THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WORK ENVIRONMENT AND EMPLOYEE RETENTION IN CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN SEMENYIH, SELANGOR, MALAYSIA

Employee retention has become a critical problem faced by many firms in Malaysia, regardless of the industry in which they are involved. Retaining employees with valuable knowledge, skills, and abilities is difficult. Therefore, the main reason for the current study is to examine the work environment as a predictor of employee retention in construction and manufacturing firms in Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia. The sample for this study consists of employees working in the construction and manufacturing firms in the Semenyih area who will fill out an online survey questionnaire. The study found an insignificant relationship between work environment and employee retention. It is recommended that future research should further explore the factors influencing employee retention in different business locations and industries.


INTRODUCTION
According to Ezaili Alias et al. (2019), it is crucial for employers to keep their employees who possess top-level talents and performance.Employee retention is now one of the most essential concerns in almost all organizations due to changing dynamics and turbulence in the work environment caused by a variety of phenomena.Organizational leaders are assessing and adjusting their retention tactics as the organization's top priority activity on a regular basis (Azmi et al. 2022).
Employee retention refers to an individual's decision to remain with an organization, which develops a sense of enjoyment and confidence in the organization.As suggested by Dewi Sumaryathi & Manuati Dewi (2020), Hassan et al. (2017), Kullab & Kassim (2017), Kusuma Putra et al. (2015), Samat et al. (2020), Sutawijaya & Pertiwi (2017), Talwar et al. (2017), Tam Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s) Published by Kolej Universiti Poly-Tech MARA Kuala Lumpur This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribute (CC BY 4.0) license.Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create dericative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors.The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Employee Retention
This section describes the importance of employee retention for organizations and the various factors that can affect it.Employee retention refers to the efforts or methods used to encourage employees to stay with the firm for an extended period of time (Ahmad Azam et al., 2021;Tirta & Enrika, 2020).Retention is crucial to organizational performance and refers to an organization's ability to retain valued individuals who contribute to its success for as long as the relationship is mutually beneficial.According to Tariq (2017), employees are one of an organization's most valuable assets and contribute to its financial success and long-term development (Jamaludin et al. 2022;Azmi et al. 2022).
Organizations need to develop strategies to retain high-performing employees and keep them loyal to the company.This can be achieved through remuneration, work environment, and other alternative ways.Ahmad Azam et al. ( 2022) and Tirta & Enrika (2020) suggest that employee retention can be achieved by creating a work atmosphere that encourages employees' motivational growth.Factors such as remuneration, career growth, and work flexibility can also influence employee retention.One technique for retaining employees is through a compensation structure that estimates the amount of pay dispersion across organizational levels, which can affect employee turnover (Ahmad Azam et al., 2021;Zulkifli & Omar, 2019).

Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s)
Published by Kolej Universiti Poly-Tech MARA Kuala Lumpur This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribute (CC BY 4.0) license.Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create dericative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors.The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode 3

Work Environment
The work environment is defined as the place where employees perform their assigned tasks efficiently.Ramlall (2017) describes the work environment as the complete set of tools, equipment, and materials available to workers, as well as the surrounding environment in which they work, work practices, and arrangements, both individually and as a group.The ability to persevere and create a positive work environment is crucial for achieving organizational objectives (Jamaludin et al. 2022;Meirina et al., 2018).This sentiment is echoed by Ahmad Azam et al. (2022) and Salman (2016), who describe the work environment as everything that occurs around workers that can affect their ability to carry out their assigned tasks.In general, a healthy work environment has a positive impact on employee retention because employees feel satisfied and comfortable in their surroundings, which allows them to perform their jobs efficiently.Sears (2019) notes that maintaining a healthy work atmosphere can help employees grow.A pleasant working atmosphere can boost morale, inspire better performance, and help employees stay with the organization (Ahmad Azam et al., 2021;Meirina et al., 2018).Therefore, when the work environment is stressful and demotivating, relationships become strained and less productive, and those who have the opportunity to leave the organization will do so as soon as possible.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following are the study research questions: 1. What is the relationship between work environment and employee retention?

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
The following are the study research hypotheses: H1: There is a positive relationship between work environment and employee retention.

RESEARCH FRAMEWORK
Theoretical framework, adapted from Hayrol Azril et al. ( 2010), to determine the relationship between work environment and employee retention in construction and manufacturing firms in Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia, is depicted in Figure 1.

SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
This study aims to assist construction and manufacturing firms in Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia in retaining their employees to ensure business continuity and success.The success of a business, in terms of its existence in the marketplace and growth, depends on retaining skilled and experienced employees (Jamaludin et al., 2022;Pandu & R., 2019;Hassan et al., 2017).Antoncic & Antoncic (2011) found that there is a positive relationship between Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s) Published by Kolej Universiti Poly-Tech MARA Kuala Lumpur This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribute (CC BY 4.0) license.Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create dericative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors.The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode 4 employee retention or loyalty and the firm's growth.Retaining relevant employees ensures the provision of highquality services to the customers, leading to customer satisfaction (Esmaeilpour & Ranjbar, 2018).If customers are not satisfied with the services provided, they are less likely to return for future services.Esmaeilpour & Ranjbar (2018) state that employees who are loyal and committed to their organization become more responsible towards their duties and responsibilities, resulting in the provision of high-quality services to customers and increased customer satisfaction.

METHODOLOGY
This section discusses the research design, target population, sample size, data collection techniques, research instrument/questionnaire, and data analysis of the current study.Further details on the process are provided in Table 1 below.

Research Design
This study employed quantitative survey-based analysis including collecting and analyzing the secondary and primary data to complete this research.

Target Population
Consist of 218 employees of construction and manufacturing firms in Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia.

Sample Size
According to Sekaran (2003), the suitable sample size should not be less than 136 respondents.

Data Collection
Questionnaire was distributed to the target employees through WhatsApp using the Google Form as that is the most convenient way to reach the respondents.

Instrument/ Questionnaire
The instrument consists of (3) Sections: Section A: Demographic questions (7 Items); Section B: Work environment (7 Items); Section C: Employee retention (9 Items).A 5-Likert scale is being used in this study.

Data Analysis
A reliability test was administered to determine the reliability of the items used to measure each variable using Cronbach Alpha value.All the data collected were compiled through the administration of questionnaires, coded and analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 26 to answer the research question and hypothesis.A regression analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between work environment and employee retention.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This section presents the findings on respondents' demographic information, regression analysis outcomes, and answers to the study research question and hypothesis.

Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s)
Published by Kolej Universiti Poly-Tech MARA Kuala Lumpur This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribute (CC BY 4.0) license.Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create dericative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors.The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode 5 Demographic data (See Table 2).Regression analysis was used to determine the influence of work environment on employee retention, which is as follows.
H1: There is a positive relationship between work environment and employee retention.
The result of the regression analysis is presented in Table 3.The findings reveal that the coefficient (β) for work environment is .113,and the p-value is .182,indicating that there is no statistically significant relationship between work environment and employee retention.Therefore, H1 is not supported.

CONCLUSION
This study has revealed that there is an insignificant relationship between work environment and employee retention in construction and manufacturing firms in Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia.The findings can assist these firms in developing their human resource planning to retain their skilled, experienced, and committed employees, ensuring business continuity and success.Retaining such employees will guarantee high-quality service to the customers, leading to customer satisfaction.Moreover, the research can be extended to other industries to identify the factors that affect employee retention, which could enhance the body of knowledge and aid management in implementing their human resources strategies.

Figure 1 :
Figure 1: This conceptual framework has been adapted from Hayrol Azril et al. (2010) Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s)Published by Kolej Universiti Poly-Tech MARA Kuala Lumpur This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribute (CC BY 4.0) license.Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create dericative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors.The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcodeCopyright:© 2023 The Author(s)Published by Kolej Universiti Poly-Tech MARA Kuala Lumpur This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribute (CC BY 4.0) license.Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create dericative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors.The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Table 2 :
The study demographic data Published by Kolej Universiti Poly-Tech MARA Kuala Lumpur This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribute (CC BY 4.0) license.Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create dericative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors.The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode6

Table 3 :
Regression analysis between work environment and employee retention