Attrition is often defined as “a reduction in the number of employees as a
result of retirement, resignation or death” and also as “the rate of shrinkage in size or
number”. But the scenario is not so simple. We should always consider premature
retirement, sudden resignation and premature death, including suicide. The real
scenario is employees do leave, either because they expect extra money, dislike the
working environment, get rough behavior, non-cooperation from their coworkers, need
a change, or because their spouse gets a more robust chance in another region.
Retention is more economical than going for brand spanking new recruitment
whatsoever. Organizations should have a good retention strategy to retain their
valuable employees. Employee turnover may be viewed as the outcome of unmet
expectations and gaps between fundamental employee demands. Employees may
simply resign under a few unfavourable conditions, but more crucially, “people depart
before they leave”, according to the psychology of disengagement. It may be iterated
that as they become older, their contribution gradually decreases, much like a slowly
fading memory. This text presents a holistic view of attrition and retention of
employees based on psychological aspects in this cut-throat competitive environment
in India. Biology has a little role in management, though one cannot ignore biology in
psychology. In broader terms, attrition is somehow related to psychology, and
psychology and physiology are two sides of a coin. A new trend is to relate psychology
with physiology to reduce attrition.
Keywords: Attrition, Employee recognition, Meta analysis, Psychology, Physiology, Retention.
