Employee value proposition attributes attracting business students to South African telecommunications

Abstract

The South African telecommunications industry is suffering from high employee churn rate. Employee turnover has a negative impact on the organisational stability in terms of culture, skills and payroll. It is therefore important for the managers and leaders in the telecommunications industry to know what could attract business students to their organisation. This research investigated the top ten attributes of Employee Value Proposition (EVP) as ranked by business students who would consider employment in the South African telecommunications industry. The printed survey was given to business students where they were requested to partially rank their top ten attributes from the list of 28 attributes. The list was a modified version of the 38 attributes list developed by Corporate Leadership Council. The rankings from the respondents were analysed using a quantitative method called Shotgun stochastic parameter estimation algorithm. The overall ranking was determined and also ranking by age groups and by gender. There was insufficient data for quantitative analysis by race. The analysis by gender and age group was for further insight only and was not necessarily required to answer the research question. The top attributes that are preferred by male and female business students were investigated and found to be similar. The top four attributes of EVP included compensation, future career opportunities, development opportunities and health benefits. Also the 28 or less and 29 or above years age groups were investigated and found to prefer the abovementioned top four attributes of EVP. The top ten attributes are, in descending order, compensation, development opportunities, future career opportunities, health benefits, empowerment, work-life balance, innovation, meritocracy, respect and ethics. Compensation was also found to be number one in other similar studies and the top seven attributes were also fairly consistent with other studies.