an organisation’s reputational value and financial performance (Gonzalez-Rodríguez et al., 2019; Liu & Lu, 2019; Maqbool & Zameer, 2018). According to research, the relationship between companies and society is based on a social contract that evolves with social changes and resulting expectations of the society. In this way, a company legitimises its existence, recognises its activities and obligations, as well as establishes legal limits for its performance (Mahmood & Bashir, 2020).
2. Organisation culture: Backhaus and Tikoo (2004) in their research have proposed a framework and named it ‘Employer Branding Framework’ which suggests that when employees’ beliefs, attitudes and values match with that of organisation’s and also they are properly aligned with the organisation’s core values, employee retention is greater. Researchers have also studied organisational culture which suggests that organisation culture motivates employees to adopt citizenship behaviours (Dukerich et al., 2002; Tyler & Blader, 2000) which again is reflected in organisation’s culture, thus leading the employees to become committed and to ‘live the brand’ (Haslam et al., 2000). By creating a great culture, a company is guaranteed that employees will be in a position to respond to customer goals and develop awareness on how to portray a great company image through shared values and also builds a highly motivated team (SmartMinds, 2021).
3. Work environment: A healthy work environment always motivates employees to work with full enthusiasm. Employees are motivated to work 24×7 in a good and healthy environment. But if it is unfriendly, then they look for new opportunities to switch. According to some studies, employee based brand equity that employee having a clear knowledge about their work environment leads to positive employees retention results (King, 2009).
4. Brand & reputation: Corporate reputation enables organisation to attract superior talents that deliver on critical corporate capabilities such as innovation, effective internal processes and innovation (LIGS University, 2019).
5. Career path: Employees when they get their skills improved are less likely to detach from an organisation. Employer branding can be enhanced by keeping talented resources in their organisation and equally they should provide employee space for enhancing their career graph. They should be given proper training and should always give environment of opportunities and innovations. Employees getting facilities for self-development and opportunity to support in the decision-making process are more connected to the organisation.
6. Work–life balance: Today as both male and female are contributing their skills to corporates, work–life balance is a much-needed concept to take care of. Employers providing facilities to the employees are the preferred choice for the new talents. May it be providing facilities for day boarding of kids, flexi timings for the employees, a day off without many difficulties as and when needed, job sharing, compressed work week can contribute enhancing quality of work–life balance for the employees. Companies that focus on the factors which fulfil the employee’s needs and wants, their employees are more likely to be engaged and active in the workplace, and with this, companies are able to achieve the targets set by them in the specific period (Khurana, 2021).
7. Compensation: A good pap Package always attracts talent pool to an organisation. It also becomes a biggest key factor to get attached to an organisation. Fair-employee compensation is a positive factor toward employer branding. Incentive compensation is considered to be a major asset in terms of company appeal and talent retention and can increase employer brand, as they feel the Maslow’s need hierarchy is fulfilled (Primeum, 2021).
8. Employer attributes: Organisations which offer employee-friendly policies, monetary satisfaction, follow a simple hierarchy and functional areas, give employees freedom of expression, positive ambience, and trustworthy and healthy work environment are successful in retaining the talented resources and also gain a good employer branding in the market (Management Study Guide, 2021).
9. Job security: Hewlett et al. (2009) found that 45% of employees expect to work with their current employer for the rest of their work–life. If employees feel secure at their job, they will be committed to organisation and will dedicate their energy to the organisation. There are subjects such as job changes, losing job and lack of availability of suitable job in the concept of job security (Khoshnevis & Gholipour, 2017).
10. Authority: Autocratic leadership is believed to give temporary results towards productivity. So, employers giving free rein authority or democratic authority pull employees to an organisation. It increases productivity in long run. Employees in an organisation where they get an opportunity for sharing their opinion and get authority in the decision-making process are more engaged with an organisation.

Hypotheses

H₀:There is no significant relationship between dimensions of employer branding & employee retention.

H₁:There is significant relationship between corporate social responsibility & employee Retention.

H₁₁:There is significant relationship between organisational culture & employee retention.

H₁₂:There is significant relationship between work environment & employee retention.

H₁₃:There is significant relationship between brand & reputation & employee retention.

H₁₄:There is significant relationship between career path & employee retention.

H₁₅:There is significant relationship between work–life balance & employee retention.

H₁₆:There is significant relationship between compensation & employee retention.

H₁₇:There is significant relationship between employer attributes & employee retention.

H₁₈:There is significant relationship between job security & employee retention.

H₁₉:There is significant relationship between authority & employee retention.

H₂:There is no significant impact of employer branding on employee retention.

H₂₁:There is significant impact of employer branding on employee retention.

Research Methodology

 

Data Analysis

Descriptive Analysis

Table 1 represents the descriptive analysis of the dimensions of employer branding.

Table 1. Descriptive Analysis.

Note: Represents the demographic analysis of the respondents.

 

Reliability Analysis

For reliability of the data, we have used Cronbach Alpha.

Table 2 represents the reliability analysis of dimensions of employer branding. The value of Cronbach’s Alpha for all the items used in our research is more than 0.700 which clearly indicates that the data are reliable for study.

Table 2. Reliability Analysis.

Note: Cronbach’s Alpha measured is above 0.90 for all the variables.

 

Testing of Hypotheses

Hypothesis 1

H₀:There is no significant relationship between dimensions of employer branding & employee retention.

H₁:There is significant relationship between corporate social responsibility & employee Retention.

H₁₁:There is significant relationship between organisational culture & employee retention.

H₁₂:There is significant relationship between work environment & employee retention.

H₁₃:There is significant relationship between brand & reputation & employee retention.

H₁₄:There is significant relationship between career path & employee retention.

H₁₅:There is significant relationship between work–life balance & employee retention.

H₁₆:There is significant relationship between compensation & employee retention.

H₁₇:There is significant relationship between employer attributes & employee retention.

H₁₈:There is significant relationship between job security & employee retention.

H₁₉:There is significant relationship between authority & employee retention.

Correlation Results

Table 3 explains the correlation analysis which shows that there is a positive relation between dimensions of employer branding and employee retention. The research analysis shows that the dimensions that could affect the employee retention are corporate social responsibility (r = .722), organisational culture (r = .720), work environment (r = .711), brand & reputation (r = .721), career path (r = .719), work–life balance (r = .714), compensation (r = .717), employer attributes (r = .716), job security (r = .717) and authority (r = .717). The analysis has shown that all the 10 dimensions are positively correlated to employee retention. The result indicates that all the dimensions are statistically significant at (p < .05).

Table 3. Correlation Analysis.

Note: **Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Factor Analysis

Table 4 shows the KMO test for the data. The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy is an index used to examine the appropriateness of factor analysis. A high value which comes between 0.5 and 1.0 implies that factor analysis is appropriate. A low value which comes below 0.5 implies that factor analysis may not be appropriate. The value of KMO in our study is 0.962, which is an indication of sampling adequacy and thus the appropriateness of the factor analysis.

Table 4. KMO and Bartlett’s Test.

Note: From the table it is apparent that the factor analysis is appropriate. Here KMO value is 0.962 which should be between 0.5 to 1.0 and the result is excellent here. Approximate chi square is 62128.1 with degree of freedom 561 which is significant at level 0.05. This analysis gives us a result that the factors are most important to the study.

Rotated Component Matrix

From Table 5, only 2 factors have been extracted as because their eigen values are more than 1.00 that indicates the adequacy of the analysis using derived factors. The research could be more logical if the researchers used a rotated component matrix. The rotated component matrix avoids the limitation of the component matrix including the variable under a specified factor. In the rotated factor matrix, Factor 1 indicates organisational factors which contains six variables (CSR, organisational culture, work environment, brand & reputation, career path and work–life balance) where the first three questions are used to indicate corporate social responsibility, the next three questions are used to indicate organisation culture, the next three are to indicate work environment, next three were for indicating brand & reputation and the next three for career path. Questions 16–18 are used to indicate variable Work–life balance. In this way, 18 questions are created. The next 16 questions are used to indicate other 4 variables (compensation, employer attributes, job security and authority) which again define Factor 2 named psychological factor. Compensation is indicated by using Questions 19 to 21, employer attributes contain Questions 22–27, job security is indicated by using Questions 28 to 31 and authority is indicated by using Questions 32 to 34. Table 6 depicts the principal component analysis of the data clearly segregating the items into particular variables.

Table 5. Total Variance Explained.

Note: Extraction method: Principal component analysis.

Table 6. Component Matrix^a.

Note: Extraction method: Principal component analysis. ^a The predictor.

 

Researchers have proposed the below-given model as the outcome of this research where all the 10 variables are converted into two factors, that is, organisational factors and psychological factors, and these two factors have a great impact on employer branding which again leads to employee retention.

1. Organisational factor: Researchers have categorised some of the studied dimensions under this factor and they are organisation culture, corporate social responsibility, work environment, brand and reputation, career path and work–life balance. An organisation where a good CSR is practised and has a friendly work environment and where employees can get a better career path and can balance their work and professional life are assumed to be more satisfied, and hence they try to work for the organisation for a longer tenure.
2. Psychological factor: In this category, authors have put compensation, employer attributes, job security and authority as the major dimension. From this study, it is identified that all these dimensions psychologically affect employees’ retention in an organisation. A fair compensation policy attracts employees and a supportive employer environment with confirmed job security enhances a positive ambience in an organisation and keeps its employees happy.

Hypothesis 2

H₂:There is no significant impact of employer branding on employee retention.

H₂₁:There is significant impact of employer branding on employee retention.

Regression & ANOVA Analysis

Table 7 shows summary of items and factors and Table 8 shows the multiple regression analysis. Table 9 shows the ANOVA model. In this study, the level of significance is 0.000. The value of r2 = .638 (almost 63.8.%). The results are justified (i.e., the null hypothesis is rejected and alternate hypothesis accepted), which means there is a positive significant impact of employer branding on employee retention. The figure shows that the points spread around the diagonal line are in the direction of regression (Figure 2).

 

Table 7. Items & Factors.

 

Table 8. Model Summary (Regression Analysis)^a,b.

Notes: aPredictors: (Constant), organisational factor, psychological factor. 

            bDependent variable: Employee retention.

Table 9. ANOVA.

Notes: aDependent variable: Employee retention. bPredictors: (Constant), organisational factor, psychological factor.

Figure 2.

 

Findings and Conclusion

From the above research, it is clearly shown that there is a strong correlation between dimensions of employer branding and employee retention during COVID-19. All the dimensions under study have more than 0.700 correlation value with employee retention which signifies a strong correlation. ANOVA shows the p-value to be .00 which means the null hypothesis is rejected and our test is statistically significant. In other words, there is significant impact of employer branding on employee retention. This may happen because our dimensions under study considered during COVID-19 (CSR, organisation culture, work environment, brand & reputation, career path, work–life balance, compensation, employer attributes, job security, authority) play a key role in the talented employees to continue in an organisation for the long run. CSR increases brand value in competitive markets and hence employees like to get adhered to their current organisation. Similarly, a good organisation culture with employee-friendly policies attracts employees to stay in organisation in long run. A healthy work environment increases employer–employee interaction and employees feel free to continue working in such environment. Organisation having a good brand value in market and giving opportunities for self-development and growth also acts as major player in the market for retaining talent pool.

Employee who gets a fair remuneration will be able to manage work as well as family life and are likely to continue working with their current organisation. Similarly, good employee attributes followed by commitments to job security enhance employee commitment to the organisation, especially during this pandemic. Authority also plays a key role in retaining employees; employee feels their importance in the organisation when they are given the authority to participate in decision-making. So in that way, all dimensions under study are influencing employee retention to a great extent.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Smita Barik  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5116-5994

Appendix

Demographic Variables

• Age of respondent
• Gender of respondent
• Designation of respondent
• Income of respondent