Scenario
You are a business development manager reporting to the vice president (VP) of business development at one of the largest life sciences organizations in the Midwest.
You are working with the strategic planning team to assess the current data to make recommendations to its board of directors regarding the organization’s exit strategy. You have started creating your plan for the organizational change and selected members for the guiding coalition. Your next task is to help determine the value of the organization’s assets to the potential acquirer.
One of the core strengths of the organization lies in the value of its talent. Potential buyers in this industry want to know that the organization that they acquire is going to be able retain their valuable employees. So, the VP has asked you to analyze the human resource data in order to determine what the organization is worth. This includes taking a close look at the organization’s human resources, analyzing the attrition data, and making predictions about employee stability in case of an acquisition.
The organization has been collecting information about its employees since its inception in 1999; this information has been organized in a spreadsheet. In order to understand recent trends in your organization’s workforce, you will analyze this employee data. Your analysis will look at employee attrition and retention and will be included in your report. This will provide a clear picture of your organization’s workforce to help anticipate its perceived value with potential buyers.
Prompt
First, use the employee attrition data to create visuals in Tableau that capture the trends and possible reasons for retention and attrition in the organization from the course scenario. Then, write a report about the current state of human resources and attrition. Include screenshots from your visualizations to support your report. Remember to consider the employee’s employment status when visualizing and analyzing the data. The Status column in the spreadsheet indicates whether the employee is a current or former employee of the organization.
Specifically, you must address the following criteria:
1. Current employee demographics: Summarize the current employee demographics for the organization from the course scenario.
a. Use Tableau to visualize the demographic data such as age, sex, marital status, education, and experience, and include the corresponding screenshots in your summary. Choose the graphs or charts that are best suited to represent the demographic data.
b. Choose at least two different graph or chart types to represent the demographic data and include the corresponding screenshots in your written summary. Explain why you have selected the specific chart types to represent your data.
2. Attrition analysis: Analyze the given employee data to answer the following questions about attrition in the organization, including its causes and the relationship between attrition and various employment factors. Use Tableau to create a visual summary of the data and include the corresponding screenshots in your analysis. Choose the graphs or chart types that you believe are best suited to represent the required data.
a. Identify five top reasons for attrition.
b. For those who left the organization, how many years had it been since their last promotion?
c. At what age does an employee typically exit the organization?
d. After how many years of employment does someone typically leave the company?
e. What is the connection between how many times a year a person was trained, how long they stayed at the organization, and whether they have left?
3. Retention: Compare the attrition analysis data with your current employee details to evaluate and prevent future attrition.
a. Using the trends from the attrition data, determine if more current employees are likely to leave. Explain your findings.
b. What does your attrition analysis tell you about employee stability in the organization? How is it likely to affect your organization’s evaluation by a potential buyer?
4. Actionable steps: Based on findings from your retention analysis, provide three specific actions that the organization can take to prevent employees from leaving. Provide a rationale.
How to Write an Employee Attrition and Retention Analysis Using Tableau
Introduction
Begin by introducing employee attrition and retention analysis as an essential component of strategic human resource management and organizational valuation. Explain that workforce stability significantly influences organizational performance, operational continuity, and acquisition value because experienced employees represent valuable institutional knowledge, technical expertise, and competitive advantage. Discuss that business analytics tools such as Tableau enable organizations to transform employee data into meaningful visualizations that identify workforce trends, predict future attrition, and support evidence-based decision-making. Conclude the introduction by stating that the report analyzes employee demographic characteristics, evaluates workforce attrition patterns, assesses employee retention risks, and recommends strategic actions to strengthen workforce stability and increase the organization’s attractiveness to potential buyers.
Section 1: Current Employee Demographics
Begin by filtering the dataset to include current employees only using the Status column.
Section 1.1: Visualize Current Employee Demographics
Create Tableau visualizations that summarize employee demographics.
Include variables such as:
Age
Gender (Sex)
Marital Status
Education Level
Years of Experience
Job Role (if available)
Department (if available)
Years at Company
Insert screenshots of each Tableau visualization into the report immediately after discussing the findings.
Section 1.2: Use Multiple Visualization Types
Use at least two different chart types.
Examples include:
Bar charts
Stacked bar charts
Pie charts (only for limited categories)
Treemaps
Histograms
Box-and-whisker plots
Heat maps
Explain why each visualization was selected.
For example:
Bar charts effectively compare categorical variables.
Histograms illustrate age or experience distributions.
Stacked bar charts compare multiple demographic categories simultaneously.
Treemaps effectively display proportional distributions.
Interpret the findings by discussing major workforce characteristics, demographic trends, and notable patterns observed within the current employee population.
Section 2: Employee Attrition Analysis
Filter the dataset to analyze former employees where Status = Former Employee.
Create Tableau dashboards and include screenshots supporting each discussion.
Section 2.1: Identify the Five Leading Reasons for Attrition
Create a visualization displaying the frequency of employee departures by attrition reason.
Discuss:
The five most common reasons employees left.
Patterns observed.
Possible organizational causes.
Business implications.
Section 2.2: Years Since Last Promotion
Analyze the relationship between employee departures and Years Since Last Promotion.
Create an appropriate visualization.
Discuss:
Typical promotion intervals before resignation.
Whether delayed career advancement appears associated with turnover.
Patterns across employees.
Section 2.3: Typical Age of Employee Exit
Analyze employee age at separation.
Create an age distribution visualization.
Discuss:
Average exit age.
Median age if appropriate.
Age groups with highest turnover.
Possible explanations.
Section 2.4: Typical Years of Employment Before Leaving
Analyze employee tenure before separation.
Create a visualization showing years at the company before attrition.
Discuss:
Average tenure.
Most common resignation period.
Retention milestones.
Critical years when turnover increases.
Section 2.5: Relationship Between Training, Tenure, and Attrition
Create a visualization examining:
Training frequency.
Years employed.
Employee status.
Possible visualizations include:
Scatter plots.
Bubble charts.
Heat maps.
Cluster charts.
Discuss:
Whether additional training appears associated with longer retention.
Patterns among former employees.
Potential relationships between employee development and turnover.
Limitations of the observed data.
Section 3: Employee Retention Analysis
Compare findings from current employees with the attrition analysis.
Section 3.1: Predict Future Attrition Risk
Using demographic and attrition trends, evaluate whether current employees appear at increased risk of leaving.
Discuss similarities between current employees and former employees regarding:
Age.
Tenure.
Promotion history.
Training participation.
Education.
Department.
Experience.
Support conclusions using evidence from the Tableau visualizations.
Section 3.2: Evaluate Employee Stability
Discuss what the attrition analysis reveals about organizational stability.
Evaluate:
Workforce continuity.
Leadership pipeline.
Employee engagement.
Retention strength.
Knowledge retention.
Succession planning.
Discuss how employee stability influences organizational value during mergers and acquisitions.
Explain why potential buyers consider workforce retention an important indicator of future organizational performance and acquisition risk.
Section 4: Recommendations for Reducing Employee Attrition
Provide three specific, evidence-based recommendations supported by your analysis.
Recommendation One
Identify the first retention strategy.
Examples include:
Career advancement opportunities.
Promotion transparency.
Leadership development.
Compensation review.
Flexible work arrangements.
Employee recognition.
Explain why this recommendation addresses one or more identified attrition trends.
Recommendation Two
Present a second strategy.
Possible examples:
Expanded professional development.
Mentorship programs.
Continuous learning initiatives.
Manager coaching.
Employee engagement programs.
Explain how this recommendation improves employee satisfaction and retention.
Recommendation Three
Present a third recommendation.
Examples include:
Succession planning.
Employee wellness initiatives.
Retention bonuses.
Stay interviews.
Improved onboarding.
Work-life balance initiatives.
Discuss how implementing this strategy may reduce future turnover and improve organizational stability.
Support each recommendation using findings from the Tableau analysis and relevant human resource management literature.
Conclusion
Summarize the major findings by emphasizing that employee attrition analysis provides valuable insight into workforce stability, organizational health, and long-term business value. Reinforce that Tableau visualizations enable decision-makers to identify demographic trends, understand the underlying causes of employee turnover, and recognize factors associated with employee retention. Highlight that organizations demonstrating strong employee stability, career development opportunities, and effective retention strategies are generally viewed more favorably by potential acquirers because they present lower operational risk and stronger long-term performance potential. Conclude by emphasizing that evidence-based human resource strategies can improve employee engagement, reduce attrition, preserve institutional knowledge, and increase organizational value during acquisition negotiations.
References
Use APA 7th edition references in alphabetical order.
Include:
The course textbook on business analytics, human resource management, or organizational behavior.
Tableau documentation or learning resources if referenced.
Current peer-reviewed journal articles published within the last five years on employee attrition, workforce analytics, talent retention, organizational behavior, and human capital management.
Any additional scholarly or professional sources used to support your analysis and recommendations.
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