3.5 Motivation & Retention Practice Questions

Text 2 — Brightleaf Garden Centres Ltd

Brightleaf Garden Centres Ltd owns four garden centres in the north of England and employs 120 staff. About half of the employees are part-time. Most staff work outdoors in the plant areas, the work is physically demanding and many shifts are at weekends. Supervisors make all of the decisions about displays and ordering, and shop-floor staff are rarely given the chance to take on extra responsibility.

The owner, Nadia Okafor, pays the same hourly rate as nearby garden centres. She has recently added a 25% staff discount on plants and free hot drinks in the staff room. Nadia estimates that it costs the business £1 200 to recruit and train each replacement employee, and she is now considering paying each centre's team a bonus when customer satisfaction scores rise.

Number of employees leaving Brightleaf Garden Centres Ltd

Year	Number of employees leaving
2021	26
2022	34
2023	41
2024	35

Text 1 — Tarnwick Coffee Ltd

Tarnwick Coffee Ltd runs eight coffee shops in and around the city of Deventry. It employs 140 people, over half of whom work part time. Most baristas are paid the same hourly rate and the work involves repeating the same tasks during long, busy shifts.

The owner, Beatrix Kendrew, found that in 2022 the business spent a large amount on advertising vacancies and on training new baristas, because so many employees left. In 2023 Beatrix introduced an 'employee of the month' award scheme and gave shift supervisors responsibility for ordering stock for their own shop. In 2024 the staff rooms at all eight shops were refurbished with new seating and lockers.

Beatrix is now considering spending a further £26 000 on improving the working environment in the shops themselves, including better ventilation behind the serving counter.

Number of employees leaving Tarnwick Coffee Ltd

Year	Number of employees leaving
2022	56
2023	48
2024	42

Text 2 — Strathcole Engineering Ltd

Strathcole Engineering Ltd makes metal brackets for the construction industry at one factory in Calderhaye. It employs 60 production workers, who are each paid a fixed weekly wage. Every worker used to complete the same single task all day.

Two years ago the production manager, Jonah Brett, introduced job rotation, so that workers move between four different tasks each week. He also set up teams of six workers, who meet each Monday to discuss quality problems. Since then the number of workers leaving has fallen.

The directors now want output per worker to rise by 10%. One director has suggested introducing performance-related pay, so that assembly workers who beat their weekly output target receive extra pay. Another director believes the money would be better spent on praise and an award scheme for the teams producing the fewest faulty brackets.

Strathcole Engineering Ltd's recruitment costs

Year	Recruitment costs (£)
2022	18 400
2023	22 600
2024	15 800
2025	13 200

Text 2 — Hollyvale Garden Centres Ltd

Priya Raval owns Hollyvale Garden Centres Ltd, which runs six garden centres in the south of England. The business employs 180 people, including 95 part-time sales assistants, most of whom work at weekends. Sales assistants advise customers on plants, tools and compost. Many customers visit the same centre every season and expect the staff to recognise them and to know the products well.

Priya is worried about the number of sales assistants who leave. It costs Hollyvale Garden Centres Ltd around £400 to recruit each replacement and prepare them for the shop floor. Weekend shifts are sometimes left short of staff and queues build up at the tills.

Last year Priya introduced an 'employee of the month' award scheme at all six centres. She is now looking at other ways of motivating her sales assistants.

Year	Number of employees who left	Total recruitment costs (£)
2021	54	21 600
2022	48	19 200
2023	36	14 400
2024	30	12 000

Merrowfield plc

Merrowfield plc runs 60 distribution warehouses in eight European countries and employs 5 000 warehouse operatives. Operatives pick and pack orders for supermarkets and work in shifts, including nights. They are paid £12.10 an hour.

In 2023, chief executive Alisha Walsh introduced a bonus of £400, paid every three months to operatives working in any warehouse that meets its monthly order targets. Merrowfield also trains operatives to use the robot picking equipment it has installed in 18 of its warehouses.

It costs Merrowfield £900 to recruit and train each new warehouse operative. Supermarket customers have complained that orders have arrived late and that items have been missing from deliveries.

Table 1: Warehouse operatives leaving Merrowfield plc

Year	Number of operatives leaving
2022	640
2023	800

Crustfield Ltd

Crustfield Ltd is a bakery in Doncaster owned by Neil Deane. It uses flow production to make sliced loaves for supermarkets. Its 40 production employees are paid £11.50 an hour for a 40-hour week. Each employee works on one stage of the line, such as weighing dough, loading the ovens or packing finished loaves.

Last year labour turnover rose to 28% and each production employee was absent for an average of 9 days. Neil pays agency staff to cover absences. Two supermarket customers have complained about packs of bread that were sealed badly.

Neil is considering paying each production employee a bonus of £2 for every 100 loaves produced above a weekly target of 5 000 loaves. The speed of the production line is set by the ovens.

Table 1: Weekly output of one employee, Ffion

Week	Loaves produced
1	5 400
2	5 800
3	5 200
4	5 600

Greenfern Garden Centre Ltd

Greenfern Garden Centre Ltd is owned by Wendy Faulkner. It sells plants, tools and garden furniture from a large roadside site in Shropshire and employs 24 people. Sales assistants are paid £12 an hour and are expected to give customers detailed advice on which plants to buy.

Sales fall sharply in the winter months. Two new garden centres have opened within ten miles in the last year, and Wendy has found it harder to keep experienced sales assistants. She wants to increase sales of garden furniture, which earns a much higher profit per item than plants.

Wendy is considering two financial methods of motivation:

• Commission: each sales assistant is paid a bonus of 5% of the value of the sales they make themselves, on top of their hourly pay.
• Profit sharing: 10% of the company's yearly profit is shared equally between all 24 employees. Last year's profit was £180 000.

Table 1: Hours worked and value of sales, Week 1

Sales assistant	Hours worked	Value of sales
Josh	32	£3 400
Mia	25	£2 150
Owen	38	£4 020

Kavana Coffee plc

Kavana Coffee plc runs 310 coffee shops in the UK and Ireland and employs 4 200 baristas. Baristas make drinks, serve customers and clean the shop, and are paid £11.40 an hour. Each month, every shop manager chooses a 'Barista of the Month', who receives a certificate and has their photograph displayed in the shop.

In 2024, 85% of baristas left Kavana within a year of joining. Chief executive Dilara Osman says many leave because the work is repetitive and they see no way to develop. It costs Kavana £600 to recruit and train each new barista.

Customers have posted complaints on social media about slow service and about baristas who do not know how the drinks on the menu are made. Last year Kavana's net profit fell by £3.2 million.

Dilara wants fewer baristas to leave. She is considering paying each barista a bonus of £250 for every three months they stay with Kavana.