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Analyzing IBM HR Data: Employee Attrition and Performance Insights

Article in Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences Technology · August 2024

DOI: 10.47363/JEAST/2024(6)268

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 ISSN: 2634 - 8853

Journal of Engineering and Applied

Sciences Technology

Review Article Open Access

Analyzing IBM HR Data: Employee Attrition and Performance

Insights
Fatbardha Maloku* and Besnik Maloku

Master of Science in Business Analytics, Ageno School of Business, Golden Gate University, San Francisco, California 94105, USA

ABSTRACT
Employee turnover is often perceived as detrimental to organizational efficiency, but is this always the case? This research explores the multifaceted factors
influencing employee attrition and examines whether lower turnover invariably leads to greater efficiency. Utilizing the "IBM HR Analytics Employee Attrition
and Performance" dataset, which includes variables such as employee age, department, education level, job satisfaction, gender, job role, marital status, and
overtime hours, we conduct a comprehensive descriptive analysis to predict employee retention. By understanding these factors, HR and management can
make informed decisions to mitigate attrition. This study aims to identify novel strategies to reduce employee turnover, providing actionable insights and
predictions to help IBM retain talent and maintain productivity and success.

*Corresponding author
Fatbardha Maloku, Master of Science in Business Analytics, Ageno School of Business, Golden Gate University, San Francisco, California 94105,
USA.

Received: August 09, 2024; Accepted: August 12, 2024; Published: August 25, 2024

Introduction Problem Statement

In general, it is considered that lower organizational turnover High employee turnover is often considered detrimental to
leads to greater efficiency, but is this always the case? Are there organizational efficiency, but there is ambiguity regarding
any other elements or reasons that have an impact on employee whether reducing turnover universally enhances organizational
attrition, either directly or indirectly? In this study paper, the effectiveness. This research aims to investigate the complex factors
answers to these open questions will be revealed. The purpose of influencing employee attrition and assess whether lower turnover
this research is to look into the factors that influence employee consistently correlates with improved efficiency.
turnover. We'll then use the descriptive analysis' data to determine
whether or not an employee will stay with the company. Employee Business Problem Background
attrition is the biggest difficulty for any company, yet HR or Employee turnover is a pervasive concern in organizational
management may make prompt decisions to keep personnel. The management, impacting productivity and stability. Traditional
same issue is happening within the IBM company also. The main views suggest that minimizing turnover enhances operational
attributes of the entire process are included within the “IBM HR efficiency by stabilizing workforce continuity and reducing
Analytics Employee Attrition and Performance” dataset. This set recruitment costs. However, recent studies indicate nuances in
contains variables such as the age of employees, the department this relationship, questioning whether low turnover always equates
they belong to, the education level, job satisfaction level, gender, to optimal organizational performance. This study utilizes the
job role, marital status, and the overtime worked hours. In this "IBM HR Analytics Employee Attrition and Performance" dataset,
study, we'll investigate new approaches to decrease the attrition encompassing variables such as employee demographics, job
rate as well as give suggestion and predictions on how IBM can characteristics, and work-related factors. Through comprehensive
continue being productive and successful by retaining their talent. descriptive analysis and predictive modeling, the research seeks to
uncover underlying patterns and predictive indicators of employee
retention. By gaining insights into these factors, HR professionals
and management can implement targeted strategies to mitigate
attrition, thereby fostering a stable and productive workforce
environment at IBM.

Project Aim
The aim of this project is to analyze the factors influencing
employee attrition using the "IBM HR Analytics Employee
Attrition and Performance" dataset. By conducting a thorough
examination of variables such as employee demographics, job
characteristics, and work-related factors, the study seeks to identify

J Eng App Sci Technol, 2024 Volume 6(8): 1-10

Citation: Fatbardha Maloku, Besnik Maloku (2024) Analyzing IBM HR Data: Employee Attrition and Performance Insights. Journal of Engineering and Applied
Sciences Technology. SRC/JEAST-382. DOI: doi.org/10.47363/JEAST/2024(6)268

key determinants of turnover. Ultimately, the project aims to correlated factors that predict employee attrition rates within the
provide actionable insights and predictive models that can assist company. Additionally, ANOVA tests will be conducted across
IBM in implementing effective strategies to reduce employee multiple models to determine which model yields optimal results
turnover, enhance retention rates, and sustain organizational aligned with our research objectives.
productivity and success.
Descriptive Analysis
Data Collection The distribution of employee’s age is shown below.
The dataset used in this analysis was sourced from Kaggle.com
and comprises a total of 35 columns. For this study, our focus is
on key variables believed to influence employee attrition rates.
The following essential variables are considered:
• Age: Numeric variable indicating the age of employees.
• Attrition: Categorical variable with options "Yes" and "No".
• Education: Categorical variable with options including
"Below College", "College", "Bachelor", "Master", and
"Doctor".
• Employee Satisfaction: Categorical variable with options
"Low", "Medium", "High", and "Very High".
• Job Involvement: Categorical variable describing the level
of employee engagement, with options "Low", "Medium", Figure 1: Distribution of Employees Age
"High", and "Very High".
• Work Life Balance: Categorical variable assessing work-life The average age of IBM employees in this graph goes from thirty
balance, categorized as "Bad", "Good", "Better", and "Best". to fifty years old. We have a few individuals in their twenties as
• Performance Rating: Categorical variable indicating well as a few other individuals over the age of sixty.
performance level, with options "Low", "Good", "Excellent",
and "Outstanding". The distribution of the number of employees per business travel
sector is shown below. The bulk of employees, as seen on the graph
In addition to these variables, the dataset includes several others below belong to “Travel Rarely” group. We have some individuals
that will be explored to uncover factors strongly associated with that belong to the “Travel Frequently” group. Lastly, we also have
employee attrition. This research aims to identify significant a group of individuals who do not travel as much as the previous
predictors and further investigate their relationships to inform two groups, and they belong the “Non-Traveler” group.
strategies for reducing attrition rates and enhancing organizational
retention practices.

Model Selection
During my analysis of each variable in the dataset, I focused on
addressing the fundamental question: Is there a strategy to reduce
employee attrition rates? In essence, I sought to uncover trends
that may contribute to both employee attrition and performance.
Any patterns identified are likely indicative of broader trends
affecting organizations where employees choose to leave, rather
than isolated factors specific to individual cases. It is crucial to
acknowledge that historical data, while informative, does not
guarantee future outcomes. These patterns may have evolved Figure 2: Distribution of the Number of Employees per Business
over time, but their persistence in the future is uncertain. Based Travel sector
on these considerations, the research proceeded with the following
methodologies, detailed below. Initially, a descriptive analysis The distribution of employees per department is shown below.
model was applied to Kaggle.com's historical dataset. This stage
involved a thorough examination of each variable to identify
key factors influencing employee attrition rates, providing
insights for organizations aiming to retain their top talent over
extended periods. Subsequently, a predictive analytics model was
implemented to assess how findings from the descriptive study
could forecast future employee attrition and performance rates
within a company.

Solution Process
The initial phase of our analysis will involve conducting a
descriptive analysis of the dataset. This includes checking for
missing data, assessing the current data types of each variable,
and generating summary statistics to gain a comprehensive Figure 3: Distribution of the Number of Employees per Department
understanding of the dataset. Visualizations will be utilized to
better understand the distribution of each variable. Subsequently, We examined the impact of the Gender variable on attrition. The
we will implement predictive modeling to identify highly graph below illustrates the distribution of attrition by gender and

J Eng App Sci Technol, 2024 Volume 6(8): 2-10

Citation: Fatbardha Maloku, Besnik Maloku (2024) Analyzing IBM HR Data: Employee Attrition and Performance Insights. Journal of Engineering and Applied
Sciences Technology. SRC/JEAST-382. DOI: doi.org/10.47363/JEAST/2024(6)268

employee count. From the graphic, it is evident that females with

lower scores are more likely to leave their jobs. In contrast, males
tend to remain in their jobs with slightly higher scores.

Figure 7: Univariate Plot of Age

Next, we have the Bivariate Plot of the performance rating

variables and the Years in the Current Years of the employees.
Figure 4: Distribution of Attrition per Gender and Employee From the visualization we can see that the distribution of the
Count variables is proportional.

The graph below depicts the distribution of attrition rates across

different employee job roles and the total count of employees in
the organization. It illustrates that the "Yes" values for attrition are
lower among research directors compared to the human resources
role. This visualization indicates that research directors tend to
exhibit lower turnover rates compared to other job titles within
the organization.

Figure 8: Bivariate Plot of Performance Rating Score and the

Number of Years in the Current Role

We have generated a multivariate plot using the attrition and

performance rating dataset. The graph below illustrates an example
of such a plot featuring numerical variables. This includes Age,
Employee Number, Environment Satisfaction, Monthly Income,
Performance Rating, Work Life Balance, Years at Company, Years
in Current Role, Years Since Last Promotion, Years with Current
Figure 5: Distribution of the Attrition variable per Gender and Manager, and Stock Option Level variables.
Employee Count

Next, we'll look at the distribution of older vs. younger generations

within organizations and compare the two groups' ages to see how
that distribution appears.

Figure 9: Multivariate Plot of the Attrition and Performance Score

Predictive Analysis
The predictive analysis will be carried out utilizing the two criteria
listed below:
Figure 6: Box Plot Distribution of the Attrition Rate Over Age • Identify the correlation co-efficient values between variables.
• Create a regression model to predict the attrition rate based
People of younger ages are more willing to leave a job than those on the provided variables.
of older ages, as shown in the graph above. After that, we'll make
a single-variable plot of the Age variable. The graph looks like The correlation and regression model has been used to test the
this after graphing the values: relationship between variables such as Age, Employee Number,

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Citation: Fatbardha Maloku, Besnik Maloku (2024) Analyzing IBM HR Data: Employee Attrition and Performance Insights. Journal of Engineering and Applied
Sciences Technology. SRC/JEAST-382. DOI: doi.org/10.47363/JEAST/2024(6)268

Environment Satisfaction, Monthly Income, Performance Rating, Work Life Balance, Years at Company, Years in Current Role, Years
Since Last Promotion, Years with Current Manager, and Stock Option Level etc. By exploring these potential explanatory variables,
we will know what variables help the attrition rate in an organization.

Heatmap
Below we have created a heatmap about the correlation between the attrition values and the other explanatory variables such as (Age,
Total Number of Employees, Environment Satisfaction, Monthly Income, Work Life Balance, Years at the Company, Years Since
Last Promotion, Stock Level options)

Figure 10: Heatmap Between the Explanatory Variables

As demonstrated in the heatmap above, the attrition rate is strongly connected with the variables like years with current manager,
years since last promotion, years in current role and a total number of years at company variables. We also see that the attrition rate
is less so connected with the age variable and the employee satisfaction variable. We may also observe that the variables with lighter
colors in the heatmap are less highly associated with one another than those with deeper.

Attrition Variable Correlation

We produced a correlation chart with numbers to determine the real values of the correlation between the explanatory components,
as shown below. The correlation coefficient between different variables varies a lot, as shown in the graph below. The Years With
Current Manager variable has a correlation coefficient of 0.77, and the Years In Current Role variable has a correlation coefficient of
0.76. Following those two factors is Years Since Last Promotion, which has a 0.62 association coefficient. Stock Option Level and
Work Life Balance variables are not substantially connected, as shown in the graph below.

Figure 11: Correlation Numeric Values Between Explanatory Variables

Regression
The Regression Model was chosen for the following reasons:
• The procedure will assist us in identifying the most strongly connected possible variables that will have an impact on IBM
employee attrition rates.
• This method will help us focus our efforts on areas that will boost the likelihood of retaining talented employees within a company.
• It will have an effective and may save a company from losing productivity if employee retention is maintained.

J Eng App Sci Technol, 2024 Volume 6(8): 4-10

Citation: Fatbardha Maloku, Besnik Maloku (2024) Analyzing IBM HR Data: Employee Attrition and Performance Insights. Journal of Engineering and Applied
Sciences Technology. SRC/JEAST-382. DOI: doi.org/10.47363/JEAST/2024(6)268

Model 1: Attrition Rate ~ Age

Figure 12: Model 1: Attrition Rate ~ Age

Model 2: Attrition ~ Years At Company

Figure 13: Model 2: Attrition ~ YearsAtCompany

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Citation: Fatbardha Maloku, Besnik Maloku (2024) Analyzing IBM HR Data: Employee Attrition and Performance Insights. Journal of Engineering and Applied
Sciences Technology. SRC/JEAST-382. DOI: doi.org/10.47363/JEAST/2024(6)268

Model 3: Attrition ~ Job Satisfaction

Figure 14: Model 3: Attrition ~ Job Satisfaction

Model 4: Attrition ~ YearsWithCurrManager

Figure 14: Model 4: Attrition ~ YearsWithCurrManager

J Eng App Sci Technol, 2024 Volume 6(8): 6-10

Citation: Fatbardha Maloku, Besnik Maloku (2024) Analyzing IBM HR Data: Employee Attrition and Performance Insights. Journal of Engineering and Applied
Sciences Technology. SRC/JEAST-382. DOI: doi.org/10.47363/JEAST/2024(6)268

Model 5: Attrition ~ YearsInCurrentRole + YearsWithCurrManager + YearsSinceLastPromotion + YearsAtCompany

Figure 14: Model 5: Attrition ~ YearsInCurrentRole + YearsWithCurrManager + YearsSinceLastPromotion + YearsAtCompany

Residuals vs Fitted

Figure 15: Regression Model of Residuals vs Fitted

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Citation: Fatbardha Maloku, Besnik Maloku (2024) Analyzing IBM HR Data: Employee Attrition and Performance Insights. Journal of Engineering and Applied
Sciences Technology. SRC/JEAST-382. DOI: doi.org/10.47363/JEAST/2024(6)268

Regression Model of Theoretical Quantiles

Figure 16: Regression Model of Theoretical Quantiles

Regression Model of Scale-Location

Figure 17: Regression Model of Scale-Location

Regression Model of Residuals vs Leverage

Figure 18: Regression Model of Residuals vs Leverage

J Eng App Sci Technol, 2024 Volume 6(8): 8-10

Citation: Fatbardha Maloku, Besnik Maloku (2024) Analyzing IBM HR Data: Employee Attrition and Performance Insights. Journal of Engineering and Applied
Sciences Technology. SRC/JEAST-382. DOI: doi.org/10.47363/JEAST/2024(6)268

ANOVA for Model 1 & Model 2

Figure 19: ANOVA for Model 1 & Model 2

ANOVA for Model 3 & Model 4

Figure 20: ANOVA for Model 3 & Model 4

Model Results Model 4: Attrition ~ YearsWithCurrManager

The regression models that were ran on the dataset yielded the Next, we run the regression model of attrition against the
following findings. The model results in each of these five models YearsWithCurrManager variable, where we got a very low p-value
will be summarized, and we'll observe how these discoveries affect and an R-squared value of 0.023 From this model we understand
IBM's total attrition rate. that the R-squared value indicates that our model is ~2%.

Model 1: Attrition Rate ~ Age Model 5: Attrition ~ YearsInCurrentRole +

After we run the regression model of user rating score against YearsWithCurrManager + YearsSinceLastPromotion +
the attrition rate against age, we got an R-squared value of 0.024. YearsAtCompany
From this model we understand that the model is correct for The last model, we run is the regression model of Attrition
approximately 2%. against the YearsInCurrentRole, YearsWithCurrManager,
YearsSinceLastPromotion and YearstAtCompany variable. Since
Model 2: Attrition ~ YearsAtCompany all these values where highly correlated, we decided to investigate
We then run the regression model of attrition against the the regression model and see what we get for the p-value and the
YearsAtCompany variable, and we got an R-squared value of R-squared value. In this model, we got a very low p-value and an
0.017. From this model we understand that the R-squared value R-squared value of 0.033. From this model we understand that
is approximately 1% correct for our use case. the R-squared value indicates that our model is approximately
3% correct understand that the R-squared value indicates that our
Model 3: Attrition ~ JobSatisfaction model is approximately 3% correct.
Lastly, we run the regression model of Attrition against the
JobSatisfaction variable, we got a p-value of 0.0005 and an Results Interpretation
R-squared value of 0.009. From this model we understand that In the previous phase of the analysis, we created a correlation
the p-value is within our limit, however, is very small. The same and regression model. YearsWithCurrManager is the most highly
thing happens with our R-squared value also, which indicates that associated value, according to the correlation model. We also
our model is 0.9% right. This indicates that the model needs more discovered that the YearsWithCurrManager variable, as well as
work, therefore other models have been considered. YearsSinceLastPromotion,YearsInCurrentRole,YearsAtCompay,
are all closely linked. Then I ran the regression model and found
that the combined variables
J Eng App Sci Technol, 2024 Volume 6(8): 9-10
Citation: Fatbardha Maloku, Besnik Maloku (2024) Analyzing IBM HR Data: Employee Attrition and Performance Insights. Journal of Engineering and Applied
Sciences Technology. SRC/JEAST-382. DOI: doi.org/10.47363/JEAST/2024(6)268

Conclusion References
In summary, we utilized strategic tools to assess the current 1. Pavansubhash (2017) IBM HR Analytics Employee Attrition
market landscape and potential factors influencing future & Performance. Kaggle https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/
employee attrition rates using the dataset sourced from Kaggle. pavansubhasht/ibm-hr-analytics-attrition-dataset.
com. Through our analysis, several key insights into the
determinants of attrition have emerged. Employee turnover poses
a significant challenge for organizations, but proactive decisions
by HR and management can mitigate this issue. This holds true
for IBM as well. Our dataset analysis allowed us to delve into
explanatory variables and their impact on attrition rates. Notably,
YearsWithCurrManager emerged as the most influential variable
affecting attrition, based on our investigation. Additionally,
YearsInCurrentRole exhibited the second highest R-squared
value at 0.02, followed by YearsSinceLastPromotion at 0.01.
When combining YearsInCurrentRole, YearsWithCurrManager,
YearsSinceLastPromotion, and YearsAtCompany, the cumulative
R-squared of 0.03 underscores the multifaceted nature of factors
influencing an employee's decision to remain with or depart from
the company [1].

Copyright: ©2024 Fatbardha Maloku. This is an open-access article

distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original author and source are credited.

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