An examination of employee retention strategy in a private organisation in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Worldwide, a number of factors have been attributed to the increase in the level of employee turnover. The waypeople are paid, recognised and achieve salary advancement are critical factors in attracting, retaining, andmotivating employees. The challenge for most organisations today is the formulation of an effective employeeretention strategy that will help in retaining employees that are considered critical in attaining organisationalgoals. The prevailing hostile economic environment in Zimbabwe has made the formulation of a realisticretention strategy particularly difficult for managers in the face of an ever changing economic environment thatis characterised by hyper inflation with a depleted labour market occasioned by skill emigration. This researchwas a case study of a major private sector medical laboratory company in Zimbabwe and was aimed atachieving the following objectives: identify the causes of employee turnover in the organisation, examine thecurrent retention practices in the organisation, establish the effectiveness of the practices, and attempt aworkable retention practice that could reduce the high rate of employee turnover in the organisation.Qualitative research design was employed using structured interviews as well as administering researchquestionnaire to all category of employees. The total population of the organisation nationwide comprised of3820 employees with a sample size of 2240 respondents. The result of the research showed that labourturnover is higher amongst non-managerial employees. Similarly, majority of the employees would soon quitthe organisation and lastly, the high rate of employee turnover in the organisation is largely attributed to poorreward system administration.