Implementing a Staff Retention Plan through the DMAIC Methodology: A Case Study of a Maquiladora Company in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico

Abstract

Employee turnover in organizations is linked to the implicit administrative processes involved in hiring new talent, which generates intangible costs related to training, education, adaptation, training, quality, and customer service. This research focused on a company located in the Ciudad Juárez region dedicated to the production of automotive harnesses, whose objective was to identify the main variables that cause employee turnover. The research, by its nature, had a mixed quantitative/qualitative approach, which allowed for the collection and analysis of data, as well as its integration for subsequent processing using the DMAIC methodology. In the Define stage, a SIPOC diagram (Suppliers, Input, Process, Output, Customer) was developed taking into account the recruitment, hiring, and department area. Then, a current flow diagram of the induction course process for new employees was prepared and finally, a Pareto diagram was made on the main causes of employee turnover in the last year.

In the second Measure stage, the indicators (KPIs) were established with which the employee turnover data will be controlled, followed by the implementation of graphs and the obtaining of statistics on the turnover of the organization's personnel. The third Analyze stage consisted of analyzing the results of the Pareto diagram prepared previously by means of an Ishikawa diagram to identify the main causes of employee turnover, complemented by an FMEA in order to detect the possible failure modes that existed in the process of adaptation personnel. The fourth Improve stage consisted of improving absenteeism through an action plan with a series of activities such as exit surveys, attendance forms and others that were aimed at improving the level of absenteeism. The last Control stage consisted of preparing a Control plan for the critical sections of the hiring, induction, training and adaptation process of the operators. The implementation of the permanence plan for employee turnover managed to reduce it by 0.31% compared to February, positioning March with a 14.78% turnover rate, in the same way, it was possible to reduce it in April by 1.26% compared to March, with a result of 13.52%, with which we can conclude that the general objective of reducing employee turnover to a result of less than 15% monthly was met and even exceeded expectations.