Thesis (MBA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / Metropolitan, like all companies in the insurance sector, would like to limit attrition to ensure that
the institutional knowledge is retained. At the time when the employee has already tendered a
resignation letter, most companies conduct an exit interview. The researcher feels that at this
stage, it is rather late. It is important therefore to understand in advance, the reasons why
employees would consider leaving the organisation and put corrective measures in place to
prevent that.
Retention of key employees is a highly topical subject and an important dilemma that many
companies have to deal with. It requires leadership attention and scientific understanding of the
causes of attrition. In South Africa, the concept of retention of specifically Black employees has a
broader significance in that it contributes to higher BEE scores and opportunities to do business
with government for those companies that have such interests. The purpose of this study is to
firstly understand the phenomenon of retention as it applies to the Black employees of
Metropolitan. Black employees with skills and experience are arguably the most attractive group on
the labour market due to the lack of such skills. Because of this, companies are struggling to retain
their Black employees. This study explores what Metropolitan should take into account when
designing retention measures for Black employees. It asks the Black employees themselves, what
they consider as important that would help in retaining them.
Furthermore, it will help the company to investigate which characteristics or variables to consider
when formulating its retention strategies. The questions that the study endeavours to explore are:
What mechanisms should Metropolitan use to retain especially Black employees? If current
employees are considering leaving the company, what are the main reasons for wanting to leave
or looking for a job elsewhere? What are the characteristics that employees consider most
important that would make them want to stay at Metropolitan.
The subject matter investigation involved a survey which was sent to Black employees in the
company and the results which were analysed. The results shed some understanding on the
reasons why employees would consider applying for a job outside of Metropolitan. It gives the
company an understanding of how many of its current Black employees are looking for jobs
elsewhere. Because of this prior knowledge, the company can intervene and put measures in
place to retain those who were already looking to leave the company. The study also details
characteristics that Black employees at Metropolitan consider to be important by certain
biographical categories like job grade, age, education, gender and experience. The results further
build on the existing literature of retention, especially in the South African environment in the era of
transformation laws.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/8519 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Ngxabazi, Nosipiwo |
| Contributors | Van Dyk, Laetitia, University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Graduate School of Business. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Stellenbosch |
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