Talent management is a source of competitive advantage and will be achieved by those
organisations that are able to attract, develop and retain best in class individuals. It is thus not
just a human resources issue but rather an integral part of any organisation’s strategy.
Due to negative perceptions about South Africa, skilled workers are immigrating to countries
such as Australia to the detriment of the South African economy. This loss is not necessarily
being replaced by graduates or through immigration. Government policies such as Broader-
Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE), Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and
Affirmative Action (AA), compound the issue by then decreasing the pool of skilled
applicants that may occupy skilled and senior posts in organisations. Globally there is a
shortage of skills and due to employee mobility they can use any opportunity that presents
itself.
The objectives of this study was to determine the factors which lead to the emigration of
skilled South African’s to Australia and then once these factors are known to propose
retention strategies to role players to stem the emigration tide.
To achieve these objectives a survey was prepared based on previous studies and a link to the
web questionnaire was distributed to the population via an Australian immigration agent. The
link was sent to all the agent’s clients around the world and thus consisted not only of South
Africa respondents but also elicited international responses, which will be used for
comparison purposes only. Only 48 South Africans responded to the survey and although
limited, it was sufficient for the purposes of this study. The demographic profile was mainly
male and dominated by Generation X.
Using a Likert scale respondents were questioned on their levels of satisfaction in their
country of origin and in Australia through an adaptation of a study by Mattes and Richmond
(2000). The study of Hulme (2002) was adapted and incorporated into the questionnaire,
where respondents were given the opportunity to rank considerations for leaving South Africa
and factors that would draw them back. Respondents were provided with the opportunity for
responses to open-ended questions to include other considerations for leaving and factors that
would draw them back. Results from these survey items revealed that the primary reasons driving skilled South Africans to emigrate was safety and security, upkeep of public
amenities, customer service and taxation. In contrast, South African migrants had high levels
of satisfaction with safety and security, upkeep of public amenities and customer service in
Australia. Respondents indicated that factors that would draw them back to South Africa
would be improvements in safety and security and government, followed by family roots,
good jobs and schools.
The study also looked at the permanence of the move. If skilled individuals returned with
new-found skills and experience then it could be a potential brain gain for South Africa. The
results of this study found that 43% of respondents had no intention to return, 42% did not
supply a response and only 10% were undecided on whether to return or not.
To attract, retain and develop talent, the South African government and the private sector
would need to work in partnership to develop policies that would satisfy the lower-order
needs of individuals, such as physiological and safety needs. / Emigration of skilled South African migrants to Australia / Business Management / M.Tech. (Business Administration)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:umkn-dsp01.int.unisa.ac.za:10500/5963 |
| Date | 04 1900 |
| Creators | Brink, Graham Patrick |
| Contributors | Nienaber, Hester |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | 1 online resource (xi, 122 leaves) |
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