An investigation into the extent to which motivation is being used as a retention strategy

Abstract

Retention of skilled and qualified employees has become critical issue to sustainable and effective service delivery among organisations in the ever changing world of work. The phenomenon of globalisation has led to mobility of skilled individual and has dramatically changed human resource practice in the area of attracting skilled employees into the organisation and most importantly, retaining them. Given the high costs of turnover and its destructive tendency, it has become imperative for managers to identify retention variables that constantly motivate and influence the decision of valuable employees to have a longer tenure in an organisation. The study looked at the extent to which motivational variables were used by managers in Ngaka Modir Molema District Municipality to influence retention of key employees. Participants were selected from all levels of employees of Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality. Two research designs were used in the research project, namely descriptive and exploratory research designs. Descriptive research is a method used in quantitative while exploratory is used in qualitative research. The two methods complement each other since through descriptive, the research described the current situation in as far as the use of motivational factors for retention of employees is concerned, where qualitative research design was applied. The researcher used exploratory research design to explore types of motivational variables to be implemented as means of employee retention in the workplace. The study used a probability sampling procedure, where a simple random sampling was used. In simple random sampling, each population elements has an equal chance of being selected into the sample. The total sample of the study comprised 180 respondents. A self-administered questionnaire, measured on a Likert Scale was used to collect data from respondents. The result showed that employees in Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality are motivated to a very large extent by a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Motivational variables such as training, education and development, career growth and promotion, management style, compensation and other financial packages, and recognition and reward for good performance ranked amongst the most important variables that motivate employees to remain in an organisation.