What makes employees retain? Employee career planning vs employer career development in star-grade hotels in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Developing and retaining a competent and professional workforce is of utmost importance in service-oriented firms, and it is even more crucial in the hotel industry as the entire industry relies on treating and caring for guests for their maximum comfort. Perfect career management practices can significantly aid employee retention. This study examined the career management prospects of front-line hotel workers from two different viewpoints; employee career planning and employer career management. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire from a randomly selected sample size of 150 from star grade hotels in Colombo. Hierarchical PLS-SEM analysis revealed that employer career management initiatives are more important than employee career planning behaviours in hotel employee retention. Employee willingness to participate in development activities and manager support were the main factors in employee retention. The two hierarchical constructs of employee career planning and employer career management were also developed based on six conceptions commonly cited in the literature as one of the major contributions of this research to the theories.