| Course | GB520 Strategic Human Resource Management |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 9 |
| Paper type | Retention and relations analysis |
| Length | About 1,210 words, 7 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MBA |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for GB520 Unit 9
What One Technician Departure Costs: A Unit 9 Retention and Employee Relations Analysis
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
GB520: Strategic Human Resource Management
Unit 9 Retention and Relations Analysis
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The contractor, its turnover data, the interviews and every figure are composite and illustrative; the statutes and sources cited are real.
Exhibit 1: The Cost of One Departure
Kestrel Refrigeration Services' controller and operations director built the estimate from the last year's departures, using conservative figures:
Vacancy: about 45 working days to fill a journeyman position, during which work is delayed or covered by subcontracted labor at a premium, at about $420 a day in lost contribution, or about $18,900.
Recruiting and hiring: advertising, referral bonus and the portion of the sign-on bonus not recovered, about $11,500.
Onboarding: safety orientation, van and tool setup and a supervisor's time, about $2,900.
Ramp-up: about four months before a new journeyman works at full productivity on Kestrel's systems, a shortfall of about 25 percent, worth about $4,850.
Total: about $38,150 per journeyman departure. A CO2 lead technician's departure costs more, about $61,000, because vacancy delays startups and the replacement must be built or bought.
Last year Kestrel lost about 12 journeymen, 1 lead and 3 apprentices, for a turnover cost of roughly $520,000. Hom et al. (2017) note that firms routinely underestimate turnover costs because most of them never appear as a line in the accounts, which is why the estimate is built item by item.
Exhibit 2: Where Departures Happen
Technician turnover was 19 percent last year, and the departures are not spread evenly:
By tenure: 58 percent of departing technicians had been with Kestrel less than eighteen months.
By crew type: technicians on traveling installation crews, who spend an average of nine nights a month away from home, left at 31 percent; technicians on local service routes left at 14 percent.
By destination: of the 12 departing journeymen, 5 went to supermarket chains' in-house maintenance teams, 4 to other contractors and 3 left the trade.
Exhibit 3: What Stay Interviews Show
The human resources director held stay interviews with 15 technicians: why they stay, what would make them leave and what they would change. Two themes came up in most conversations.
Nights away from home. Eleven of the 15 named travel as the main reason a colleague left or the main thing they would change. Several said the pay is fine but the schedule is not.
No visible route to lead. Nine said they did not know what it would take to become a CO2 lead, or believed it depended on being chosen for the right job by chance. Unit 3's transition matrix showed that promotion to lead is rare, a few journeymen a year at most.
Pay came up less often than expected, mostly as a comparison with in-house maintenance jobs that offer regular hours. Allen et al. (2010) caution that pay is often assumed to be the main driver of turnover when job and career factors matter as much or more, and Kestrel's interviews fit that finding.
Kestrel's technicians mostly do not leave for money; they leave because the job keeps them away from home and gives them no clear way up.
Exhibit 4: Three Interventions, Priced
1. A regional crew model. Base installation crews within about 150 miles of a branch and assign long-distance work to a smaller team of volunteers who receive a travel premium. Average nights away for most crews would fall from nine a month to about three. Added cost: about $90,000 a year in lost scheduling efficiency, partly offset by lower per diem. Expected effect: turnover among the roughly 30 traveling technicians falling from 31 to about 20 percent, about 3.3 fewer departures a year, worth about $125,000.
2. A published progression path. Publish what it takes to become a CO2 lead: certifications, the CO2 Lead Academy described in Unit 6, three supervised startups and the pay step from Unit 8. Cost: about $15,000 for communication and manager briefings, since the academy is already budgeted. Expected effect: about two fewer early-tenure departures a year, worth about $76,000.
3. A first-year mentor. Pair every new technician with an experienced journeyman for the first year, with a $1,500 stipend and about two hours a month of the mentor's time. Cost: about $2,650 per new hire, or about $53,000 a year for 20 hires. Expected effect: first-year departures falling from about 7 to about 4.5, worth about $95,000.
Together the three cost about $158,000 a year and would avoid about $296,000 of turnover cost, before counting the value of crews kept intact during the growth plan. Hausknecht et al. (2009) found that the reasons employees give for staying differ by job and performance level, which supports targeting interventions at the groups and reasons the data identify rather than adopting a general program.
Employee Relations: Early Organizing at the Milwaukee Branch
Several Milwaukee technicians have met with organizers from a pipefitters' and refrigeration union, and the branch manager has asked how to respond.
The legal framework. Employees have a federally protected right to organize, to join a union and to act together about pay and working conditions (29 U.S.C. § 157, 2024). The statute lists employer conduct that breaks the law, including restraining those rights and treating employees worse because of union activity (29 U.S.C. § 158, 2024). For Kestrel's managers that means no threats, no questioning technicians about their views or meetings, no offers of improvements in exchange for staying nonunion, and no watching who attends. The employer may share facts and its views, provided its statements contain no threat or promise. The details of permitted employer conduct have changed with recent Labor Board decisions, so every communication should be reviewed by labor counsel.
Timing of the interventions. A new benefit announced while organizing is under way may look like an attempt to buy votes, and the Labor Board can find it unlawful on that basis. The regional crew model and the progression path were planned before the organizing began, and that planning should be documented. Counsel should advise whether and how they can proceed at the Milwaukee branch.
The strategic assessment. The organizing effort and the turnover data point to the same causes: travel and the lack of a route to lead. Freeman and Medoff (1984) argued that unions give employees a collective voice that can lower turnover by giving them a way to fix problems other than leaving. Whether Kestrel's technicians choose a union is their decision. Kestrel's choice is whether to address the causes its own data show, which it should do regardless of the outcome.
Manager guidance. Branch managers should receive training on lawful conduct, continue normal operations and decisions, and route any question about the organizing effort to human resources.
Conclusion
Turnover costs Kestrel about $520,000 a year and threatens the growth plan more than its cost suggests, because the people leaving are the ones the plan depends on. The causes are clear and mostly within Kestrel's control. Three targeted interventions would cost about $158,000 and avoid about $296,000 a year. The organizing effort in Milwaukee should be handled strictly within the law and read as a signal of the same problems.
References
Allen, D. G., Bryant, P. C., & Vardaman, J. M. (2010). Retaining talent: Replacing misconceptions with evidence-based strategies. Academy of Management Perspectives, 24(2), 48-64. https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.24.2.48
Freeman, R. B., & Medoff, J. L. (1984). What do unions do? Basic Books.
Hausknecht, J. P., Rodda, J., & Howard, M. J. (2009). Targeted employee retention: Performance-based and job-related differences in reported reasons for staying. Human Resource Management, 48(2), 269-288. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.20279
Hom, P. W., Lee, T. W., Shaw, J. D., & Hausknecht, J. P. (2017). One hundred years of employee turnover theory and research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(3), 530-545. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000103
29 U.S.C. § 157 (2024). https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/157
29 U.S.C. § 158 (2024). https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/158
What the GB520 Unit 9 assignment asks for
In GB520 Unit 9 you analyze employee retention and an employee relations issue. Build a cost estimate for one departure from its components. Analyze turnover data by tenure, job type and destination, and gather qualitative evidence, such as stay interviews, on why people stay and leave. Propose targeted interventions, each priced against its expected effect. Then assess the employee relations issue in the case, such as union organizing, applying federal labor law accurately and explaining what managers may and may not do. Close with a conclusion linking retention and relations. Cite turnover research and labor statutes in APA 7.
Inside the GB520 Unit 9 example
Exhibit 1 builds the departure cost from vacancy, recruiting, onboarding and ramp-up, citing Hom and colleagues on hidden costs. Exhibit 2 shows departures concentrated in early tenure and on traveling crews, and Exhibit 3 reports fifteen stay interviews, citing Allen and colleagues on pay misconceptions; the highlighted sentence summarizes the diagnosis. Exhibit 4 prices a regional crew model, a published progression path and a first-year mentor, citing Hausknecht and colleagues on targeted retention. The relations section applies the federal organizing rights and unfair labor practice provisions, addresses the timing of new benefits and cites Freeman and Medoff on voice. Manager guidance and a conclusion follow. The conclusion ties both halves together: the same causes drive turnover and organizing, and Kestrel should address them regardless of the vote.
Where the points sit in the GB520 Unit 9 rubric
GB520 instructors look for a cost estimate built item by item, causes traced from data and interventions priced against them. Turnover data broken down by tenure and job type earn credit. Stay interview evidence that changes the diagnosis shows depth. Interventions targeted at the identified causes, each with cost and expected effect, carry significant weight. The labor law section should state rights and prohibited conduct accurately and address the timing of new benefits. Treating organizing as information about causes shows judgment. In APA 7 the analysis cites Hom, Allen, Hausknecht, Freeman and Medoff, and the federal labor statute's rights and unfair practice sections.
GB520 Unit 9 help: mistakes that cost points
Many GB520 Unit 9 analyses assume pay drives turnover and propose a raise without checking. Others give a turnover rate without showing where departures concentrate. A common gap is the legal section: managers must avoid threats, interrogation, promises and surveillance, and new benefits announced during organizing can create risk. Some writers treat a union effort only as a threat. Build the cost item by item, break turnover down, use stay interviews, price targeted interventions and apply labor law precisely. Documenting that retention measures were planned before organizing began is a detail that protects the employer. Pricing each intervention against its expected effect, as this sample does, turns a list of good ideas into choices a manager can fund. Grounding the expected effects in the organization's own data keeps the estimates credible.
Get a GB520 Unit 9 example written to your instructions
Retention analyses need the departure picture, so share the Unit 9 case, or a generalized account of turnover where you have worked, and attach the rubric. A costed turnover model, causes traced and interventions priced, plus any labor relations question the prompt raises, reaches you inside 24-48h. A first sample costs nothing. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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GB520 Unit 9 questions, answered
How is the cost of turnover calculated?
By adding the costs one departure triggers: lost output while the job is vacant, recruiting and hiring expenses, onboarding and training time, and reduced productivity while a replacement ramps up. The example brackets each component as composite and flags lost margin on delayed installs as the most uncertain. Conservative figures make the case more persuasive, since graders distrust inflated estimates.
What can managers lawfully say about a union?
Managers may share factual information and the employer's views, provided they avoid threats, interrogation about union activity, promises of benefits in exchange for rejecting a union, and surveillance of organizing. Employees' rights to act together on working conditions are protected whether or not a union exists. The example summarizes these limits and recommends involving labor counsel early.
Where can I find a free GB520 Unit 9 sample paper?
This page carries a full GB520 Unit 9 retention and relations analysis for a refrigeration contractor, with a departure cost model, turnover data, stay interview themes, priced interventions, a labor law assessment and APA 7 references.
Why do stay interviews matter here?
They reach technicians who are still employed and can say what would make them leave while there is time to act. At Kestrel they showed travel and the lack of a route to lead mattered more than pay.
Can Kestrel still launch its retention measures during the organizing effort?
Possibly, but new benefits announced during organizing can be seen as an attempt to influence employees. Because the measures were planned earlier, that planning should be documented, and labor counsel should advise on timing at the Milwaukee branch.