Factors influencing the retention of Generation Y knowledge workers in South Africa

Abstract

Generation Y (Gen Y) knowledge workers have entered the employment arena when the employment relationship is that of ‘free agent’ - characterised by employees looking upon their careers as consisting of a series of two-to-three year stints. However, in order for organisations to successfully execute their business strategies, it is often necessary that they retain the services of talented employees for extended periods. This is especially true of Gen Y knowledge workers who consider a year to be a long time. How, therefore, do businesses go about retaining the services of these talented employees? The aim of the current study was to establish which retention factors are considered by South Africa's Gen Y knowledge workers to be the most important in their decision to stay. The data for this study were obtained through twelve in-depth, structured interviews of Generation Y knowledge workers operating in the IT departments of three multinational corporations. The interviews all took place at the respondents’ places of business, and were conducted over a period of approximately four months - from July to October of 2013. The key findings of the study were that it is important to Gen Y knowledge workers in their decision to remain with an organisation that they be given opportunities for career advancement, and training and development. It is also important that they be provided with tasks which challenge them and allow them to use all of their skills. It is equally important that Gen Y knowledge workers be given high levels of autonomy to perform their tasks unencumbered. Finally, it is important that organisational leadership be seen to be living their organisations’ core values. By making minor adjustments to the way in which they manage Gen Y knowledge workers, organisations, supervisors and managers can greatly improve their overall job satisfaction, and by improving their job satisfaction can exponentially increase the likelihood of them staying.