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 way
people are paid, recognised and achieve salary advancement are critical factors in attracting, retaining, and
motivating employees. The challenge for most organisations today is the formulation of an effective employee
retention strategy that will help in retaining employees that are considered critical in attaining organisational
goals. The prevailing hostile economic environment in Zimbabwe has made the formulation of a realistic
retention strategy particularly difficult for managers in the face of an ever changing economic environment that
is characterised by hyper inflation with a depleted labour market occasioned by skill emigration. This research
was a case study of a major private sector medical laboratory company in Zimbabwe and was aimed at
achieving the following objectives: identify the causes of employee turnover in the organisation, examine the
current retention practices in the organisation, establish the effectiveness of the practices, and attempt a
workable 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 research
questionnaire to all category of employees. The total population of the organisation nationwide comprised of
3820 employees with a sample size of 2240 respondents. The result of the research showed that labour
turnover is higher amongst non-managerial employees. Similarly, majority of the employees would soon quit
the organisation and lastly, the high rate of employee turnover in the organisation is largely attributed to poor
reward system administration.