Effects of Virtual Meeting Communication Toolson Labor Turnover in The Zimbabwe Banking Industry

Abstract

The study sought to analyze the effectiveness of virtual meeting communication tools employed by the Zimbabwean banking industry. Banks in Zimbabwe such as CBZ, ZB, and Steward have been using virtual communication tools that include Zoom and Microsoft Teams. However, the labor turnover trend has been on the increase from 12% in 2017 to 32% in 2021 with the years 2020 and 2021 being characterized by working from home. Between 2020 and 2021, over 60% of bank staff worked remotely. The study sought to establish whether virtual meeting communications have an effect on labor turnover in the Zimbabwean banking industry. The study reviewed the following theories; Employee Engagement Theory, Functional Theory/ Efficiency Theory, Placating Theory and the Work Design Theory. Positivism research philosophy, deductive research approach, explanatory research design and survey research approach were used. The target population of this study was 234 comprising employees of the three largest banks ZB bank, CBZ bank, and Steward. A sample size of 148 was used. Primary data sources were original to the researcher and were gathered through a research instrument, a questionnaire. The study found that working via virtual meeting communications has a lesser bearing on labour turnover in the Zimbabwean banking industry. The study recommends the establishment of teleworking, social media, email and virtual meeting communications policy and support. Further research on the influence of remote working on turnover intention in other industries is recommended by the study. Because the study was limited to the commercial banking sector, extrapolating conclusions may be disastrous.