Background: As employees have become one of the key assets providing companies competitive advantage, the importance of talent retention has grown. This holds true especially in industries such as information technology, where firms not only have to adapt to the needs and expectations of Generation Y but are also experiencing a substantial shortage of knowledge workers. Purpose: The goal of this thesis is to first gain an understanding of what tools and techniques Finnish IT companies are using to approach the topic of retention, a process guided by theory. The existing literature and empirical findings are then combined to create a model for enhancing the retention of IT knowledge workers. Method: Empirical data was generated through interviews with ten Finnish IT firms employing knowledge workers, all different in terms of organizational characteristics and retention approaches. Template analysis was then used to infer meaningful findings from the data. Conclusion: The results show that retention of IT knowledge workers should be approached holistically. There are five categories (Training and Development; Compensation and Benefits; Flexibility and Work-life Balance; Organizational Culture; and Organizational Prestige) that must all be given thought to before implementing retention tools and techniques identified as most suitable for the specific organizational context.

Bakgrund och problemformulering: Denna studie baseras på hur sju sjuksköterskor upplever sin arbetssituation i förhållande till attraktivt arbete och vad som får dem motiverade till att stanna kvar på sin arbetsplats. I många år har avdelningen haft ett gott rykte och det har varit låg personalomsättning bland sjuksköterskorna. De senaste tre till fem åren har trenden börjat vända och personalomsättningen har börjat öka. Det gör att den kunskapsintensiva avdelningen står inför utmaningen att lyckas behålla sin arbetskraft för att inte riskera att tappa den erfarenhet, kunskap och expertis patienterna behöver i sin vård. Detta är en dagsaktuell fråga då den svenska sjukvården står inför utmaningar med att behålla sjuksköterskor. Samtidigt som besparingar inom vården sker ökar kostnaderna för inhyrd arbetskraft. Prognoserna visar att befolkningen ökar och lever allt längre samtidigt som stora pensionsavgångar hägrar. Detta skapar en ohållbar situation där erfarenheten som finns måste bevaras vilket leder till att organisationer behöver arbeta med att bli attraktiva arbetsgivare för att kunna behålla sjuksköterskor. Syfte: Att undersöka vilka faktorer som sjuksköterskor på en vårdavdelning i Dalarna upplever viktiga för att stanna kvar på sin arbetsplats. Metod: Vi har rört oss inom den hermeneutiska tolkningsläran där riktningen går mot att tolka, studera och förstå. För att undersöka bakgrunden till att individer väljer att stanna kvar på en arbetsplats valde vi ett kvalitativt tillvägagångssätt. Kvalitativ forskning framställs som kontextuell då forskningen förstås i sitt sammanhang för att öka förståelsen av det undersökta fenomenet. Resultat: Det som framkommit i denna undersökning är att kollegorna är en viktig motivationsfaktor till att stanna kvar på arbetsplatsen. Merparten av sjuksköterskorna som deltagit i studien upplever att allas insatser på avdelningen är betydelsefulla. Ett gott samarbete mellan kollegorna bidrar till trygghet i rollen och en känsla av att erfarenheter värderas. Även om sjuksköterskorna uppskattar att arbeta i team, något som är signifikant inom vården, framkommer det att de vill uppmärksammas för sina prestationer på ett individuellt plan. De är specialister inom sitt yrke och upplever att den kompetensutveckling som ges på arbetsplatsen gör att de vill stanna kvar. Samtidigt önskar de bättre arbetsvillkor i form av flexibla arbetstider och löner som speglar deras prestationer. De önskar också en ledning som är synlig i den dagliga verksamheten och det uppskattas när ledningen genomför förbättringsförslag som gynnar arbetsförhållandena. Diskussion: Det inte går att blunda för de utmaningar avdelningen står inför. Reflektionerna från sjuksköterskorna gällande viljan att stanna kvar på arbetsplatsen påverkades av det dagsaktuella läget och de utmaningar de upplevde i deras arbetsförhållanden vilket också påverkar de faktorer som anses attraktiva. / Background: This study is based on how seven nurses experience their work situation in relation to attractive work and what makes them motivated to stay in their workplace. For many years, the department has had a good reputation and there has been low staff turnover among the nurses. The last three to five years, the trend has begun to turn around and staff turnover has started to increase. This means that the knowledge-intensive department faces the challenge of succeeding in retaining its workforce in order to not risk losing the experience, knowledge and expertise the patients need in their care. This is a topical issue when the Swedish healthcare system is faced with challenges in retaining nurses. At the same time, savings in healthcare are increasing the cost of hired labor. The forecasts show that the population is increasing and living longer and at the same time large retirements are taking place. This creates an unsustainable situation where the experience that exists has to be preserved, which means that organizations need to work to become attractive employers in order to be able to maintain nurses. Purpose: To investigate which factors that nurses at a care ward in Dalarna experience important in order to stay in their workplace. Method: We have moved within the hermeneutic interpretation theory where the direction goes towards interpreting, studying and understanding. In order to investigate the background to individuals choosing to stay in a workplace, we chose a qualitative approach. Qualitative research is presented as contextual because the research is understood in its context in order to increase the understanding of the phenomenon under investigation. Result: What emerged from this study is that colleagues are an important motivating factor to stay in the workplace. Most of the nurses who participated in the study feel that everyone's efforts in the department are important. Good cooperation between colleagues contributes to security in the role and a feeling that experiences are valued. Although nurses appreciate working in teams, something that is significant in healthcare, it appears that they want to be recognized for their achievements on an individual level. They are specialists in their profession and feel that the skills development given at the workplace makes them want to stay. At the same time, they want better working conditions in the form of flexible working hours and wages that reflect their performance. They also want a management that is visible in the day-to-day operations and it is appreciated when the management implements improvement proposals that benefit the working conditions. Discussion: It`s not possible to ignore the challenges facing the department. The reflections from the nurses regarding the desire to remain in the workplace were affected by the current situation and the challenges they experienced in their working conditions, which also affects the factors that are considered attractive.

Mergers and acquisitions has become a common thing in recent years. Assets change owners in hope of creating synergies and desirable outcomes. Human capital, i.e. the employees behind the numbers, is one asset that is often forgotten. It is therefore important to keep these key employees in the organisation post-acquisition in order to gain or retain competitive advantages and avoid unwelcome surprises. The aim of the study is to identify how Swedish medtech companies identifies key employees during a due diligence and how they retain them afterwards. We chose a qualitative approach for the study and have therefore conducted our interviews in a semi-structured manner. The study uses competence- and resource based theory to identify key employees and how to use them as a resource to gain a competitive advantage. Our result is that human capital is not a factor that can sustain a competitive advantage since it can be transferred via mergers and acquisitions. On the other hand, the competence based view can be used to maximize the resources in form of human capital. When a company is acquired, employees start integrating in the new organisation. The study uses onboarding theory to identify key aspects in how to acclimatise key employees. A conceptual model is eventually presented with our findings where key employees are identified by way of references, the former board of directors, statistics, meetings and industrial knowledge. The HR-department does generally gets involved late in the due diligence process, something that our respondents consider a potential problem. In post-acquisition, during the onboarding process, key factors are; obtaining information about the new culture, role clarification and new challenges to keep key employees in the new organisation. Keywords: Human Capital, mergers & acquisitions, medtech, onboarding, key employee retention.

The literature is replete with studies and information about registered nurse burnout, compassion fatigue, and turnover rates. Registered nurses enhance and bring benefits to the health care system, but stressful health care environments may contribute to their self-neglect and may adversely affect their decision to remain working at the bedside. Retention of registered nurses is necessary for the delivery of patient care. An investigation of self-compassion among registered nurses in the clinical workplace may help to understand how registered nurses deal with the pressures of the health care setting. In addition, there is a need for research to clarify what self-compassion looks like among nurses and how it may foster caring for themselves, nurse retention, and the delivery of quality patient care. This qualitative study used a phenomenological method designed to illuminate registered nurses’ experiences of self-compassion in clinical practice. Also, findings from this study will contribute to the body of knowledge of self-compassion in the context of registered nurses. Van Manen’s phenomenological research method of the six activities were used to guide the study. Nine registered nurses were interviewed about their experiences of being kind and compassionate toward oneself in the clinical work setting. Transcripts of the study participants’ interviews were analyzed and four essential themes emerged that shed light on these nurses’ experiences of self-compassion: (1) Transforming Time Famine; (2) Authentic Communication and Presence, (3) Collegial Cohesion, and (4) Evolution Toward an Ideal Registered Nurse. Most of the participants in this study shared stressful situations in the clinical workplace along with encouraging learning points through their stories of being kind to themselves in the workplace while caring for others.

The exploration of the study was derived from the researcher’s experience and involvement in the Gauteng Department of Finance (GDF) which experienced gargantuan fatalities of recruited employees since 2009. The moratorium on recruitment process disadvantaged the department`s conditions as some employees were marooned for months. The researcher wondered how profound the staff turnover might have had the influence on the quality of services being delivered to the service customers. In most cases conducting recruitment process is expensive. It requires adequate time to ensure that resources are satisfactorily positioned, while retaining the existing workforce is tricky noting the cultural challenges and trepidation.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the standards-based accountability (SBA) provisions of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) on the retention of teachers of color. I am interested in this impact, given the growing body of evidence suggesting a more diverse teacher workforce would benefit all students, particularly students of color (Villegas & Irvine, 2010); however, the teacher workforce is becoming increasingly homogenous and white, in part, due to the declining retention of teachers of color. Overall, I hypothesize that the widespread introduction of SBA as prescribed by NCLB has changed teachers’ instructional practices, thereby changing teachers’ experiences of their job and ultimately their employment decisions. Further, I posit that those changes in teachers’ experience, particularly reductions in perceptions of classroom autonomy, disproportionately impacts the employment decisions of teachers of color (Ingersoll & May, 2011). In this study, I answer three research questions: (1) How have trends in teacher retention changed over time and, how does that vary by teacher race/ethnicity? (2) What teacher-, school-, and organizational-factors influence teacher retention, and how do those vary by teacher race/ethnicity? (3) How has the widespread introduction of SBA through NCLB influenced teacher retention, and how does that vary by teacher race/ethnicity? I use the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and its accompanying Teacher Follow-Up Survey (TFS) to answer my three research questions. Overall, I confirm an increasing decline in the retention of black and Hispanic teachers and decreasing perceptions of classroom autonomy, which coincides with the widespread introduction of SBA through the signing of NCLB in 2002. However, that decline in retention is only significant for black teachers and not for Hispanic teachers by 2007-08. Additionally, using a linear probability model, I found that the relationship between perceptions of classroom autonomy and retention varies by teacher race/ethnicity, and that there is a significant relationship between perceptions of classroom autonomy and retention for black teachers in 2007. However, I did not find that relationship for Hispanic teachers or white teachers. Ultimately, using a difference-in-difference (DD) model, I only found a significant decline in retention for Hispanic teachers as result of the SBA provisions of NCLB; however, it is unclear how the SBA provisions of NCLB is driving that decline, since I did not find a meaningful relationship between perceptions of classroom autonomy and retention for Hispanic teachers. In that DD model, I did not find a similar decline for black teachers. On the contrary, I found that black teachers in 2007 in states that had previously adopted SBA provisions similar to those in NCLB (Prior states) experienced a significant decline retention and perceptions of classroom autonomy, despite previous exposures to those SBA provisions. These counterintuitive results lead me to reinterpret my results applying institutional theory. Using institutional theory, I concluded that Prior states were able to implement the SBA provisions of NCLB with greater fidelity and, therefore, the impact of NCLB on perceptions of classroom autonomy and retention was greatest for black teachers in those states. Based on these results, I offer future research and policy recommendations to improve the diversity of the teacher workforce.

M. Tech. (Business Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences): Vaal University of Technology / The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of employee rewards on talent attraction and talent retention. Furthermore, the study intends to unearth the influence of rewards on employee attraction and retention and to suggest strategies that could be employed by FET colleges in Gauteng in the Sedibeng district of Gauteng. The attraction and retention of employees continues to be a key priority not only of human resource professionals but also of FET colleges generally in South Africa and in the Gauteng province in particular. The most valuable asset available to an organisation is its people, and consequently, retaining employees in their jobs is crucial for any organization. In South Africa, the retention of highly skilled employees is critical, particularly because of the need to contribute to economic growth, innovation and poverty eradication. Owing to the competition for scarce skills, the attraction and retention of quality employees has emerged as the biggest challenge in human capital management and this phenomenon has also arisen in FET colleges. To attract and retain employee, organisations need novel reward systems that satisfy employees. This study employs a quantitative research paradigm and a survey method was used to investigate a sample of 154 academic employees at Sedibeng FET College, Gauteng. A personal method was used to collect data using semi-structured questionnaire and the results of the correlations shows that employee rewards are significantly positively related to talent attraction and talent retention. Findings and recommendations of this study are important to employers as they are supposed to design a remuneration package that attract and retain the best candidates and satisfies their employee’s expectations, in that it is fair, equitable and free of bias. A remuneration package is one of the most important factors that influence people to take up employment and stay with the organization.

Industry leaders in the United States have spent $11 billion annually in advertising, hiring, and training expenditures associated with voluntary employee turnover. Using employee turnover theory as the conceptual framework, the purpose of this multicase study was to explore strategies leaders of marketing and consulting firms used to reduce voluntary employee turnover. Participants were purposefully selected based on evidence of their successful experiences in reducing voluntary employee turnover in their organizations. Data were collected by conducting semistructured interviews with 6 leaders in 3 marketing and consulting firms located in the southeastern United States and by reviewing organizational documents related to strategies to reduce employee turnover, including annual reports, newsletters, policy handbooks, and financial statements. Data were analyzed using Yin's 5-phase elements of data analysis: (a) compile, (b) disassemble, (c) reassemble, (d) clarify, and (e) conclude. Three themes emerged from this study: leaders' comprehension of reducing voluntary employee turnover, essential strategies for leaders to reduce voluntary employee turnover, and that employee commitment and performance management to reduce voluntary employee turnover. Leaders of marketing and consulting firms and other business organizations could create positive social change through effective strategies to reduce employee turnover and unemployment. Reducing unemployment is important because unemployed individuals experience detrimental changes in family relationships, higher mortality rates, and increased physical health problems.

Shift work is becoming increasingly prevalent in our society, with 17% of the full-time work force and 36% of the part-time work force working non-standard shifts (Beers, 2000). The goal of this study was to explore the relationships between several shift work variables and retention of employees working in a retail organization that is open 24-hours a day. Results indicated no significant differences between workers in fixed versus mixed shift schedules on job satisfaction or role stress. Contrary to my hypothesis, mixed shift workers reported higher levels of commitment and remained with the organization longer than fixed shift workers. As predicted, night shift workers reported lower levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment than evening workers. However contrary to predictions, there were no significant differences between morning and night shift workers. Supervisor support did not moderate the relationship between shift work and commitment, satisfaction, or role stress. However is was a significant moderator of the relationship between day versus evening shift and role stress, with individuals working evening shifts and perceiving high levels of supervisor support remaining with the organization the longest.

Attrition is a serious issue in the nursing industry. One factor influencing rates of attrition in nursing is aggression victimization at work (Estryn-Behar et al., 2010). However, there is little research in the aggression literature that examines how aggression from different sources affects attrition (both job and career turnover) differently. This study attempts to better understand the linkages between aggression victimization and nursing attrition; specifically how aggression from different sources (i.e. patients/patients’ families, coworkers, and licensed independent practitioners) differentially affects retention factors (i.e. job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and career commitment). This study also attempts to understand the role that prosocial motivation may have in buffering against negative work attitudes brought about by patient aggression victimization. A two time point cross-sectional survey design was conducted in a hospital organization in the state of Oregon. The data presented here are part of an archival examination of that larger dataset that uses 337 voluntary nursing participants. Findings partially support the idea that different sources of aggression differentially affect retention outcomes like job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and career commitment. Some limitations and contributions of the study are also discussed.