The findings are significant for local government agencies seeking to retain experienced personnel and maintain consistent public services. The researchers show that employee retention requires more than financial incentives. A supportive workplace, approachable leadership, manageable workloads, adequate facilities, recognition, and realistic career opportunities all contribute to employees’ decisions to remain in an organization.
Turnover Is a Multidimensional Workplace Issue
Employee turnover can affect more than the number of people working in an organization. When experienced employees leave, institutions may lose practical knowledge, disrupt work distribution, and face difficulties maintaining continuity in public services.
The issue can be particularly complex for honorary or contract employees because their employment arrangements may involve uncertainty about income, career progression, and long-term employment security.
The Tempe District Government provides an important local context. The employees examined in the study initially worked as honorary staff and experienced a transition toward PPPK status during the research process. The transition created greater optimism about employment security, but it did not automatically eliminate existing workplace pressures.
The researchers therefore examined turnover as the result of several factors interacting with one another.
Researchers Used Interviews and Field Observation
Raoda Usman and colleagues used a descriptive qualitative approach at the Tempe District Government in Wajo Regency, South Sulawesi.
The researchers collected primary information through semi-structured in-depth interviews and direct observation. Secondary information came from official documents, personnel records, archives, internal policies, and other relevant documentation.
The analysis followed the Miles and Huberman model, which involves organizing information, presenting the findings, and drawing and verifying conclusions. A SWOT analysis was also used to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to reducing employee turnover. Data credibility was strengthened by comparing information from different sources and methods and by using member checking.
Five factors became the main focus: work motivation, work environment, workload, job satisfaction, and compensation.
Career Prospects Encourage Employees to Stay
Work motivation emerged strongly through employees’ expectations of career improvement and the possibility of becoming PPPK.
Employees who had spent many years working in the organization viewed clearer employment status as an important reason to remain. The possibility of gaining greater employment security gave employees a reason to tolerate some short-term disadvantages in their working conditions.
However, motivation has limits.
The study documented a case in which an employee eventually stopped working after health problems became severe. Repeated field assignments, physical demands, and insufficient support contributed to the employee’s declining condition.
This finding suggests that career expectations can encourage persistence only when basic working conditions remain sustainable. Strong organizational commitment cannot completely compensate for excessive physical or psychological demands.
A Familial Workplace Helps Retain Employees
The social environment at the Tempe District Government was generally described as comfortable and familial.
Employees appreciated relatively informal communication with supervisors. They felt more comfortable when they could communicate with leaders without excessive rigidity. Fair task distribution, teamwork, and supportive relationships also strengthened their attachment to the workplace.
But the positive social climate existed alongside physical and technological limitations.
Unstable internet connectivity interfered with online administrative work and could cause tasks to accumulate. Employees involved in field activities also faced inadequate operational transportation, sometimes requiring the use of personal vehicles.
The contrast is important: a warm workplace culture can reduce psychological pressure, but it cannot completely replace adequate infrastructure.
Heavy Workloads Can Push Employees to Leave
Workload emerged as one of the strongest structural pressures affecting turnover.
Employees described situations in which the volume of work exceeded their physical and psychological capacity. Fatigue and stress could extend beyond working hours and affect family relationships.
The study records an example in which repeated complaints about exhaustion and stress led family members to encourage an employee to leave the job. This demonstrates that turnover can develop through the interaction between workplace demands, personal health, and social support.
The researchers argue that workload management therefore needs to go beyond simply redistributing tasks. Staffing levels, digital infrastructure, field transportation, and realistic scheduling also need to be considered.
Job Satisfaction Provides Protection, but Has Limits
Job satisfaction was strengthened by positive interpersonal relationships, recognition, participation in meetings, teamwork, and opportunities for training.
Employees reported feeling valued when supervisors involved them in development activities and provided guidance when new systems were introduced. Additional incentives connected to specific activities also reinforced the perception that extra contributions were recognized.
Yet satisfaction could not always prevent turnover.
When employees experienced serious health problems or prolonged physical demands, positive relationships and career development opportunities were not necessarily enough to keep them in the organization.
The researchers therefore describe job satisfaction as a buffer against turnover rather than an absolute protection.
Compensation Must Match Responsibilities
Compensation was another important factor.
During their honorary employment, employees perceived that financial returns did not always correspond to their workload. This mismatch could contribute to dissatisfaction and increase consideration of other options.
At the same time, expectations of better employment status and income through PPPK appointment encouraged employees to remain. The district also provided additional incentives for external activities, transportation, and other work-related responsibilities.
These additional incentives were meaningful not only because they provided financial benefits but also because they communicated recognition of employees’ additional efforts.
However, the researchers caution that informal incentives cannot permanently replace adequate basic compensation. Long-term human-resource planning should align responsibilities, workload, employee welfare, and compensation.
Four Strategies Can Help Reduce Turnover
The study identifies four mutually reinforcing strategies for employee retention.
First, improve job satisfaction. Fair task distribution, open communication, mutual assistance, and approachable supervisors can strengthen employees’ sense of belonging.
Second, provide fair additional compensation. Incentives should be transparent and connected to actual responsibilities or additional activities.
Third, create a supportive working environment. Teamwork, empathy, and flexible arrangements can help employees manage illness or urgent personal circumstances. Supervisors can temporarily redistribute work when necessary.
Fourth, provide career development opportunities. Training, socialization, and technical development can strengthen employees’ skills while giving them a clearer sense of future opportunities.
According to Raoda Usman and colleagues from Universitas Puangrimaggalatung, these strategies work best when combined with structural improvements. A salary increase alone may not solve health-related turnover if workloads remain excessive. Likewise, training cannot fully address workplace stress when essential facilities remain inadequate.
PPPK Status Is Not a Complete Solution
The transition from honorary employment to PPPK is one of the most important contextual features of the study.
Formal employment status can improve workers’ sense of security, but it should be accompanied by appropriate workload planning, job design, facilities, and organizational support. Employees entering a more formal employment arrangement may also face stronger expectations and accountability.
Without corresponding improvements in working conditions, the same factors that previously contributed to turnover can continue to affect employee retention even after employment status changes.
The researchers therefore view PPPK status as an important opportunity, but not a single solution to turnover.
Recommendations for Tempe District Government
The study recommends that the Tempe District Government strengthen workload planning, improve internet connectivity and field transportation, maintain transparent additional incentives, and establish regular employee-development opportunities.
The organization should also create regular mechanisms to monitor employee welfare and identify potential turnover risks.
At the same time, the familial work culture and informal communication valued by employees should be maintained and integrated into a more systematic human-resource management framework.
The broader lesson is that employee retention in local government requires a human-centered and structurally supported approach. Employees are not only public-service workers; they also have physical, psychological, financial, and family needs that can influence their decisions to stay or leave.
Implications for Public Sector Human Resource Management
For local governments, the findings provide a practical framework for understanding why employees remain committed even when working conditions are imperfect—and why that commitment can eventually weaken.
Career prospects, supportive leadership, teamwork, recognition, and training can strengthen retention. However, these protective factors need to be supported by reasonable workloads, reliable facilities, appropriate compensation, and attention to employee welfare.
The study ultimately concludes that turnover in the Tempe District Government is a multidimensional organizational issue rather than simply a compensation problem.
Author Profiles
Raoda Usman — Lead author and corresponding author, Public Administration Study Program, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universitas Puangrimaggalatung.
Maspawati Tokang — Author, Public Administration Study Program, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universitas Puangrimaggalatung.
Muhammad Justiawal — Author, Public Administration Study Program, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universitas Puangrimaggalatung.
Meyri Ameliati Putri — Author, Public Administration Study Program, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universitas Puangrimaggalatung.
The source article does not specify the authors’ academic degrees or individual fields of expertise. Those details are therefore not added to avoid unsupported information.
Research Source
Article Title: Analysis of Factors Influencing the Turnover of Contract Staff in the Tempe District Government, Wajo Regency
Authors: Raoda Usman, Maspawati Tokang, Muhammad Justiawal, Meyri Ameliati Putri
Affiliation: Public Administration Study Program, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universitas Puangrimaggalatung
Journal: International Journal of Sustainable Applied Sciences (IJSAS)
Volume: 4, Number 8
Publication Year: 2026
Pages: 847–858
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59890/ijsas.v4i8.40
Official Journal URL: https://ijsasjournal.my.id/index.php/ijsas
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