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Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 3
ARTICLE-1 ............................................................................................................................... 3
ARTICLE-2 ............................................................................................................................... 4
ARTICLE-3 ............................................................................................................................... 5
ARTICLE-4 ............................................................................................................................... 6
ARTICLE-5 ............................................................................................................................... 7
Introduction

For the given topic – “Key challenges in attracting and retaining a workforce in the selected
area”, the sector that I have selected is Service sector. Further, I have referred to five articles
including one on global challenges for youth unemployment worldwide, another on
international student recruitment in Australia, Canada, USA and England, another article
describing the topic in general, one evaluating the role of high performance work systems and
group culture on employee retention and last describing retention strategies in one of the non-
profit organization from Australian community. The articles describe the topic in general and
several factors affecting the retention of workforce in service sector of different countries.

ARTICLE-1
dhakal, s., connel, j., & burgess, j. (2018). Inclusion and work: addressing the global
challenges for youth employment. Equality, Diversity And Inclusion: An International
Journal, 37(2), 110-120. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/edi-12-2017-0290

Keywords: Labour market, Asia-Pacific, Education-work transitions, Youth employment

This article “Inclusion and Work: Addressing the global challenges for youth employment”
addresses the issue of unemployment amongst youth across the globe. Countries taken into
study are from Asia and Pacific. Most of the countries have been focusing on policies to
reduce youth unemployment but still the problem prevails. It mentions the reasons for youth
unemployment such as lack of required skills, high supply than demand, wrong attitude for
the marketplace and no job experience. The paper addresses certain research questions such
as increasing youth employability, how can government and industry work together to
provide/increase employment opportunities, and different studies that investigate policies and
strategies for the same. Further, it highlights the solutions to these challenges so that they can
be included in this global marketplace such as emphasis on vocational training relevant to the
jobs and workplace, workforce and market integration, policies for job creation. The analysis
and findings of this paper depends on the review of the literature concerned to the subject. It
has been concluded that investigation and research at all the three levels i.e. international,
country level and micro level is required to help in further understanding the policies and
interventions for improvement in youth employment and effectiveness.

This article deals with the problem of youth unemployment globally. This study has helped
me to understand the key challenges that are faced by the youth in getting their first jobs and
workforce and labour market integration problems. The findings of the research have given
me an insight on the situation of the marketplace requirements of potential candidates to
match the job profile and work culture. I can use this study for my future assessment to
analyse the employability aspects of the employees, key skill sets required and training and
development. Further, this study does not contribute to my assessment in relation to retaining
and attracting key talents for the organization but only gives a background check on the
market scenario. It basically addresses the global challenge of reducing youth unemployment
by implementing various policies and association of government, education and industry. It
also highlights the training programs to be introduced in prevalent education system to make
the transition from education to the job smoother. Hence said, this study focuses on several
challenges which are not relevant to the subject of my study.

ARTICLE-2
Sa, C., & Sabzalieva, E. (2017). The politics of the great brain race: public policy and
international student recruitment in Australia, Canada, England and the USA. Higher
Education, 75(2), 231-253. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10734-017-0133-1

Keywords: International students, Public policy, Student mobility, Immigration,

The article “The politics of the great brain race: public policy and international student
recruitment in Australia, Canada, England and the USA” analyses the globalization and
student mobility with its effect on government competing for talented personnel. As
governments from different countries are seeking to employ highly skilled people from
abroad to survive this cut throat competitive market, the paper studies this “Great brain race”.
As we all know, the competition has been increasing with time at a great pace, there is little
evidence of good public policies to attract and utilize global talent available worldwide, not
just in major countries but since long period of time. This analysis is based on a short series
of observations obtained from a group of respondents in relation to the impact of political and
public policy strategies on international students in four of the big and powerful countries
recruiting worldwide i.e. Australia, the USA, Canada and England over a period of 2000 to
2016. The study also emphasizes on comparative analysis in these countries and finds that the
number of international students has grown immensely during this period of time but is not
associated with any effect of public policy or its changes thereby. The study concludes that
the success of such policies depend on efficiency of various departments of government
which need to work in coordination.

This study basically emphasizes on the public sector policies to attract and retain the global
talent from other countries to attain a competitive edge over others. I can utilize the findings
derived from this study in my assessment to understand policies and strategies in attracting
and retaining global workforce such as understanding the demographics, promoting healthy
work culture, reducing cultural shock at workplace, offering competitive wages and perks.
Further it can be concluded that the initiative of “Internationalization” does not provide
proper coverage for policies concerning attracting the potential international students,
recruiting them and retaining the talent which can be a challenge to be dealt with in future
political policy changes. This paper deals with public sector policies only. It helped me to
understand that lack of coordination amongst various ministries and departments is one of the
key reasons to failure in recruiting and retaining the talent pool globally.
 ARTICLE-3
Scott-ladd, B., Travaglione, A., Perryer, C., & Pick, D. (2010). Attracting and Retaining
Talent: Social Organizational Support as an Emergent Concept. Research And Practice In
Human Resource Management, 18(2), 1-14.

Keywords: social organizational support, Australia, retention, workforce diversity, worklife

This article “Attracting and Retaining Talent: Social Organizational Support as an Emergent
Concept” studies the changing demographics of workforce in Australia and its impact on
organizations to deal with attraction and retention of talented people. Everyone is aware of
the changes in cultural and social background globally, so is the case with Australian
demographics over a period of last 30 years which is expected to rise in coming time. These
constantly changing needs of the employees and their expectations affect the organizational
efficiency and their policies on recruitment and retention of the employees. Today the
employees have become very demanding based on their lifestyles, age groups, technology,
social life requirements and competition. A panel of 35 managers was selected from various
sectors to explore the area of research and generate hypotheses for testing. The findings of the
study state that the managers feel unable to deal with the social changes of the employees
with the existing retention strategies of the organization. The respondents stated certain
concerns that should be taken into account by the managers majorly being work and life
balance, flexible workplace, organizational culture, health and other social benefits. It was
concluded that the organizations must think of the community and society they work in which
will ultimately represent them as the best employer and hence, retain the employees for a
long term.

The findings from the above analysis have helped me to understand the importance of
changing demographics, rising employee expectations, social needs and their impact on
organizational efficiency and retention of employees. I can utilize this study for my
assessment to underline the factors affecting attraction and retention of employees in this
global scenario. Though this study focuses only on the organizations of Australia, the
situation of changing demographics prevail worldwide. Drawing on this experience, I have
analyzed that findings derived from a small group of respondents cannot be universally
applied to all the segments of the market as the expectations change according to the sector,
geographical distribution etc. The factors contributing to employee satisfaction that have been
found out from this study such as flexibility, work life balance, social benefits etc. will help
the managers to frame employee retention strategies for the future. This study covers a very
important subject of evaluating the role that an organization can play in supporting the
employees socially. This study helps me to understand the future challenges such as
workplace diversity and work life balance, to be faced by the HR professionals in retaining
the workforce. This paper also opens some avenues for the practitioners for the future
research to manage the talent efficiently and retain the best pool available.
 ARTICLE-4
Patel, P., & Conklin, B. (2010). Perceived Labor Productivity in Small Firms-The Effects of
High-Performance Work Systems and Group Culture Through Employee Retention.
Entrepreneurship Theory And Practice, 36(2), 205-235. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-
6520.2010.00404.x

Keywords: High-performance work systems, group culture, organizational culture, retention,

This article “Perceived labor productivity in small firms- The effects of high-performance
work systems (HPWS) and group culture through employee retention” is based on two major
hypothesis i.e. HPWS has a perceived impact on labor productivity through increased
employee retention and the role of group culture in moderating its effect on productivity. The
results of HPWS in large scale enterprises cannot be generalized for small enterprises as the
costs may outweigh its benefits in small enterprises. Here, it is assumed that organizational
culture plays a significant role in enhancing the effect of HPWS on labor productivity
through employee retention specifically the culture that encourages HPWS as Group culture.
Group culture helps in establishing employee communication, enhances on the job delight,
hence, contributing to employee retention. The study has been conducted from 145 small
firms/enterprises as sample with less than 100 employees. The findings of the study state the
positive effects that group culture has on the relationship of HPWS and productivity of
workers through employee retention. The article concludes the overall impact of HPWS on
employee retention through various motivators such as information sharing, cohesive
environment and better communication amongst employees and hence the feeling of
association and collaboration.

This research paper helps us in understanding the factors that help in improving labor
productivity in small enterprises such as HPWS and group culture through the mediation of
employee retention. I can use the findings of this study in my assessment to derive the factors
that result in reducing employee turnover in small firms such as creating high performance
work systems that create an environment in the organization to involve and engage its
employees. Further, I got to learn that organizational culture, specifically, group culture that
supports the creation of HPWS is of utmost importance in reducing employee turnover and
organizational costs. This study, however, focuses only on small scale enterprises and its
findings cannot be generalized for other groups of firms. It has its own limitations such as
costs and workforce size. In addition to this, study does not take into account other factors
affecting the labor productivity such as competition and external factors. Employees of small
firms might be more motivated with financial factors due to labor intensive nature of these
enterprises which is not taken into consideration. Despite few limitations, this study
contributes in understanding certain prominent aspects of work culture affecting employee
retention.
 ARTICLE-5
Reference:

Keywords: charity, employment, recruitment, retention, human resources, non-profit sector

This article “Staff Retention Factors in Non-Profit Sector” is focused on a small non-profit
organization representing West Australian community at large which has different socio-
economic conditions than other parts of Australia. The study investigates the motivational
factors and job satisfiers amongst the employees working in non-profit sector to help
managing the talent better. 31 employees of the aged-care division of the organization were
surveyed with the help of a well-structured questionnaire consisting of the factors of
motivation and job satisfaction to know what motivates them better. The factors that were
taken into account were leadership, financial rewards, work-life balance, non-financial
rewards, organizational culture and values, teamwork, training and development, career
advancement and their opinion on non-profit organization. This way, the research also
targeted to identify the employees who wish to leave the organization along with the reasons
thereof. The findings of the study state the major motivators of the current employees of the
organization such as passion for the industry, proper training and development for better
career opportunities, work-life balance and flexible working hours, innovative and
challenging job profile and good compensation package. Further, organizational culture and
good managers played a vital role in motivating and retaining the employees.

From the above analysis, many vital factors contributing to attraction and retention of
employees have been identified for the non-profit sector of west Australia. This study would
help me in assessment to highlight the general factors that motivate the employees to work
efficiently and reduce turnover ratio. The factors that would contribute in my assessment
would be the interest/passion of the employees, good boss, better pay package, career
opportunities and organizational culture. It suggests that such motivators lead to
organizational commitment and hence, employee retention. The study has several limitations.
First being, it only covers one small organization which does not represent a sector at large or
Australian community. Further, it takes into account only non-profit organization, the
findings of which cannot be generalized for other sectors. Despite these limitations, the study
is helpful in understanding the statistics and reasons for employees leaving the organizations
based on which future recruitment and retention strategies can be made. It helps in
understanding the challenges that Australian community which poses an issue of limited
resources, faces in relation to retention of employees. It also opens avenues to conduct
extensive research on this subject in different sectors.