Employees Turnover

Magnitude, Causes & Impacts

Oil Sector in Sudan as a case study

Ayman Abbas Mohamed Zein

Aug. 2015

1
ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the factors that cause employees turn over in the oil
sector in Sudan, its magnitude and impacts. The oil and gas industry,
considered as the backbone of Sudan’s economy, has been facing
dysfunctional turnover rate in the recent years. Convenience sampling
techniques were adopted in selecting 40 Sudanese respondents from
different oil organizations in Sudan and abroad. Data was elicited from
respondents using a five point Likert scale questionnaire plus secondary
data from an oil company. The empirical evidence shows that the major
factors that are causing employees turn over are: no career development,
supervisory behavior and low salary. This study also examines the impact of
employees turn over on the oil companies’ performance. The evidence shows
that the performance of the companies affects when experienced employees
leave the company.
The study recommended that management practices to be reviewed and
retention policies should be put in place to reduce employees’ in the oil
industry to stop drain the talent.

Keywords: turnover intention,voluntary turnover, involuntary

turnover, functional turnover,dysfunctional turnover

2
INTRODUCTION

The crucial issue in analyzing turnover...is not how many employees leave
but rather the performance and replace-ability of those who leave versus
those who stay. – Wayne F. Cascio

People always look for better job opportunities and career advancement. The
effect of globalization made job switching much easier.
Employee turnover (sometimes known as ‘labour turnover, ‘wastage’ or
‘attrition’) is the rate at which people leave an organization. It can be
disruptive and costly. The CIPD (2008a) survey of recruitment, retention
and turnover found that the average rate of turnover (the number leaving as a
percentage of the number employed) in the UK was 17.3 per cent. It is
necessary to measure employee turnover and calculates its costs in order to
forecast future losses for planning purposes and to identify the reasons that
people leave the organization. Plans can then be made to attack the problems
causing unnecessary turnover and to reduce costs.
Mobley (1982) conducted early work on understanding why employees
voluntarily elect to leave their organizations. Employee turnover can be
categorized into voluntary and involuntary turnover. Involuntary turnover
refers to the dismissal of employees, whereas voluntary turnover occurs
when employees resign or when employees leave an organization at their
own discretion ( Noe,Hollenbeck,Gerhart& Wright 2006).
This study is aiming to examine voluntary turnover, its impact and
magnitude in the oil sector in Sudan

LITERATURE REVIEW
Employee turnover has been and will continue to be a salient management
issue for organisations of all sizes (Lee & Mitchell, 1994).
Turnover as defined by Armstrong: (sometimes known as ‘labour turnover,
‘wastage’ or ‘attrition’) is the rate at which people leave an organization
(Armstrong ,2009).
Or is the rotation of workers around the labour market; between firms, jobs,
and occupations; and between the states of employment and unemployment
(Abassi & Hollman,2000). This workforce activity segments into two
categories, voluntary and involuntary. Involuntary turnover refers to the

3
dismissal of employees, whereas voluntary turnover occurs when employees
resign (Bontis & Stovel,2003).
This study is aiming to examine voluntary turnover specifically.
Since management cannot control voluntary turnover, these are fertile
grounds for research.Voluntary turnover often results in departing
employees migrating to competing firms, creating an even more critical
situation since this knowledge can now be used against the organization.
(Kransdorff, 1996). Managers must recognize that employees are major
contributors to the efficient achievement of the organization’s success
(Abassi & Hollman,2000). There is a need for senior management to
measure the impact and manage the value of each employee within the
firm(Bontis & Stovel, 2003).
Voluntary turnover has in fact been accelerating since 2010 in the oil sector
in Sudan . This situation demands senior management to consider the
consequences of voluntary turnover, and immediately create contingent
plans. Otherwise, senior management may be caught unprepared if (or
when) their best performers leave.

Turnover intention
Turnover intention generally refers to an individual’s perceived probability
of leaving an employing organization, or the willingness of an individual to
voluntarily permanently withdraw from the organization .Empirical studies
have shown that turnover intentions are the best immediate predictor of
actual turnover behavior. There is a strong and significant positive
relationship between turnover intentions and the actual turnover
(Elanain,2014).

Functional turnover
(i.e. bad performers leave, good performers stay) can help reduce sub-
optimal organizational performance (Johnson et al., 2000).However,
excessive turnover can be detrimental to the firm’s productivity. This can
result in the loss of business and relationships, and can even jeopardize the
realization of the firm’s objectives(Bontis & Stovel,2003).

4
Dysfunctional turnover
(i.e. good performers leave, bad performers stay) damages the organization
through decreased innovation, delays services, lethargic implementation of
new programs, and degenerated productivity (Abassi & Hollman,2000).
Such activity can radically affect the firm’s ability to prosper in today’s
competitive economy; leaving even the most ambitious firms unable to
succeed due to the inability to retain the right employees (Bontis &
Stovel,2003).
This is typically the case in the turnover in oil sector in Sudan where talent
employees left their organizations.
Employee loyalty is the underpinning of customer satisfaction in the
organization (Abassi & Hollman,2000).Eroding employee loyalty is
highlighting the importance of attracting and maintaining good people as the
key to strategic staffing in the modern workplace (Abassi & Hollman, 2000).
Finally, economics research has proven that investing in pay and benefits
reduces voluntary turnover (Shaw et al, 1998). The effect of pay systems on
employee retention depends greatly on the intrinsic needs of the specific
employee, sometimes making the development of effective HR practices
initially ambiguous and/or difficult.

Analysis of reasons for leaving

According to (Armstrong, 2009), reasons for leaving can be amongst the
following.
• More pay.
• Better prospects (career move).
• More security.
• More opportunity to develop skills.
• Unable to cope with job.
• Better working conditions.
• Poor relationships with manager/team leader.
• Poor relationships with colleagues.
• Bullying or harassment.
• Personal – pregnancy, illness, moving away from area, etc.
Abassi and Hollman (2000) highlight five reasons for employee turnover in
the organization: 1) hiring practices, 2) managerial style,

5
3) lack of recognition, 4) lack of competitive compensation systems, and 5)
toxic workplace environments.
While all of these reasons have attracted some attention in academic
research, the correlation between compensation systems and turnover has
been the cause for much study in the past. Johnston and Futrell’s (1989)
study concluded that higher salary and role expectations were the best
predictors of turnover.
Furthermore, skill-based pay systems have found to improve employee
retention, whereas group incentive plans have been associated with high
turnover (Guthrie, 2000).

Leader-member exchange theory (LMX )

The quality of the relationship between supervisors and subordinates has
often been studied via LMX theory . LMX can be defined as the
interpersonal relationship between a subordinate and his leader.LMX theory
posits that the relationship between a supervisor and an employee develops
as a result of work-related exchanges between these two individuals.
Low quality leader-member relations have been characterized in terms of
social exchanges that do not progress beyond the employment contract,
whereas high quality leader-member relations have been characterized by
social exchanges that extend beyond the employment contract. The lack of
trust, communication, and other benefits for subordinates in low-quality
relationships lead to negative feelings or affective responses toward their
supervisors. As these relationships are not desired, these subordinates want
to take actions to avoid the discomfort or displeasure of working in these
situations. This would describe an affective force for entertaining quitting, as
subordinates develop negative affective responses and, in efforts to improve
these situations, a likely option is to think about working for a new
organization (Elanain, 2014).

Career Development Practices (CDP)

Career development involves an organized, formalized, planned effort to
achieve a balance between an individual’s career needs and the
organization’s workforce requirements. CDP was once a crucial part of the
HRMP under life time employment practices to motivate employees for

6
career enrichment as well as desired performance in the
organization(Foong,2008).

Turnover Magnitude
Employee turnover index
The employee turnover index as set out below (sometimes referred to as the
employee or labour wastage index) is the traditional formula for measuring
turnover(Armstrong ,2009):

Impacts of employee turnover

The negative outcomes of turnover are perhaps more frequently studied in
the literature (Mobley, 1982). Examples of this include employee separation,
replacement and training costs, reduced productivity and output and
disruption to business operations (Dalton & Todor, 1979). The departure of
talented employees was also identified in the literature as a turnover cost
(Dalton & Todor, 1979; Mobley, 1982). Abelson and Baysinger (1984)
extend on the latter by noting that dysfunctional turnover constitutes the loss
of a valued employee that subsequently results in lowered organisational
effectiveness. Turnover can also have negative implications from an
organisational-social perspective. By way of example, disruptions to internal
communication lines (Mobley, 1982) and severed personal ties within work
groups (Muchinksy & Morrow, 1980) are possible adverse outcomes of
voluntary turnover.
Research estimates indicate that hiring and training a replacement worker for
a lost employee costs approximately 50% of the worker’s annual salary
(Johnson et al. 2000).
But the costs do not stop there.Each time an employee leaves the firm, we
presume that productivity drops due to the learning curve involved in
understanding the job and the organization. Furthermore, the loss of
intellectual capital adds to this cost, since firms not only lose the human
capital and relational capital of the departing employee,but competitors are
also potentially gaining these assets (Bontis & Stovel,2003).

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The cost of employee turnover can be considerable.
The following factors should be considered when calculating costs :
• Direct cost of recruiting replacements (advertising, interviewing, etc).
• Direct cost of introducing replacements (induction cost).
• Direct cost of training replacements in necessary skills.
• Leaving costs – payroll and HR administration.
• Opportunity cost of time spent by HR and line managers in recruitment.
• Loss of output from those leaving before they are replaced.
• Loss of output because of delays in obtaining replacements.
• Loss of output while new starters are on their learning curves acquiring the
necessary knowledge and skills. (Armstrong, 2009)

History of oil in Sudan

Oil exploration in Sudan was first initiated in by Italy’s Agip oil company in
the Red Sea area in 1959. Several oil companies followed Agip in the Red
Sea Area but none were successful in their exploration efforts. After the end
of the first civil war in 1972 it became possible to extend the oil exploration
to southern Sudan.
In 1975 the American oil company Chevron was granted a concession in the
south and south-west of the country. The first oil discovery in Sudan was
made by Chevron in the south of Sudan in 1979, west of the Muglad.
Chevron continued its successful exploration and made more significant
discoveries in the so called Unity and Heglig fields.
The plans of Chevron could not be implemented as the second civil war
erupted in 1983. Chevron suspended its operations in 1984 and entirely
ended its 17 year long involvement in Sudan.
Chevron sold its interests to the Sudanese company Concorp in 1992.
Concorp sold these concessions on to the Canadian oil corporation ‘State
Petroleum Corporation’ a few months. In 1994 Arakis Energy Corporation
purchased State Petroleum Corporation and started operating in Sudan.
Arakis faced difficulties in securing the needed financing to fulfil its
exploration and production agreement with the Sudanese Government. In
1996 it sold 75% of its shares to the China National Petroleum Company
(CNPC), Petronas (Malaysia) , and Sudapet (Sudan) with which it jointly
formed (GNPOC)

8
The Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC)
Arakis retained a 25% share based on its previous investments. The other
share holders are China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) with 40%,
Petronas (30%) and Sudapet (5%).Despite this arrangement, by 1998 Arakis
was absorbed by Talisman Energy, another Canadian company.
In March 1997, work began on a 1540 km oil pipeline to a terminal (Marsa
Bashaeir ) at Port Sudan on the Red Sea.. In 1999, the pipeline began
delivery, and the first 600,000 barrels were loaded onto a Shell tanker
(Ziada, 2007).
GNPOC is the main oil producer and exporter in Sudan and is also
considered the biggest multinational company in Sudan (+1100 employee).
Later as a result of American pressure on Talisman to leave Sudan,
Talisman sold its share to ONGC Videsh in 2003.

Turnover in the oil sector in Sudan

Turnover rates in the oil sector in Sudan started to increase since 2010 due
the lack of employees in the new local and regional companies. These
companies were looking for experienced staff to start its operations.
In 2010 a consortium led by PetroChina Company Limited signed
Development and Production Service Contract (DPSC) in Iraq.
Chinese who have relatively new experience in oil, attracted Sudanese staff
to work in their oil concessions in Iraq for two main reasons: firstly as
known skilled workers and secondly as Arabic / English translators with
Iraqi people.
At the same time in 2011, Petrofac of Emirates which was working in
Sudan, had been awarded an operation and maintenance contract with BP for
Rumaila oil field, Southern Iraq.More Sudanese were demanded by Petrofac
to work in El Rumaila oil field.
As the experience grown up, many Sudanese resigned from their
organizations and joined organizations in Sudan and abroad such as: UAE
,Saudi Arabia , Qatar,Oman , Kuwait ,Malaysia and Chad.
Previous Studies
1- Awan,2014,“Employees Turnover Rate In Oil Refineries- A Case Study
Of Pak Arab Refinery Ltd (PARCO)”
9
This paper investigated the factors that cause for employees turn over in an
oil refinery Pak Arab Refinery Ltd (PARCO) in Pakistan and concluded:
Employee’s turnover is the challenging issue for the organizations and has
always negative impact on the organizations. When employees leave their
company, it does not only reduce the performance of the organizations but
also lessen the productivity and profitability of the organizations as well. It
also increases the management difficulties and hiring cost for the new people
to fill the vacant positions and train them. Major factors involve in
employees turn over include: performance appraisal system, organizational
policies and their implementations, working environment, job growth,
bosses behaviors, benefits,compensation, economic condition of the
company and performance of the company, etc.The empirical evidence
shows that the major factors that are causing employees turn over in PARCO
are: no employee’s retention policy, unfair performance appraisal system,
improper policy implementation, low promotion prospective and low
compensation. The study also examined the impact of employees turn over
on the PARCO’s performance. The evidence showed that the performance of
the organization affects when experienced employees leave the company.
The study recommended that PARCO needs to review its policies to retain
their valuable employees and stop to drain the talent.

2- Bontis & Stovel,2003, “Voluntary Turnover: Knowledge Management

Friend or Foe”
This study examined 19 Canadian financial service firms and their current
human capital practices and concluded:
The onset of the knowledge era has affected all industries. Without
exception, the Canadian financial services industry has transformed itself
due to the knowledge-intensive structure it possesses. However, high
competition and career-minded professionals have created a situation in
which leading financial services firms are losing key human capital each day
– capital that can and will be used against them in the modern fast-paced
labour market. In the fight for the brightest senior executives, portfolio
managers and fund administrators, human resource professionals must pay
attention to the investments they are making in their employees through
training and development, while monitoring reward and recognition
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programs so that loss of intellectual capital is kept to a minimum. Results
showed that while human resource managers are effectively managing the
people in their organizations through: 1) training and development, 2)
performance reviews and 3) the effective management of fluctuating
workforce demands, this study highlighed the need for greater attention to be
paid to the leveraging of human capital that exists within their knowledge-
intensive workforce. Furthermore, research findings strongly suggested the
need to increase knowledge management behaviours such as the valuation
and codification of organizational knowledge assets.

METHODOLOGY
Quantitative method employed to understand as to why employee turnover
occurs within the oil sector. Primary data collected through structured
questionnaire from the Sudanese who voluntary resigned from the oil
sector in Sudan.Convenience sampling techniques were adopted.
Convenience sampling includes participants who are readily available and
agree to participate in a study (Fink,1995). Rating scale method (Likert
scale) was used to analyze data and draw results. Each question had five
options; strongly disagree,disagree, neutral, agree and strongly agree.
The study targeted a sample size of 48 Sudanese respondents,from which
40 filled in and returned the questionnaire (% 83 )
Secondary data was collected from reports, reviews of exit interviews;
magnitude of turnover, recruitments was taken from (GNPOC) and Bank of
Sudan Annual reports.
A general objective of this research study is to identify the reasons of
employees’ turnover, magnitude and its impact in oil industry and preventive
action to reduce the effects of turnover. Research study answers the
following specific questions.
1. What are the main reasons that cause of employees turnover in oil
industry in Sudan?
2. What is the magnitude of employees’ turnover in oil industry in Sudan?
3. What is the impact of employees’ turnover on employer?
4. What preventive actions management can take place to reduce the effects
of turnover?

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RESULTS
Respondents’ job types were 75% Technical / Engineering and 25%
Administrative .More analysis revealed that most of turnover happened in
the technical disciplines and particularly in the Geophysicist ,production
engineering, drilling rig Supervisors, and reservoir engineering disciplines.
Since most of the technical staff joined new oil concessions, these
disciplines are essential for the new explorations. In the administration side,
turnover rate increases in the contract specialist positions which is also
required for new companies.
Gender type showed 87% male and 13% female .The nature of oil sector
environment is tough, so the majority of the staff is male. In GNPOC for
example the female percentage is not more than % 6.
Age distribution is 25% (26-35 years) 70% (36-45 years), 5% (46 -55 years)
The majority of turnover falls in 36 -45 years because the degree of new
recruitment competition depends mainly on the experience.
85% of respondents are married. 90% of respondents have less than 5 years
in their current organization. This because the Sudanese experience in oil
began in late 1990s and also the new concessions started in 2010.
63% have more than 10 years experience in other companies. This means
the more experienced are likely to find better opportunities.
77.5% have been working for 1-3 companies which means they don’t
change their employers frequently.
We can conclude that the high rate of turnover fall within a 36-45 years old
employees who have gained more than 10 years experience mainly in 1-3
companies and who recently resigned to join another company less than 5
years ago.
I. Magnitude of Turnover:

From secondary data , people who left GNPOC were 188 during the period
from 2010 -2014.Knowing that the employees are + 1100.the number is not
high but the main problem is that, those people are highly skilled and work
in the essential areas for productivity.

12
II.Main reasons for turnover:

Fig.1

On the basis of the questionnaire it was concluded that the main reasons for
turnover are listed in Fig.1.Career development scored 59%.Is the highest
reason for turnover because competent staff are highly required in oil sector
and can get high offers. Supervision scored 10.3% .Many employees
complained about their supervisors and some of them resigned because of
his supervisor. Compensation scored 10.3% oil sector in Sudan pays far less
from the international rates. Job security scored 5.1% because some
organizations intend to restructure its workforce. Immigration 5.1% , Other
5.1% and explained by heavy work load .Marriage 2.6 % linked mainly to
females , difficult co-workers 2.6%.

2. Work and work environment

68% found their work challenging and 45 % had a heavy workload

3. Learning and development

68% agreed that the opportunities for learning and development were
adequate , Provided them with the potential for career growth and
contributed to opportunities for advancement which enabled them to join

13
new organizations. This means the highly trained and skilled staff are likely
to score high rates of turnover.

4. Supervision
Regarding the relationship with supervision, 60% agreed that their
supervisors follow the policies and procedures , %63 treated them fairly and
consistently %73 Listen to their ideas. However, when it comes to answer
the question: would you like to work for or report to the same person again?
50 % answered yes.

6. Rewards
50% agreed that their base salary was adequate. Salary structure for oil
sector in Sudan is good compared with other sectors in Sudan but far below
the international oil salaries
Most of employees were not in the favor of motivation and encouragement.
There is no proper policy that motivates and encourages employees to take
interest in job. If any employee do good job; he/she will not motivated or
encouraged.The next question support the idea that the benefits are the
lowest:
What did you like most about working at your past company?
42.5 % Environment, %42.5 job and 15% Compensations & Benefits
7. Retention
In an answer to the question: If your past company has taken some initiatives
on employees’ retention, what ONE item do you recommend to focus on?
%55 selected Management.The answer is consistent with the supervision
In an answer to the question: What ONE item if improved would have the
greatest impact on increasing your satisfaction about current company?
The answers 35 % salary 25% management 10 % training 7.5% job security
7.5% annual performance review 5% Working hours 2.5% Working
Conditions

8. Loyality
72% rated their past company from good to excellent, % 82 recommend
their past company as a potential employer to others, %57 consider re-

14
employment at your past company. It is worth mentioning that some
employees have been reemployed in their mother companies.

II. Impact of Turnover

With the exception of year 2013 which witnessed new oil discoveries,
GNPOC production has been in decline since 2010.One of the main factors
of this decline is the dysfunctional turnover. (Awan, 2014) link the
performance with turnover:
Performance of the organization is affected when experienced employees
leave, majority employees agreed this. According to them the quality of
work and quality of product suffers when experienced employees leave the
company. The quantity of the work also affects. Sometimes per unit cost of
the product also increased. It also increased the difficulties of the
management because when the talented man power leaves the company, it
creates many difficulties including the maintenance activities of the
equipment and plant tripping or shutdown difficulties (Awan, 2014).
Sudan oil production had increased from 37.4 in 2012 Mbbl to 45.2 in 2013
due to the introduction of new company : Star oil and also the significant
increase of the production of Petronergy Co. and GNPOC (53rd Bank of
Sudan annual report,2013)
To study the contribution of GNPOC as the major oil producer in Sudan to
the total Sudan production during 2010-2014 (Fig.2). The correlation
coefficient is 0.86 which means strong linear relationship.
Since Sudan national income depends on oil, this means the productivity of
the oil sector in Sudan is one of the main factors that affect Sudan national
income.

15
 Relationship between GNPOC production and
Sudan Production
150 y = 2.1254x - 1.8884
Total Oil Production of Sudan

R² = 0.8662
100

50 Sudan Prod.Mbbl
Linear (Sudan Prod.Mbbl)

0
0 20 40 60
GNPOC Oil Production

Fig.2
The below data shows the relationship the oil production of GNPOC, total
Sudan oil production and the oil revenue as a national income of Sudan.
*GNPOC Production & Sudan Oil Production

Year GNPOC GNPOC Sudan Mbbl Oil Income Oil % as part of

bpd YTD National income
(000)
Mbbl

2010 149,500 54.56 130.84 $9,695 82%

2011 123,900 45.2 71.53 $7,304 78%

2012 46,200 16.86 37.4 $256 75%

2013 58,900 21.5 45.2 $1,716 78%

2014 55,700 20.3 42.4 $1,254 45%

* Data taken from Bank of Sudan annual reports(2010-2014) and GNPOC

production reports.

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DISCUSSION

The magnitude of turnover in the oil sector in Sudan isn’t high when
compared to the total number of employees. But the number is high when
compared to rare technical skills like geophysicist, production engineer,
drilling rig supervisor, reservoir engineer and contract specialist. So it is
considered dysfunctional. The dysfunctional turnover constitutes the loss of
a valued employee that subsequently results in lowered organisational
effectiveness (Abelson and Baysinger 1984).

As the study analysis showed the main reasons for turnover were: career
development, salary and supervision.

1.In consistence with previous studies (Foong, 2008), career development is

the a major turnover reason.The decision for employees to stay or leave
might depend on whether the work is challenging, whether they gain support
at work and personal growth. This requires employers to provide resources,
tools, and the appropriate environment to ensure continued self-
development. Effective career development programs enhance individual
work performance by continuously learning and adapting, while the
organization offers favorable developmental relationships with their
employees (Foong, 2008).
Employees are not happy about the of career development programs in the
oil sector in Sudan. According to those employees the career development
programs in their organizations are poor. Employees stay in the same
position with the same assignments for years. Promotion policies are overly
bureaucratic and not implemented periodically. Most employees join local
companies to get promoted and join international companies at the same
position because since he/she entered the international arena, moving from
one organization to another will be much easier.

2.Majority of the employees disagreed with the salary package of the oil
sector in Sudan
It is far below the international standards. Even in Sudanese organizations
there is discrimination in terms of salary package between the expatriates

17
who are getting higher salaries than the national staff although they are
doing the same job.
Government of Sudan has policies on the public sectors that maintain certain
levels of salary packages. But because of the risky nature and high profit of
oil industry, international companies pay high salaries compared with most
industries.
Employees joined local organizations in higher positions or international
organizations in the same position for this reason.

3. About 50% of the respondents reported that they are not willing to report
to the same supervisor in the future. Some of them agreed that supervisors
use coercive measures to harass their subordinate, while others were
overloaded by work assignments beyond the scope of the formal job
description. So, coercive strategy is also a major factor that cause employees
turn over. This result is in line with previous studies. Elanain (2014)
explored the leadership behavior represented by leader–member exchange
and its impact on
turnover intentions. He concluded that: LMX has a functional impact on
employees’ turnover intentions.
(Krackhardt.et al,1981)suggested that turnover can be controlled through a
supervisory intervention which can result in lower turnover rates.
On the other hand respondents selected management as one of the top three
reasons for retention.
Usually the training of technical staff doesn’t focus on the human resource
management which creates supervisors couldn’t manage their subordinates
perfectly.

Staff who left the oil companies in Sudan created a big gap that couldn’t be
filled because their experience is scare among the Sudanese. Turnover does
not only reduce the performance of the organizations but also lessen the
productivity and profitability of the organizations as well.
If turnover can reduce the productivity of the oil organications,then it can be
one of the factors that affect the national income. Annual reports of the Bank
of Sudan show that crude oil’s contribution to the national income has
declined from 82% in 2010 to 45 % in 2014.

18
An important point is that the temporary reduction in turnover rates doesn’t
mean that the workers are satisfied: workers may also stay because they just
cannot find another job. Now Sudanese workforce has built a good
reputation in the oil sector abroad and may leave at any time if no retention
policies have been implemented.

This study is also subject to limitations. First, samples were taken from oil
sector; caution should be exercised when generalizing the results to other
sectors. Second, some unlisted reasons like the work overloaded were added
by respondents under (other reasons). A larger sample may reveal more
reasons. Third, the study was generalized to the whole oil sector in Sudan,
while the exact reasons for each organization may provide a fruitful avenue
for future research.
A fruitful extension of this research would therefore be the impact of the
employee turnover on the national income.
Recommendations are summarized as follows:
1. To apply Monetary and non-monetary incentives in the Sudanese oil
organizations
2. To consider career development programs which is a motivational
incentive that promotes workers retention and productivity. It involves
career paths for the employee and designing in-service training and
experience to prepare the person for more advanced responsibilities
3. To train supervisors to be more supportive of subordinates and to show
them greater respect to increase the quality of relationships between leaders
and followers.
4. Building a team-oriented culture that emphasizes conflict resolution,
friendly relationships, and mutual support would facilitate leader-member
interactions.
Furthermore, the management should pay keen attention towards employee
who is dissatisfied from his/her job and should try to formulate such plans
that could enhance the satisfaction level. Also, management should create an
environment that should develop confidence in employee to share his/her
problems with them.

19
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