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Extension Employee Retention Analysis Through Stay Interviews

Leadership and Administrative Skills

Lee Beers
Assistant Professor, Extension Educator
Ohio State University
Cortland

Abstract

Employers have experienced high rates of employee turnover, and Extension systems are not immune from the aftershocks of the “great resignation”. Ohio State University Extension is currently experiencing higher than average turnover, particularly among employees who have been with the organization for less than five years. Exit interviews are a common tool used to gather data on the employee experience, but this data is limited because it represents the experience of those who have already elected to leave the organization. To better understand the factors that may drive employee retention, stay interviews were conducted with Ohio State University Extension employees in 2022. This study aimed to describe the factors that keep Ohio State University Extension County Educators with the organization for five or more years, as well as negative factors that may lead to employee turnover in the future. Stay interviews have been shown to serve as a great retention tool when used to identify gaps in staff support and professional development. This can improve job satisfaction and organizational commitment, which in turn may reduce the likelihood of employee loss. This qualitative exploratory study utilized a grounded theory approach with a constructivist worldview. Data gathered from the interviews were transcribed first, and then entered and coded in NVivo software. The original codebook will be based on question themes. From the data, themes and sub-themes were developed. This presentation will summarize the findings from the stay interviews and recommendations on how to improve employee retention.

Authors: Lee Beers, Teresa McCoy, Eric Barrett, Diane Mashburn
  1. Lee Beers Assistant Professor, Extension Educator, Ohio State University Extension, Ohio, 44410-1455
  2. Teresa McCoy Director, Learning and Organizational Development, Ohio State University Extension, Ohio, 43210
  3. Eric Barrett Associate Professor, Extension Educator, Ohio State University Extension, Ohio, 44406
  4. Diane Mashburn Graduate Associate, Ohio State University Extension, Ohio, 43210