Bakgrund: Det finns idag en problematik för kunskapsintensiva företag i Sverige att lyckas bibehålla medarbetare. Detta då den svenska arbetsmarknadens utveckling har resulterat i fler högutbildade medarbetare, vilka generellt känner lite lojalitet gentemot arbetsgivaren. Företags önskan om att bibehålla medarbetare grundar sig i deras strävan att uppnå en låg personalomsättning då det anses positivt för företaget ur flera aspekter. För att studera denna problematik studeras Employee Retention-faktorer utifrån ett generationsperspektiv. Detta då medarbetares jobbvärderingar och därmed preferenser kring viktiga faktorer enligt tidigare forskning till stor del påverkas av generationstillhörigheten. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att utforska vilka faktorer som får medarbetare i olika generationer att stanna inom kunskapsintensiva företag. Detta genom att belysa Employee Retention utifrån ett medarbetarskap- samt generationsperspektiv. Metod: Studien syftar till att undersöka medarbetarnas upplevda verklighet, därför utgår studien från en kvalitativ forskningsmetod. Fallstudiemetoden har tillämpats, då denna är lämplig för att förstå komplicerade sociala företeelser. Ett centralt drag i fallstudier är att kombinera olika datainsamlingsmetoder, därför har 10 semistrukturerade intervjuer samt 25 frågeformulär med medarbetare på valt fallföretag genomförts. En analys av insamlad data har därefter genomförts, vilket resulterat i studiens slutsats. Slutsats: Studien har identifierat de viktigaste Employee Retention-faktorerna inom respektive generation och bekräftar därmed att generationstillhörigheten påverkar de faktorer som får medarbetare att stanna inom kunskapsintensiva företag. Studien har också påvisat att de viktigaste faktorerna som identifierats i respektive generationerna har en tydlig koppling till det psykologiska kontraktet. Om kunskapsintensiva företag tar hänsyn till dessa faktorer och därmed det psykologiska kontraktet, resulterar det i lojalitet och bibehållande av medarbetare. / Background: In the last couple of years there has been an ongoing change in the Swedish labor market where the knowledge-intensive companies find it harder to retain employees. This because highly educated employees generally are less experience less loyal towards the employer. Why companies wish to retain employees is because they aim for a low employee turnover, which is considered to be important for companies in several aspects. The study focus on important variables for employees, which makes them stay at a company, using a generation perspective. This perspective is used because employee’s work values and preferences are found to be affected by generational belonging. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore which variables that make employees with different generation belongings stay at knowledge-intensive companies. This by illustrating Employee Retention from the employee’s perspective and using a generation perspective. Method: The study applies a qualitative approach since the purpose is to explore the employee’s experienced reality. A case-study method is also applied since it’s suitable for complicated social phenomenon. Fundamental for a case-study is to combine different data collection methods, which is why 10 semi-structured interviews and 25 questionnaires are made within the case-company. The analysis of the data was then made with directions of an analysis strategy, which lead to the conclusion of the study. Conclusion: This study has identified the most important Employee Retention-variables within each generation, which also acknowledge that the generational belonging affects the variables that the employees value and consequently makes them stay at a company. The study has also shown that the most important variables that are identified in the different generations, also are found in the psychological contract. If knowledge-intensive companies identifies these variables and thereby strengthen the psychological contract, the output will be organizational loyalty and Employee Retention.

Two of the biggest issues facing large organizations today are knowledge transfer from the retiring Baby Boomers to their younger replacements, the Gamers, and the retention of those younger employees. Retirees are replaced by people 34 years old or younger who think, learn, believe, respond, and work differently further increasing the cultural gap that must be traversed in order to successfully transfer knowledge. This younger demographic is raised on technology and may not remember a time when there were no computers, video games, mobile devices, and the Internet. Large organizations aspiring to stay relevant must learn to take advantage of these unique traits. For organization that utilize repetitive work processes involving ruggedized handheld computing tools, both of these issues mentioned can be remediated through the adoption of modern technology. Some ruggedized handheld device manufacturers, however, have been hesitant to embrace consumer-implemented solutions such as the removal of all physical keys in order to incorporate touchscreen only input. Using Baby Boomer and Gamer-aged workers from a large transportation company experienced with ruggedized handheld devices, a time and error evaluation was performed to determine which input type is best by generation. This study found that moving from physical keyed devices to ruggedized handhelds with touchscreens only is a productive move for an industrial workforce but it’s the Boomers who stand to benefit from this change the most, not the Gamers. This study also identified near future requirements for the next iteration of ruggedized handheld devices based on the expectations of members of the current and future workforce. Results showed that participants from all generations selected a device that followed the touchscreen only model for data input. Experienced users from all generations preferred a smaller device with a large screen size. Lastly, Lean and Six Sigma were combined and their benefits explored in an effort of implementing manufacturing quality tools into a global, service-based, logistics organization. These tools and principles were used to improve the quality and timeliness of selecting and implementing a new ruggedized handheld device for the line-level workers on a global scale.