Factors contributing to employee turnover intention at selected retail firms in KZN and strategies of mitigation.

Abstract

Attracting and retaining high-quality employees is vital to ensuring a high level of organisational performance and maintaining competitiveness in business. In order to attain maximum productivity, organizations invest in employees through training and career development programs. Therefore, management are compelled to implement strategies to minimize employee turnover. Employee turnover has been described as the state by which an employee shows his willingness to quit a job. Given the organizational disruption, such as reduced organizational performance and productivity, associated with employee turnover, employee turnover has become a pressing issue. In South Africa, the literature showed that employee turnover rate in the retail industries has been critically high. Considering the role of the retail industry on the South African economy as well as its customer-facing nature, employee turnover has more consequences on the retail sector and the societies as compared to other sectors of the economy. In addition, the high rate of employee turnover and its consequences on the affected organization has necessitated the need for an investigation of possible influencing factors of employee turnover intention. This study therefore investigated the factors contributing to employee turnover intention in the retail sector of KwaZulu-Natal province, at Companies A, B, and C. A quantitative methodology was employed, with 130 questionnaires administered at Companies A, B, and C. The findings showed that factors such as poor working conditions, lack of training, and career development programs, as well as management culture, influence employee turnover. The study concludes with possible means to manage employee turnover in the retail industries. One of the implications of the findings is that Companies should focus on improving work environment and conditions, management culture, and job satisfaction. By addressing these key causative factors of employee turnover, they can improve retention rates and ensure that their employees are satisfied with their jobs. For future studies, it was recommended that additional sectors also be studied to acquire a broader perspective of the impact of labour turnover intention may have in other sectors of the South African labour market.