Should I Stay or Should I go?; A single case study examining employee motivational factors impact on employee retention

Abstract

Background: Today, companies are facing a continual competition amongst each other to both appeal and retain critical employees with regards to right demanded skills and talents. Outperforming organizations have been recognized to implement several employee retention strategies resulting in a motivated workforce. Hilti Svenska AB is striving to investigate how their retention strategies can be enhanced, by aiming to align employee motivational factors with employee retention strategies. Research question: How do employee motivational factors impact employee retention strategies at Hilti Svenska AB? Methodology: This study was a qualitative research with an inductive approach impacted by an iterative process. The research was executed as a single case study with data received from both semi-structured interviews and group interviews. The analysis was conducted in excel sheets by a thematic analysis approach and further displayed in tables. Findings: A low understanding of the connection between effort, performance and reward is expressed as having a negative impact on retention in the field of compensation and benefits, as well as a perceived imbalance in regards to input versus output. For training and development, a lack of a holistic understanding, external influences, correlation with daily tasks and current market applicability, are emphasized as not motivating the workforce and hence affecting the retention negatively. Regarding leadership and management, mid managers are expressed as vital with high impact concerning motivating and recognizing employees. Conclusion: This research concludes having a balance between input and output, as well as a clearer connection between effort, performance and reward, are the decisive motivational factors impacting current retention strategies regarding compensation and benefits the most. This means for instance via providing a balance between workload and monthly pay, by additionally aligning each task to a particular reward. Concerning training and development strategies, the crucial motivational factors of fulfilling needs and expectations are emphasized as having a strong impact on retention. These factors are such as individualized career plans and external influences. Finally, with regards to leadership and management retention strategies, the motivational factor with most impact is the fulfilling of needs, such as having managers supporting employees to enhance their performances and reach self-actualization on a daily basis.