Retention of key employees is becoming an increasingly important challenge faced by many
organisations. With every employee that leaves the company, cost of recruitment and
appointment, as well as training and development cost subsequent to that, are lost. The
situation is aggravated by the fact that it is usually the higher performing employee who is
more mobile from a career point of view, or the employee who has completed his/her training
and who is more marketable, that is lost to the organisation.
To effectively retain workers, employers must know which factors motivate their employees
to stay on and which factors cause them to leave. The general research objective was to
determine variables that influence the retention of designated employees within a platinum
mine.
A qualitative research design was used. Twenty four designated employees were selected
randomly from the following occupations in the mining career path, namely Crew Captain in
training, Crew Captain, Learner Official and Shift Supervisor. A qualitative measuring
instrument, based on the phenomenological paradigm, was used to determine employees'
perceptions of retention of designated employees. Content analysis was used to analyse,
quantify, and interpret the research data.
The results indicated that designated employees are poached by competitor companies; that
designated employees leave for better payment or benefits; that they value opportunities for
growth and development; that the Crew Captain title, job content and job category cause
employees to be unhappy; that designated employees leave after receiving training and
development; that they do not feel valued or listened to; that they are unhappy with
accommodation benefits and the bonus system; that they are managed by fear; that job
security makes designated employees to stay; that they leave due to poor benefits; that they
are in general dissatisfied with the company; that work and safety conditions are good; that
designated employees experience a lot of work pressure; that they value family responsibility;
that designated employees with limited education stay; and that they experience racial
discrimination.
Recommendations for future research are also made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/642 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Radloff, Carla |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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