Employee retention in the Malaysian banking industry: Do flexible practices work?

Abstract

The objective of the study was to determine whether employee retention in Malaysian banks can be improved through flexible working. Using a quantitative approach, the effects of five types of flexible working practice, i.e. flex time, jobsharing, flex leave, flex career and flex place, on employee retention were examined. The results suggest that only flex time has a positive significant effect on employee retention, while the effects of other flexible practices are unstable.Unlike most studies which generally demonstrate the positive effects of flexible working on employee retention, the current one indicates that the effectiveness of each flexible practice is influenced by contextual factors. These findings underline the importance of further studies comparing societies of different cultural, political, economic and technological backgrounds. They have also raised the need to re examine human resource management and organizational culture in the Malaysian work environment. Challenges lie in developing a flexible environment which values continuous learning, trust, accountability and strong corporate governance.