Assessing the Impact of Friendly Family Practice in Reducing Employee Turnover in Malaysian Private Higher Educational Institutions

Abstract The main purpose of the research is to identify the effectiveness of implementing family-friendly practices in reducing turnover amongst academicians in private higher education institutions, with the mediator effect on job satisfaction. Systematization of the literary sources and approaches for solving the employee turnover problem indicates that friendly family practice includes three dimensions: flexible working arrangements, parental leave and childcare benefits. During the investigation, these three variables will be evaluated for their relationship with turnover and whether there is any significant or effective association among the variables. The research proves that for many private higher educational institutions, the expansion required a considerable effort to have knowledgeable academicians and skillful employees. Thus, they could deliver their professions and skills to achieve education goals. However, retaining the employee is always the main issue faced by many institutions and many scholars have formulated strategies to minimise turnover. Most of them claim that if the strategies are properly implemented, organization turnover will be reduced, thus developing a highly committed and motivated employee. Hence, this study has developed five (5) research questions and ten (10) hypotheses. To test the hypotheses, a sample of 316 employees from different educational institutions was selected through a cluster sampling method to respond to the questionnaire. The methodological tools of the conducted research were methods of multivariate statistical analysis, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The outcome of the research provided researchers with an understanding that flexible work arrangements, provision of parental leave and childcare benefits have a significant negative relationship with employee turnover intention. Besides that, the outcome also confirmed that there is a mediation effect of job satisfaction towards family-friendly practices and turnover intention.