Employee Retention: Organisational and Personal Perspectives

In this continuously changing contemporary economy, companies have to be able to anticipate technological innovations and to compete with other companies worldwide. This need makes important a company’s ability to evolve through its employees’ learning and through continuous development. Securing and retaining skilled employees plays an important role in this process, because employees’ knowledge and skills are central to companies’ ability to be economically competitive. Given that employee retention is very important for the functioning and competitiveness of a company, this study focuses on the organisational and personal factors that influence employee retention. A special interest is taken in employees’ learning, because this is seen as a retention supporting activity. A questionnaire was administered to 349 employees, and 11 employees were interviewed. The interviews are used to illustrate and contextualise the quantitative results. The results show a large positive contribution of appreciation and stimulation of the employee to employee retention. This result is consistent with findings of earlier research. However, the retention benefits arising from personal development offer new possibilities when attempting to enhance employee retention. This study also showed that individual differences influence employee retention. Leadership skills and seniority have a positive relationship with employee retention and the level of readiness and initiative regarding learning are negatively related to retention.     

Educational Investment Risk of the Urban Citizens: Empirical Evidence in China

The risk of individual citizen’s investment in education specifically refers to the benefit changeability of individual investment in education. Risks always go with uncertainty. By adopting the method of quantile regression estimation and taking the Chinese urban citizens as samples, the author makes a positivist study of the risk of Chinese urban citizens’ individual investment in education. The result indicates that the individual citizen’s investment in education often suffers obvious benefit changeability, i.e., the risk and benefit of investment in education shows a positive correlation. It is not realistic to reduce the inequality of salaries by means of investing more money for receiving higher-level education. Therefore, relevant policy makers should pay due attention to the establishment of the mechanism for sharing the risk of investment in education and the system of social insurance. Translated from Education Research, 2005:4     

The Adoption of Prepaid Tuition and Savings Plans in the American States: An Event History Analysis

The past two decades have been a period of far-reaching policy experimentation in state financing of higher education. Between 1986 and 1999, 21 states adopted prepaid college tuition plans. Thirty-one states adopted some form of college savings plan. Both kinds of policies were designed to enhance the affordability of higher education during a time of growing concern about college costs. Using event history analysis, we explore various factors leading to the programs’ adoption, paying particular to the role of policy privatization, electoral competition and timing, and certain system characteristics of higher education. We find that more liberal governments were more likely to adopt prepaid tuition plans, that states with more competitive elections were less likely to adopt any type of prepaid or savings plan, and that states with decentralized governance were more likely to adopt one of these kinds of policies.     

中国过度教育的收入效应

The paper estimates the returns to overeducation by the Over-Required and Undereducation (ORU) model. The estimated results indicate that the returns to overeducation are positive, but lower than the returns to required education, which suggests that while overeducated employees’ earnings are diminished, they still can benefit from it. The paper also attempts to estimate the returns to overeducation by occupations, industries and regions. The result shows that in the field where educational level has much to do with the skills required by employers, education-job match has a greater effect on one’s earnings, such as professionals and skilled persons. On the contrary, education-job mismatch has little effect on one’s earnings, such as non-skilled employees, administrative and clerical employees. In addition, the returns to overeducation are lower or insignificant for those working in competitive but lower paid industries and areas. Conversely, the returns to overeducation are higher for those working in the highly monopolized and highly paid industry and area. It can be argued that regardless of the incidence of overeducation, those with higher level of education prefer to choose the lower level of job in these industries and areas. __________ Translated from Beijing Daxue Jiaoyu Pinglun 北京大学教育评论 (Peking University Education Review), 2007, 5(2): 136–146     

The effect of the father-child relationship on the social conduct of 2 1/2 year old children in preschool

Our goal is to study the effects of early paternal involvement on a child’s socialization. Usually in works concerning the question, we study the father’s contribution with questionnaires, we base our evaluation of involvement on the behavior declared by the subject. We have attempted to analyze the affective dimension of this involvement. We have developed a model of the father-child relationship which articulates the affective investment with the father’s functions (mediation and sanction). Starting with this model, we analyzed the contents of ten nondirective interviews, then we ranked these ten fathers according to their relationship with their children. We have studied early socialization with the concept of mimesis, more pertinent than that of interaction. The social behavior of ten children was observed in a nursery school class during a period of free time. Their conduct was placed into two categories: behavior directed towards the peer or behavior directed towards conformity to the pupil’s social role.     

Characteristics of Workplace Learning Among Finnish Vocational Students

In Finnish VET, students’ work experience is explicitly defined as workplace learning, instead of the practice of already learnt skills. Therefore, vocational students’ learning periods in the workplace are goal-oriented, guided and assessed. This paper examines the characteristics of students’ workplace learning and compares them with the characteristics of employees’ workplace learning. The data were collected with an Internet questionnaire from final-year vocational students (N = 3106). In total, 1603 students (52 %) answered the questionnaire. The data were analysed using quantitative methods. The results indicate that features typical of employees’ workplace learning can also be found in student learning as well. However, VET-related workplace learning has a number of characteristics that have not been brought to light in research on employees’ workplace learning thus far. We suggest that in developing educational practices it would be useful to draw on some of the features of workplace learning such as the use of collaboration and shared practices; conversely for workplace practices it would be useful to draw on some of the features of educational practices. For example, by utilising the structures of students’ workplace learning system presented in this study, learning at work could be transformed towards more goal-directed, guided and assessed activity.     

CONTINUING EDUCATION: A FACTOR IN PREPARING FOR RETIREMENT

This study focuses on the role of formal continuing education in helping persons prepare for retirement. The subjects were 206 classified, university employees between the ages of 50 and 65. The Retirement Preparation Indexes were used to measure behavior, information, and attitude toward retirement. Using the analysis of variance (a = .05), participants in formal continuing education (N = 46) scored significantly higher on the indexes community activity behavior, health care issues, psychological adjustment information, preretirement zest attitude, total behavior, total information, and the complete retirement preparation index. Preretirees involved in lifelong learning were found to be more concerned about their own development regardless of age and more aware of the options available to them upon retirement.     

Education savings plans,matching contributions,and household financial allocations: Evidence from a Canadian reform

Despite a large literature that investigates the effects of education savings plans on schooling outcomes, much less is known about how parents finance this saving and how it affects other household spending, including spending broadly related to child-rearing. To provide new insights on this issue, this paper estimates the spillover effects of contributions to an education savings plan on household spending and retirement saving behavior in Canada. The analysis uses a cross-sectional, nationally-representative household expenditures survey (N = 28,978) and, in an instrumental variables design, exploits policy-induced variation in education saving resulting from changes in federal matching contributions for low-income and middle-income households. The analysis finds that education saving has little effect on total household expenditures, donations, and home investments, and crowds in retirement saving among households with strictly positive net contributions in both types of saving vehicles. Only out-of-house childcare expenditures decrease as a result of education saving, suggesting that households substitute between educational investments and current spending on other child-rearing commodities. However, the dollar value of this substitution is small. These findings offer new insights into how households finance education saving for their children and suggest that different types of tax-preferred saving vehicles may be complementary rather than substitutes.     

Participation,financial support and the marginal student

This paper examines differences between the decision-making of marginal and nonmarginal students about participation in higher education (HE). We distinguish between two kinds of marginality: being ‘borderline’ on account of prior achievements in school and being ‘unsure’ after taking prior achievement into account. We identify a significant minority of students in their final year of schooling who are unsure about participation in higher education even though they have prior school achievements typical of entrants to HE. Being ‘unsure’ is found to be unrelated to socioeconomic background, but it is associated with significantly different attitudes towards the potential benefits and risks of participation, different levels of knowledge about financial support that is available and different approaches to information search about participation in HE.

Simulation of institutional incentive plans for faculty early retirement using a behavioral model of retirement decision-making

This paper uses coefficient estimates from a model of retirement decision-making for faculty members in higher education institutions to simulate the impact of financial incentives for early retirement. The results suggest that plans can be designed to induce relatively large numbers of faculty members to retire prior to the mandatory retirement age. However, the costs of hiring replacements plus pension subsidies can be substantial, especially if the subsidies are directed toward faculty members with relatively low salaries. Hence, institutions wishing to provide open positions to hire new faculty may prefer different incentive plans than those whose goals do not require filling each position with a new faculty member.     

Infusing Aging Content Into a Research Course: A National Organization and University Partnership

Increased longevity coupled with inadequate savings makes retirement savings and investment research increasingly important. A policy-capturing method was used to examine the relative importance of 6 demographic predictors on the retirement investment decisions of 64 working adults. All predictors were significant predictors of the investment. In addition, although age differences on amount of investment were not significant, interactions between participant age and vignette information were found. Results indicate that older and younger adults make similar decisions using different pieces of information. These findings have implications for individuals planning for retirement and financial professionals who help others make decisions.     

教育储蓄的国际比较——以美国“Coverdell教育储蓄”和加拿大“注册教育储蓄计划”为例

教育成本分担机制的推行,解决了高等教育经费政府投入不足的问题,但与之共生的是许多家庭越来越难以承受高等教育的费用。美国和加拿大政府推行的教育储蓄计划有助于这一问题的有效解决。通过对两国的教育储蓄计划进行分析比较,可以发现它们之间存在的异同点。     

高等教育“工程化”建设中的管理模式:问题与对策

中国高等教育"工程化"建设中的管理模式,具有显著的经济建设项目管理特征。这种模式导致学术竞争行政化、挤占专业时间、资源过度集中、形成学术泡沫和虚假绩效、削弱可持续发展动力以及增加行政成本和管理失败风险等问题。为了促进高等教育实现科学发展目标,笔者提出了5项建议:(1)集中管理、分类实施建设项目;(2)资源投入与发展规划同步;(3)强化学术决策力量;(4)创新投资和管理制度;(5)加快高等教育"生产关系"变革步伐。     

Relational pedagogy for student engagement and success at university

The Australian Government’s policy to transform higher education by 2020 includes plans to significantly raise the levels of undergraduate enrolment by people of low socio-economic status. In light of this policy direction, this article examines how a group of undergraduate students of low socio-economic status work to maintain their desire for learning and to remain included in the university system despite experiencing cultural processes of exclusion. As the students reflect on the cultural and pedagogical conditions that promote, support and enhance their participation and engagement in higher education, a picture emerges of the importance of students’ relationships with academics. Whilst positive relationships help students to remain engaged, negative experiences work against continuing participation and engagement. Given the desire of the Australian government to increase participation in higher education by students from under-represented groups, this research identifies some challenges and possibilities for both universities and academics.     

Who attends and completes virtual universities: the case of the open University of Catalonia (UOC)

A highly touted feature of the so-called global “revolution” in higher education is the trend to use information technology to reach a broader clientele. Although there is evidence that students may be learning the material in on-line courses as well as in traditional face-to-face universities, how well students learn content is not the only reason they persist to a degree, and student persistence is an important goal of higher education institutions. In this paper, we make the case that the life conditions for students attending virtual universities are different from those of “traditional” students in face-to-face universities, and that this difference puts a particular (largely non-pecuniary) premium on time to degree. With our data from a Catalan virtual university, the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), we are able to test this hypothesis directly by using the heterogeneous degree structure of the Catalonian/Spanish higher education system to estimate whether the number of courses required to get various degrees (the length of the degree program) is significantly related to student persistence. The study analyzes several cohorts of students (those who entered in 2000–2003) studying in the UOC and estimates the factors that influence their degree completion. We find that the completion rate is generally low, but that students taking shorter degree courses at the UOC are much more likely to complete their degrees. This suggests that, given their clientele, on-line universities operate under very different constraints from their face-to-face counterparts. Our results are important for higher educational researchers, who have mainly focused on younger populations attending face-face universities. They also can serve university administrators who launch distance education degree programs and make high stakes decisions about them with little of no information on the likely behavior of their older students, and can serve employers who are deciding whether to subsidize their employees to take advanced degrees through on-line programs of study.     

Does Self-directedness in Learning and Careers Predict the Employability of Low-Qualified Employees?

Employability has become a key element in sustaining successful vocational careers. The role of self-directedness is considered paramount in maintaining one’s employability. However, it also requires certain competences on part of employees to invest in learning and career development. This study examines the influence of self-directedness in learning and career of low-qualified employees on their employability. In a follow-up study of 284 low-qualified employees, we find that higher levels of self-directedness in learning and career of employees corresponds with higher chance to be promoted to higher-level job positions (vertical job mobility). However, no relationship was found between different formats of self-directedness and job retention or horizontal job mobility of lower qualified personnel.     

RETIREMENT NEEDS AND PREPARATION OF RURAL MIDDLE-AGED PERSONS

Review of preretirement and retirement literature suggests that attention is placed on similarities of rural and urban persons in their retirement needs and concerns. The existing literature shows a lack of data on perceptions of future retirement needs and retirement actions implemented by rural middle-aged persons (45-64 years old). This study, conducted in three rural counties, had as its purpose to identify the following: (a) issues important in retirement for rural middle-aged persons; (b) preparation plans being made by rural middle-aged persons; (c) rural middle-aged persons perceptions of future needs regarding certain aspects of retirement; and (d) relationship of issues, plans, and perceptions to selected demographic variables. A number of relationships were found between issues identified as Important to Me and items labeled Actions I Have Taken. Study conclusions have implications for those concerned with preretirement education.     

Assessing the impact of financial education programs: A quantitative model

Prior studies disagree regarding the effectiveness of financial education programs, especially those offered in the workplace. To explain such measurement differences in evaluation and outcomes, we employ a stochastic life cycle model with endogenous financial knowledge accumulation and investigate how financial education programs optimally shape key economic outcomes. This approach permits us to measure how such programs shape wealth accumulation, financial knowledge, and participation in sophisticated assets (e.g. stocks) across heterogeneous consumers. We apply conventional program evaluation econometric techniques to simulated data, distinguishing selection and treatment effects. We show that the more effective programs provide follow-up in order to sustain the knowledge acquired by employees via the program; in such an instance, financial education delivered to employees around the age of 40 can raise savings at retirement by close to 10%. By contrast, one-time education programs do produce short-term but few long-term effects. We also measure how accounting for selection affects estimates of program effectiveness for those who participate. Comparisons of participants and non-participants can be misleading, even using a difference-in-difference strategy when the common-trend assumption is unlikely to hold. Random program assignment is needed to evaluate program effects on those who participate.     

Access, satisfaction, and future: undergraduate education at the Indian Institutes of Technology

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are among the most prestigious technical institutes in India (and perhaps in the world) for undergraduate engineering education. Admission to an IIT is viewed by many Indians as a passport to success, prosperity, prestige, and possibly moving to Western countries for higher studies and/or jobs. This paper examines whether (i) access to the IITs is open to students irrespective of their socioeconomic status; (ii) students’ satisfaction, once they enter an IIT, is conditioned by their socioeconomic status; and (iii) students’ attitudes towards their future plans are influenced by their socioeconomic status. The paper is based on a survey conducted with nearly 260 students at two out of five original IITs in 2007–2008. Findings reveal that access to the IITs, satisfaction at the IITs, and future plans after the IITs are strongly correlated to students’ socioeconomic status. Even though admission to the IITs is based on an entrance examination, most of its students are from the socially and economically well-off families.     

For Me or Not for Me? Fragility and Risk in Mature Students' Decision‐Making

Drawing on a research project which investigated the recent decline in mature student recruitment to higher education in the UK, this article explores the decision-making process among samples of potential and new mature entrants to nine case study higher education institutions. It compares the emphasis in public policy on higher education as a private investment with the understandings and interpretations of individuals in the act of applying for entry. It concludes that while at a generalised level mature learners believe that the private return on investment will be high, at a personal level the concepts of fragility and risk are more pertinent to understanding the complexity of their decision-making process, particularly for those over 25 years of age.