RETENTION STRATEGIES FOR MILLENNIALS
Research Report for the Partial Fulfilment for the Bachelor of Commerce
General
November 2022
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Abstract
Workplace surroundings have continuously changed, and companies that want to
thrive will have to constantly be flexible to change and how they operate with the
respective departments. A crucial element within the different departments have been
made of millennial employees with a high turnover rate. Thus, organisations should
ensure they gain the trustworthiness and retain the millennials. This study focused on
retention strategies for millennials, consisting of a qualitative approach that used both
primary and secondary data. The approach taken in data collection helps in the
assistance of understanding the workplace needs of millennials and having a better
perspective of the employer. The questionnaire were consistent and ensured
relevance, the data collected from the questionnaire has been analysed by grouping
the answers that communicated a similar idea and from them conclusions were made.
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Contents
Declaration.................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Abstract......................................................................................................................ii
Chapter One: Introduction to the study....................................................................... 1
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1
1.1. Background ...................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Problem Statement .......................................................................................... 2
1.3. Research Objectives ........................................................................................ 2
1.4. Research Questions ........................................................................................ 2
1.5. Rationale of the Study ...................................................................................... 2
1.5 Limitations ......................................................................................................... 3
1.6. Report Layout .................................................................................................. 3
1.7. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 4
Chapter Two: Literature Review ................................................................................. 5
2.1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 5
2.2. Retention Strategies for Millennials within the Organisation ............................ 5
2.2.1. Millennials and the Work Environment ....................................................... 6
2.2.2. Self-Managing Career ................................................................................ 7
2.2.3. Millennials Management ............................................................................ 7
2.2.4. Millennial Retention ................................................................................... 9
2.3. The Impact of Intrinsic Motivation on Employee Retention. ............................. 9
2.3.1 Motivation Theories .................................................................................. 11
2.3.2. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory ...................................................... 11
2.3.3. Alderfer’s Modified Need Hierarchy Model............................................... 12
2.3.4. McClelland’s Achievement Motivation Theory ......................................... 13
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2.3.5. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory Motivation ................................................... 13
2.4. Non-Financial Reward Objective on Employee Retention.............................. 14
2.5. Financial Rewards Objective on Improve Employee Retention ...................... 15
2.6. Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 19
Chapter Three: Research Methodology ................................................................... 19
3.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 19
3.2 Methodological Approach and Research Design ............................................ 20
3.3 Population and Sampling ................................................................................ 20
3.4 Data Collection Method ................................................................................... 20
3.5 Data Analysis Method ..................................................................................... 21
3.6 Validity and reliability, or Trustworthiness ....................................................... 21
3.7 Ethical considerations ..................................................................................... 21
3.8 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 22
Chapter Four: Data Analysis and Findings: Retention Strategies for Millennials ...... 22
4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 22
4.2. Graphical Display of Data .............................................................................. 23
4.3. Visualised Representation of Data ................................................................. 25
4.4. Data Analysis/Discussion ............................................................................... 29
4.5 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 29
Chapter Five: Summary of Findings and Conclusions.............................................. 31
5.1. Introduction .................................................................................................... 31
5.2. Summary of Findings ..................................................................................... 31
5.3. Retention Strategies for Millennials ................................................................ 34
5.3.1. The impact of intrinsic motivation on employee retention ........................ 34
5.3.2. The impact of financial rewards on employee retention ........................... 35
5.3.3. The impact of non-financial compensation on employee retention .......... 36
5.4 Recommendations .......................................................................................... 36
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5.5 Concluding Remarks ....................................................................................... 37
Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 39
Appendix I – Questionnaire ...................................................................................... 44
Appendix II – Authorization to Proceed/Company Clearance ................................... 46
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Chapter One: Introduction to the study
1. Introduction
Employees have been classified as the most important resources of the organization.
The organization success and performance, they depend not only on the quality of the
employee, but also the ability of the organization to manage and retain the critical
resources. From the most average, this research project thus attempts to explore the
retention strategies of millennials at the selected company, as they are considered the
most important component of the human resource. This section thus outlines the
overview of our research, the research problem, the aim, the rationale and the outline
of the report.
1.1. Background
Millennials tend to be more ambitious for opportunities as they are more desired for
success. This is an existing problem as older generations are not willing to supply
newer generations with the necessary knowledge and tools to perform accordingly. In
a Forbes article, the author (Prossack, 2019) suggests that one can avoid the
struggles of millennials retention by “bridging gaps between generations’, such as
ensuring that information from senior resources is not lost when they leave by passing
on to newer employees. Effectively managing such job opportunities for millennials will
promote career guidance and overall productivity.
The new market shift is more inclined towards technology and millennials have grown
in an era where technology is thriving. They are designing a change in how tasks are
performed in the workforce as they bring new innovative methods of productivity. In a
business article (Gilbert, 2011) it is states that, millennials are well cultured, skilled in
technology, self-confident and can multi-task, which insights their strength for the
market. Millennials are the largest age group to emerge so far, meaning that we will
be dealing with a larger target market and a more diverse workforce.
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1.2. Problem Statement
For the economy to grow and be stable, it is important to have a strong employee
retention. Without employee retention issues such as unemployment reduction and
economic growth cannot be achieved. Factors such as technological advancement
and the Covid-19 pandemic have exacerbated the problem of unemployment. This is
because of automation of processes in workplace, and the retrenchments that
happened during the Covid-19 Pandemic due to restricted economic activity.
Government has various policies that were intended to solve the unemployment issue
but fail to do so this is seen by the rise of unemployment from 26.91% in 2018 to
35.56% in 2021 (Macrotrends, 2022).
1.3. Research Objectives
- To assess the impact of intrinsic motivation on employee retention.
- To assess the impact of financial rewards on employee retention.
- To assess the impact of non-financial compensation on employee retention.
1.4. Research Questions
1. How does financial reward contribute to the retention of Millennials?
2. What non-financial rewards contribute to the retention of Millennials?
3. How does job enlargement retain Millennials?
1.5. Rationale of the Study
The research aims to recognise the strategies and incentives that organisations use
to retain millennials. The literature that exists points out to the rewards, benefits, and
motivations that make employees to stay. The limitation of the existing research is that
it approaches millennial employees as a homogeneous group which, while
differentiated from other age groups in the workforce, is not differentiated amongst
itself. As such, it fails to acknowledge the possibilities that millennials will be motivated
by different things depending on what are pursuing in their lives. It is because of that
the research aims to understand the factors that make millennials stay in their jobs
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and consequently have organisations incorporate the factors in their retention
strategies.
1.5 Limitations
For this research, there will be a few limitations with regards to the primary data and
this includes getting access to reliable information and assistance from companies.
These limitations will be dealt with by visiting clients face to face to request assistance,
asking them if they have experience high retention turnover rates and providing an
authorisation to proceed which will be attached as an appendix.
1.6. Report Layout
Chapter 1 – Introduction to the study
Chapter one is presented by identifying the background of the research and the
problem statement, which then follows to the research objectives and questions.
Chapter 2 – The Literature Review
Chapter two, literature review, is introduced in chapter two with emphasis on the
retention strategies for millennials within the organization, the impact of intrinsic
motivation on employee retention, and concluding with the financial and non-financial
reward objective on employee retention.
Chapter 3 – Research methodology
The research methodology is presented in this chapter and shows data collected,
research design, validity and reliability and ethical factors.
Chapter 4 – Data analysis and findings
Chapter four analyses the data and findings of retention strategies for millennials, with
visual representation of data and analysis of data.
Chapter 5 – Summary of findings and conclusions
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Conclusion and Summary of findings. This chapter summarizes the findings with
remarks on the impact of intrinsic motivation, financial and non-financial rewards on
employee retention.
1.7. Conclusion
As the aim of the research is focused on finding ways that allow millennials in the
workplace to be retained, motivation is a factor behind their individual decisions to stay
or leave, hence it is emphasized in the research objectives. The research also allows
for factors beyond motivation that influence millennials continuity in an organisation as
evident in the research questions. Conclusions from the research will help
organisations effectively use methods that adapt their workplace structures and
operations to best suit their millennials workforce.
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Chapter Two: Literature Review
2.1. Introduction
The literature review is focused on the nature of millennials and they’re turnover in the
workplace. It seeks to review existing literature that provides the understanding of the
effective strategies that can be used to retain millennials in organisation. As such, it
will focus on the aspect of motivation as a primary driver that thrives millennials to take
the decision to enter or exit an organisation. Understanding the motivation behind the
millennials will provide the understanding of the reasons that make an organisation
able to retain them. Kurt (2021) Discussed in the literature review is the factors that
affect motivation in individuals and the various theories of motivation that are relevant
in this regard. The dominant of the theories include “McClelland’s theory, Herzberg’s
two-factor theory and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs” (Kurt, 2021). These theories
explain intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, the literature reviewed includes sources that
explain the usage of financial rewards as a source of motivation, The use of nonefinancial rewards as sources of motivation. This literature (Financial rewards, nonfinancial rewards, and intrinsic motivation) is important to establish the various
approaches that are practically possible to use to retain the millennial workforce (Kurt,
2021).
2.2. Retention Strategies for Millennials within the Organisation
Millennials have quickly become the largest group in between the employees in
today’s workplace, and it is of the importance that by then, that employers have
understood the need to have effectively incorporated retention strategies for the
success of the organisation (Nolan, 2015).
Millennials were identified as technology experts and recognised for the lack of loyalty
to organisations (Ertas, 2015). Millennials have a balance between work-life principles
which are crucial for most aspects of employment, namely: work environment
conditions, remuneration, and work based outcomes like fulfilment or achievements
(Ertas, 2015). And the fact that millennials have always tended to leave their
organisation is because leaders did not study a strategy for retention which balances
their beliefs (Pregnolato, 2017). And those leaders who have incorporated millennials
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employee’s expectations have managed to identify and retain their top talented
millennial workers, further, they also improved the firmness of the organisation and
also having achieved a competitive advantage (Smith & Nichols, 2015).
According to scholars, a good work environment was essential to millennials, their job
fulfilment, and the organisation retention intentions (Eason, 2018). It was also
determined from a research test survey of 1,798 millennial workers, that these
millennial workers decided to leave the organisation within one year without job
dissatisfaction (Pregnolato, 2017). There are various other retention strategies that
were considered critical to millennials such as ‘the work-life balance , career
advancement, mentoring, organizational fit, meaningful positions, competitive pay,
and recognition’ (Pregnolato, 2017).
2.2.1. Millennials and the Work Environment
Millennials have always been considered to have higher stress and exhaustion rates
when they had problems in being able to balance family and career, therefore causing
them to leave the organisation. This could be helped by making organizational
programs and policies that help millennials have a better career progression, and a
flexi work schedule, and work-life balance which are crucial ways to maintain the
millennials happy and remain loyal to the organization (Buzza, 2017).
Millennial employees do not last in an organisation where they do not receive regular
praise and feedback, leaders should approach millennials fetching performance
feedback regularity to provide advanced growth (Stewart, 2017). Taking these
strategies into consideration, these approaches help millennials who possess unique
strengths and talents, to then impact in a positive manner the organisational
performance (Pregnolato, 2017) absolutely. Unfortunately for the organisations,
millennials employees who have acquired higher levels of education and are
technological capable, believe that they must be earning a greater income (Johnson
& Ng, 2016). This can be considered as “generational stereotyping” and focussing on
work values that can lead to dissatisfaction in the job, low self-esteem, and increased
staff turnover. And these negatives perceptions and generational stereotypes were
created by a lack of understanding of millennial generations (Rosa & Hastings, 2018).
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Compared to other generations, millennials have been revealed to be lazy because
they have various other motivators. However, millennial employees are considered
high achievers because of indistinct balances between work and home (Tan, 2019).
Other shared stereotypes associated with millennials can be considered as being
casual, needy, entitled, and disloyal when comparing to older generations.
2.2.2. Self-Managing Career
Self-managing career, this is what deals with establishing career goals, making and
implementing plans that would help the millennials with career success. It is important
for the millennials that organisational leaders have investigated ways which would
provide career self-management for their employees (O’Shea, 2014). Leaders need
to have implemented, positions that are challenging, and developing tasks that involve
knowledge and social aspects in the earlier part of millennials careers. To provide the
millennials an increase in their job satisfaction in the work they complete it is of the
importance for the managers to have the work description and plan for the millennial
worlers and positions, and where millennials who do not believe in managing their
careers themselves will appreciate more autonomy and feel comfortable with that
approach (O’Shea, 2014).
Millennials employees have characteristics and traits that will remail over the time, and
when hiring , managers must focus on them to recruit, retain and engage. Engaging
or to grow the engagement of millennials is important for the managers to recognise
their achievements, supporting team building, training through transfer of knowledge
and organisational learning, therefore, making the millennials feel valued for receiving
opportunities to improve and receive more accountability (Mayfield, 2014). These
workers are influenced to feel pleased in their work when they are able to carry out
tasks successfully, in making improvements on their own personal career objectives,
and when the leaders of the organisations are able to provide them their work
conditions and resources to support them (Hakanen & Schaufeli, 2012).
2.2.3. Millennials Management
The ability for managers to successfully retain employees, requires them to investigate
and point out the intentions their millennials leave (Goud, 2014). It is important for
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managers to approach specific methods of providing feedback to employees, like
giving the millennials mentorship, rewards for innovation, and providing a healthy team
enviroment which can help in the delivery of positive results for the organization with
millennials (Gilbert, 2011).
The organisational success to retention, requires the managers to engaging constantly
with the millennials reminding them the reasons they should remain with the
organization, and having them aware of the benefits that are available for them in their
organisation instead of leaving to a competitor to provide their knowledge and skills
(Thompson & Gregory, 2012).
Millennials present a clear correlation to the degree of sustainability of an organisation
and its leader’s ability to recruit and retain them. But it has been showed that millennial
workers were the unlikely to care about work environment and using less energy on
an individual level, because millennials wanted more of an individual style focusing on
their needs and to know if their leaders or supervisors care about their need (Joshi,
2012).
The relationship between the management and the millennials is a very important tool
in maintaining Organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) because this relationship in
crucial to maintain a social bond. Management needs to use their time on trying to
understand their business and where they operate their business in, this in order to
attend the needs of diverse generations, also, to have the skill to distinct the way
millennials stay engaged is crucial for overall retention of their employees (Gilbert,
2011). The leaders of the organisations should devote to recognise the appropriate
millennials characteristics and at the same time ensuring the resources they need to
retain the millennial employees (Park & Gursoy, 2012). This plays a huge part in
innovation as it affects a lot of aspects of the organisations involving the environment
and teamwork to share information that would help the organisation’s extended
realization (Avery & Bergsteiner, 2011). Millennials have been considered to possess
a need to progress, and leaders could try to reduce the gap by realizing their
expectations (Lyons, 2015).
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Another strong retention strategy is the reverse mentoring which is way to leaders
engage with millennials can be with opposite mentoring, allowing the millennial
workers to offer training to the leaders on technology and social networking and at the
same time these leaders train the millennial workers on organisational knowledge and
skills (Mayfield, 2014). The reverse mentoring is a beneficial method because it helps
the millennials to bridge cross-generational difficulties, due to the reason they can
provide their useful skills in technology to more experienced leaders within the
organisation, the reverse mentoring could also be a tool to improve the millennials by
building their own leadership through mentorship (Murphy, 2012).The leaders of the
organisation could also use the reverse mentoring in order to compensate the most
outstanding employees within the organisation so these will remain with the in the
organization for a long-term.
2.2.4. Millennial Retention
The total number of millennials that leave the organisation or work group is called a
collective turnover. And it is very important for managers and leaders to understand
collective turnover when looking at retention strategies as it is considered a crucial tool
in helping unit cohesion. Viewing communal turnover at the organisational level assists
the organisation hierarchies to see the negative impact of this concept examining the
coordination and disruption through the bigger picture (Hancock, 2013). This concept
demonstrates the lost of human capital can disturb an organisation working process.
It is also crucial to note that it can cause problems in the organisation because of the
growth in recruitment and selection expenses and the loss of millennial employees
(Hausknecht & Trevor, 2011).
2.3. The Impact of Intrinsic Motivation on Employee Retention.
According to Mullins & Christy (2016:250), Motivation is the groundwork of all
organisational activity, and it is what influences the relationship between the
organisation and its members. The study of motivation is essentially the question
behind the reason why individuals do what they do and what leads them to choose a
certain course of action over another (Mullins & Christy, 2016). The motivational theory
provides the underlying definition that: motivation is an individual phenomenon
whereby all motivation theories allow for this uniqueness, motivation is considered
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intentional and assumed to be under the control of the worker, motivation is
multifaceted, the purpose of motivational theories is to predict behaviour and
understand the forces that influences an individual’s choice of action (Mullins &
Christy, 2016). Motivation is a necessary but not sole contributor to job performance.
Motivation along with ability, skill, knowledge of the task, feelings, emotions,
facilitating, and inhibiting conditions are what determine an individual’s job
performance (Mullins & Christy, 2016).
Motivation is a compound subject which influenced by various variables (Mullins &
Christy, 2016, p251). At the work environment the theories of motivation try to
understand amongst others, the needs and expectations that people have and how
these expectations influence their behaviour and performance, Farrell (2009)
mentions 12 human needs considered significant: family, health, career, financial
needs, education, home, social life, religious, community, leisure, environment safety’
and mobility (Farrell, 2009). With these needs, work and private life in the new
millennium will continue to revolve around them. Mullins and Christy (2016) explain
that there is broader intrinsic motivation whereby people have worries that can be
related to work and life balance, flexible work requirements, career development, and
personal growth, and millennials also have a feeling of identification towards the
standards of the organization (Farrell, 2009). People are more grounded in their
identity and that the work they do inevitably shapes their identity. He questions how
much we as people put of ourselves in our jobs. As such, he points out that the era of
having jobs has moved from simply doing it to put bread on the table and now people
are absorbed by their work-life and as a result expect the jobs, they must help them
discover and develop themselves (Waller, 2010). High performing organisations
creates the conditions that enable their workers to perform good by creating systems
that reinforce attachment/ affiliation and exploration/assertion (De Vries, 2001). Critical
employee needs that should be covered if the organisation is to develop a passion for
work and have the workers performing at their best (Blanchard, 2011). These needs
are: meaningful work- because people need to know that their work is worthwhile at
the individual and organisational level, collaboration- because work is better done in a
co-operative and encouraging culture, fairness- because people expect to be treated
with decency and respect, autonomy-because want to feel that they have some degree
of control over the micro-tasks that they have to perform, recognition-because people
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need to feel important and reminded that their work contributes to the organisation’s
broader goals, growth- the opportunities to learn and develop new skillsets and
competencies within their chosen career (Blanchard, 2011).
2.3.1 Motivation Theories
Herzberg theorised that factors that influence the outcome of a job either cause
satisfaction or dissatisfaction (Barbosa, 2021). Herzberg’s study examined worker’s
motivation, which led to the development of the motivation hygiene that is referred to
the two-factor theory (Barbosa, 2021). A set of these factors when absent cause
dissatisfaction, are extrinsic and relate to the job itself. The other set of factors are
those also known as motivators or growth factors, they affect feelings satisfaction or
no satisfaction. Kurt (2021) The opposite of dissatisfaction is no dissatisfaction, not
dissatisfaction within his theory. With the focus on the motivators or growth factors
they comprise of sense of achievement, recognition, responsibility, nature of the work,
personal growth, and advancement (Kurt, 2021).
2.3.2. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
Maslow (1978) proposes that the human needs are arranged in levels in a hierarchy
of importance, implying that the lower the needs in the hierarchy the more important
they are. This is based on the understanding that humans will want more out of like
and what they want depends on what they have already (Maslow, 1978). Physiological
needs include the satisfaction of hunger, oxygen, sleep, sensory pleasures as well as
activity; the physiological needs are needs that are responsible for sustaining life.
Safety needs are the need to feel safe and secure, freedom from pain, and protection
from natural elements that are a physical threat (Maslow, 1978). Love needs also
referred to as social needs include the need for love and a sense of belonging. Esteem
needs are needs that largely feed the ego, these are self-respect, the need to be
recognised and the desire for confidence, strength as well as reputation, status,
prestige, and achievement. Self-actualisation needs according to Maslow is the
highest level of achievement that the human desires, it is the level where people feel
the satisfaction of living purposefully (Maslow, 1978). After a need has been fulfilled it
doesn’t serve anymore as a motivator and then the individual must move to higher
needs. Above the provision of all these needs Maslow points out that a false
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impression may be given that one needs must be fully satisfied before a subsequent
need arises (Maslow, 1978). The relative importance of these changes as the
individual’s psychological development changes. By this he argues that satisfaction is
not a binary outcome of whether an individual is satisfied or not, but rather satisfaction
works on a scale where there are varying degrees of satisfaction. Mullins and Christy
(2016:259) apply these needs into the context of the organisation by noting that people
satisfy their needs do not satisfy their needs through the work situation but through
other areas of their life (Mullins and Christy, 2016). For organisations to have a better
understanding of the employees, managers need to understand the people’s private
and social lives not just their work behaviour. The individual variances explains that
people will have different values based on the same needs. Certain rewards can be
more satisfying than the other (Mullins and Christy, 2016).
2.3.3. Alderfer’s Modified Need Hierarchy Model
This model has the objective to alter Maslow’s model from five levels down to three .
Namely, Existence needs: these are concerned with sustaining life and include
physiological and safety needs of a material nature (Alderfer, 1972). Relatedness
needs are about how individuals navigate and relate with others in the social spaces
and the sense of belonging and affiliation that humans need. Growth needs are about
how individuals upskill themselves, make themselves beneficial to their societies and
satisfy their desire to achieve at their highest level of practical conceptualization
(Alderfer, 1972). Alderfer suggests that humans progress through these needs as the
more basic ones get satisfied. He however presents the needs as a continuum instead
of a hierarchy. As they are on a continuum, Alderfer’s model suggests that lower-level
needs do not have to be fully satisfied before moving on to higher level needs (Alderfer,
1972).
Nohria’s four-drives model of motivation has similarity to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
(Nohria, 2008:78). It is based on a survey of fortune 500 and other companies which
a model was formulated to increase work motivation. From the research motivation is
based on four basic innate drives: The drive to acquire, the drive to bond, the drive to
comprehend, and the drive to defend. For every of these drivers there is an
organisational mechanism that the manager can use to best meet these deep drives
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that exist in every employee (Nohria, 2008). In a practical application to an
organisation Reward satisfies the drive to acquire, a collaborative and co-operative
nature satisfies the drive to bond, meaningful and fulfilling jobs satisfy the drive to
comprehend, transparency in managers satisfy the right to defend. The use of all four
mechanisms simultaneously can lead to an increase in motivation (Nohria, 2008).
2.3.4. McClelland’s Achievement Motivation Theory
McClelland’s work originates from his investigations into the link between hunger and
the extent to which imagery of food dominated the thought processes (Kurt, 2021).
From the research, four arousal-based and socially developed motives have been
identified: the achievement motive, the power motive, the affiliative motive, the
avoidance motive (Kurt, 2021). The intensity of these motives varies between
individuals and has a tendency of varying across occupations. McClelland used a
series of projective tests whereby pictures are used on a subject and the subject must
describe what is happening and describe the actions they think have transpired from
the people in the picture. These descriptions responses come as a basis for analysing
the strength of an individual’s motives. From the research McClelland has identified
characteristics of people with a strong achievement need these characteristics are:
Moderate task difficulty and goals as an achievement incentive, Personal responsibility
for performance, need for clear and unambiguous feedback on how well they are
performing and more innovative.
2.3.5. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory Motivation
Vroom proposed an expectancy theory specific to work motivation, basing his model
on three variables namely: ‘valence, instrumentality, and expectancy’ (Sengupta
2021). Valence refers to the feelings about a specific outcome. This is the appeal or
attractiveness that an outcome possesses. Instrumentality is where the valences of
outcomes are derived, it leads to first-level outcomes and second-level outcomes
whereby first-level outcomes are performance related (Sengupta 2021). This is
furthered by the explanation that some people may seek to perform at their best
without considering the expected outcomes of their actions. Second-level outcomes
are need related as people’s outcomes of a job depend on how well they perform and
not how much effort they put in (Sengupta 2021). Expectancy refers to when the
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millennials choose between alternative behaviours that have varying outcomes, their
choice then is affected by their preference of a certain outcome and the probability of
that outcome being achieved (Sengupta 2021).To build motivation and commitment in
millennials needs a proper setup of six dimensions namely: Quality of leadership,
Empowerment, teamwork, ethics and trust, organisational commitment, professional
growth, and career advancement (Sengupta 2021).
Phillips (2003:213) states that millennials have a need to have a leader who is
respectful and inspirational. They need to feel involved in work decisions and be
allowed some space to exercise their agency on the job and be part of a team which
lends support and creates a sense of mutualism. They want to be attached to the
organisation, the team and other employees. They need to feel that the organisation
contributes to their personal and career growth whereby they can have an opportunity
to grow and develop varying competencies. This means that the organisation has to
provide leadership mentoring, create team-building exercise implement ethics conduct
and hone a culture of treating people honestly and fairly while offering training and
development programs to improve skills. Phillips (2003:213) believes that millennial
employees will grow motivated when they find it in themselves perform at their best
when working for the company as they will have the psychological safety of knowing
that the organisation and its leadership have a concern for them as millennials.
2.4. Non-Financial Reward Objective on Employee Retention
It has been found that employees also expect various non-financial rewards for
example ‘job recognition, decision making, and appreciation from the organization’.
(Tippet, 2009) regarded non-financial rewards as a helpful tool to develop employee’s
job satisfaction. His research has implications for both academicians and employers
with an interest in considering and knowing how non-financial rewards can impact the
satisfaction level of employees within organization. Scholars such as (Daniel, 2009)
showed their fears about financial rewards. Polemics of financial rewards pointed
towards the negative effect of financial rewards like decrease in intrinsic motivation as
it can cause short-term thinking and more frauds added that the importance of financial
and non-financial rewards are substantial as there are synergy in working settings in
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the industry rewards do not engage the purpose (Daniel, 2009). The early findings
about the significance of rewards are consistent. (Drucker Peter, 1954) suggests that
in business there is an outside need of reward for pride and prestige. He also uplifts
the statement by adding that financial benefits do not represent the pilar sources of
optimistic motivation even if dissatisfaction with the same inhibits performance
conversely, non-financial incentives will not compensate for unpleasure with financial
rewards. Besides that, implementation of non-financial rewards has larger obstacles.
(Armstrong, 2010) states that ‘quick-fix’ initiatives are not a matter of announcing to
prospects, but it appears to be a challenge for organizations to develop effective
methodologies to measure the cost of non-financial rewards.
(Guillot, 2014) states that millennial employees prefer communication such as
mentoring, training, and to meet their long-term goals in terms of performance goals.
Managers should have appropriate training able to link with millennial employees and
help them to deal with problems of the work environment (Guillot, 2014).
2.5. Financial Rewards Objective on Improve Employee Retention
Employee turnover refers to the number of employees that work and leave the
employing organisation (Hom, et al. 2018). Employee turnover can be voluntary or
involuntary. When it is voluntary it is when employees by their own volition terminate
their employment ties. The voluntary distinction of the process depends on whom
amongst the parties to the employment initiated the process for the employee to leave.
When initiated by the employer it is considered involuntary, and when initiated by the
employee it is called voluntary (Hom, et al. 2018). Retention is about the company’s
ability to keeping its employees to be part of the organisation for longer and is
expressed as a percentage. The higher the percentage the better the retention rate
(Indeed 2022). Employers use financial rewards and incentives to create satisfaction
amongst their employees and retain them (Indeed, 2020). These financial incentives
and rewards can include cash, branded items, catered lunch, paid time off, charitable
giving, subsidized healthcare, event tickets, snacks and coffee and gift cards.
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Weaver (1988) suggests that money is a strong motivator where employees derive no
pleasure in the work itself. He suggests that in an instance such as this, money is the
main if not only motivator and this is true for many hourly-paid employees in different
industries (Weaver, 1988). This is because the work does not change and as a result,
employees have little attachment to a company and there is no difference between
companies across the industry. Weaver proposes a ‘Theory M’ program with the
intention of motivating employees with cash rewards for their above-average
performance. Different generations will differ in motivations, whereby while a certain
element such as money is the biggest motivation for baby boomers, it may not be the
first motivation element for millennials and Generation X.
To most working age people, money is an important motivator but to what extent and
how important it is will depend on personal issues and other factors that the people
derive from work. People acknowledge that money is important as a financial reward
in the workplace alongside other motivational factors which are intrinsic such as
recognition and the feeling of being valued. Chamorro-Premuzic and Fagan (2014)
point out, money as a motivational tool should be used carefully as it may at certain
times have negative effects of demotivating employees whereby it gives the
assumption that employees are just looked at mechanistically as people who only care
about money in their jobs.
Phillips (1945) points out that employees have the need to be recognised for a job well
done. Rewards are a form of validating an employee’s performance and responding
to this need to be rewarded. Through bonuses and monetary benefits directly linked
to an employee’s job performance, the employee redirects themselves towards
continuous improvement (Phillips, 1945). A job offer is also a form of a monetary
benefit as it means that the employee who is more hardworking and showing
commitment to the business gets offered a job different to what they currently do
accompanied by an increase in remuneration (Phillips, 1945). Some benefits are
monetary induced but not directly given to the employee such as being given a
company car with exclusive use. With the promotional job offer, it is made in a way
that creates commitment and the is directly linked to the employee’s work
performance. This form of reward will satisfy the employee considered hardworking
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and serve as a motivational source for other employees who wish to attain the same
(Phillips, 1945).
Phillips (2003) argues that when administering these rewards, the reward system must
have the following attributes. Rewards must be visible to all members with standards
that were clearly set, observable and achievable by the employees. The method of
analysing performance must be objective and replicable across the employees. The
reward should be meaningful to the recipient. The rewards should be specific on
whether they are timeframe based or goal based. The goals set for the rewards to be
earned need to be realistic. Rewards should be appropriate to suit the level of
accomplishment (Phillips, 2003).
Simmons (2016) states that amongst employees terminate their working relationship
with their employers, they do so because they believe that the company does not give
them benefits and financial incentives, they consider enough for the work that they put
in (Simmons, 2016). This makes employees 80% more likely to stay therefore it is
evident that financial reward such as this improves employee retention (Simmons,
2016). This has been observed in research by scholars such as Manchester (2012),
where a study of employees was conducted when they started to work for an
organization after management had created a fee re-imbursement program
(Manchester, 2012). Scholars observed the rate of retention for before and after the
implementation of the tuition re-imbursement program and made comparisons.
Results have provided data in which turnover rates came out lower for workers hired
after the program as compared to that of workers that were hire before (Manchester,
2012).
According to Herzberg’s theory of motivation, “extrinsic motivation relates to the
tangible rewards such as the work environment, promotions, security, cash
components, benefits, and contract of service” (Mullins, 2005). Such tangible rewards
are often determined at the organisation level by high-ranking executive managers
(Mullins, 2005). These are sometimes referred to as hygiene factors of motivation.
These, according to Herzberg’s motivation theory (Kurt, 2021) are concerned with the
job context and are external to the job itself. Mullins (2005) has provided a threefold
classification of motivations in the world of work (Mullins, 2005). This includes are
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economic rewards, Intrinsic satisfaction, and social relationships. With economic
rewards, these are rewards that are of financial nature or can be attributed a financial
value such as pay, fringe benefits, pension rights, material goods and security (Mullins,
2005). A person’s motivation is a combination from the three classifications, whereby
a person can decide to forgo certain benefits of one of the three classifications to
derive for example economic benefits (Mullins, 2005). This is seen by how people will
take jobs in an industry where the jobs are uninspiring and more, have less human
interaction but pay more, will have people taking those jobs because of the pay levels
that these jobs offer. The theory has a strong effect on the rewards and remunerations
that companies offer to their employees whereby these companies select what is
applicable and most relevant to the nature of their job and apply it as they try to
motivate their employees. There is a positive correlation between the motivation that
individuals have at their companies of employment and their retention rates. When
employees are motivated to work when at a specific company, they will stay long with
that company (Mullins, 2005).
Critics of Herzberg’s theory of motivation claim that the theory with regards to extrinsic
motivation is only true with educated professionals in the labour force and the methods
of using motivation to increase employee performance and consequently retain them
has limited applicability when dealing with blue collar work or work considered
unskilled work which is uninteresting, repetitive, monotonous, and limited in scope.
Florentine, 2022 states that for employers to retain their top talent they should be
constantly evaluating the job market and be competitive with their compensation
packages (Florentine, 2022). This is based on the premise that they should offer their
top talent employees increases before they ask for it. Widescale remote work means
that employers from the entire world now have a reach on potential employees
everywhere in the world, particularly the IT and technology-based sectors where there
is a strong trend of millennials, Gen x and Gen Z getting onboard. This can be done
by regular review of workers’ pay to ensure that it is fair and satisfactory for the work
the employee does. Florentine (2022) further makes the point that while being
competitive with pay and financial benefits, employers should not neglect the other
non-financial benefits that would please the employees and retain them.
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2.6. Conclusion
Within the review, it was concluded is a strong factor with that provides a positive
correlation with solid organizational vows. It is evident that non-financial compensation
or extrinsic benefits are only able to go so far when giving motivation to millennial
employees because above that they need an organization that can be firm in offering
other types of benefits. It can be concluded that millennials are more willing to develop
and grow within an organization that shows value and recognition.
Chapter Three: Research Methodology
3.1 Introduction
This chapter covers the research methodology that will be used, which is supported
by the methodological approach and research design covering the reasoning behind
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the retention of millennial workers, also consisting in a review of secondary sources of
data collection. This chapter is also focused on the population and sampling in
deciding the convenient ways of data collection methods, the validity and reliability
ensuring quality elements and questionnaires have been properly compiled, and the
ethical considerations that have been employed in the research.
3.2 Methodological Approach and Research Design
The report followed a qualitative methodology, the study topic ‘Retention strategies for
millennials’ is focused on methods and the reasons for the decisions made by
organizations in an attempt to retain millennial workers (Streefkerk, 2022). It has
demonstrated in theory because of the need to understand in-depth the thoughts,
concepts and insights allowing the qualitative approach the best suitable for this study
(Streefkerk, 2022).
The study’s research design conducted did consist of a secondary data analysis which
reviewed previous literature, questionnaires will be utilised in the data collection as a
source of primary information. These methods facilitate the capturing of the data to
different points, being more appropriate for qualitative research needs (BRM, n.d).
3.3 Population and Sampling
The study has followed the non-probability method, and the convenience and sampling
technique. That allowed the report to collect data from samples/ questionnaires,
depending on the organizations that agreed to participate in filling out the
questionnaires for the research team (BRM, n.d).
3.4 Data Collection Method
A few organizations were contacted to request for the companies input on the topic of
retention strategies for millennials. The questionnaires were given to millennials
employees in the organizations. Once the millennial employees were being handed
the questionnaires, only employees that indicated the features of education level and
age were going to get their questionnaire answers taken to evaluation.
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3.5 Data Analysis Method
The study focus has a solid foundation in the HR domain, the data collected from the
questionnaire answers were grouped in accordance with the similarity guidelines from
Dessler (2020) HRM and Erasmus et al (2017). The data was analysed in graphs and
table forms and these through the Microsoft Word Charts.
3.6 Validity and reliability
Ensuring that these elements were covered, the research questionnaires were
carefully reviewed and put in a manner that makes the research objectives and
purpose of the study clear to understand. In terms of reliability, the study assessed
how they were created in order to serve as a future reference applicable to different
organizations in variable domains (Unite for Sight, 2021). Trustworthiness was
ensured by the thoughtful selection of the millennials workers who participated in the
study, including managers who can change work designs and employees that are
skilled, with a minimum NQF level 5 and below the age of 41.
3.7 Ethical considerations
“The study employed different principles that ensured that the correct behaviour was
followed through the study. Some considerations have been looked over in the study”,
were:“
•
Considering all the moral implications the study may have and operate the
same in a way that is ethically sound.
•
Honoring the promises made to the member of the study’s activity with honesty
and responsibility.
•
Being compliant to the data protection legal requirements, keeping the privacy
of all confidential data gathered from the millennials.
•
Providing the right to privacy of all millennials when they request the same.
•
Honesty in data collection always and ensuing the objectives of the research
•
Obtaining all millennials consent to use their data and information with
openness and honesty.
“
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3.8 Conclusion
This research report has used a qualitative research method as it analysed the
employee retention strategies for millennials by using secondary data and it also made
use of questionnaires as a primary method of data collection. The research report
made use of convenience sampling because the questionnaires were dependent on
the organisations input on employee retention strategies. The focus of the data
collection method was to use questionnaires in which potential organisations can
provide information to make the research report a success. Thus, with the use of
questionnaires the data will be collected and analysed. The research methodology
structure of this report has also ensured to take all validity, reliability into consideration
and it has laid out the ethical considerations that will be considered for this study.
Chapter Four: Data Analysis and Findings: Retention Strategies for Millennials
4.1 Introduction
In this chapter we will be analysing the data collected from the organisation that have
been studied . Questionnaires were handed out to millennials from a company which
then were answered and handed back, from the responses that have been given back
by the millennials this has allowed us as researchers to compare the results and study
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the behaviour and preferences of the millennials, what they expect from their
employers in terms or career development and personal growth, and what are their
beliefs and motivation in the daily basis. This chapter also will be including the
graphical representation of the data analysed from the responses of the
questionnaires to better visualisation of the data presented.
This is qualitative research where the results will be used to analyse the retention for
millennials in the new workforce. The below presents the questionnaire that was used
and handed out to the company to collect the data for primary use:
4.2. Graphical Display of Data
Sample size: 12 participants
Section A: Demographics
-
These are the findings that were concluded prior to the questionnaires sent to
a group of millennials from Xfour organisation. The findings include the
questions and the results in a number of people who have responded.
1. Gender
Male
Female
other
5
7
2. Age group
25-30
30-35
35-40
5
5
2
3. Highest Qualification
Primary
Secondary
Diploma
Degree
Post-graduate
2
2
5
3
Section B
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1. What Circumstances will make you stay longer in the organization
Healthy Work environment
Financial Rewards
Job Promotion
Opportunity for training and development
1
2
2
1
1
3
1
3
4
3
4
3
2
3
1
5
8
7
3
6
2. How do you rate being rewarded for hard work?
1
2
3
2
Financial rewards
4
5
5
5
3. Which Job Perks do you feel as most important to you as a millennial?
1
2
1
1
1
3
1
2
2
Healthy work environment
Skills Development
Financial rewards
3
2
3
2
4
4
4
4
5
6
3
6
4. How do these factors contribute to your job dissatisfaction?
Work-related stress and anxiety
Poor employer-employee relationship
3
3
3
4
4
4
5
4
5. How important is your relationship with your employer?
1
2
Employer-employee relationship importance
3
4
4
3
5
5
6. What do you look for when it comes to development programs?
Clear directions provided during training
There is career development after receiving trainings
Training provided improves employees’ performance
Training is relevant to my job
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1 2
1 1
1
1
1 2
3
2
1
2
4
3
4
5
2
5
5
6
6
5
4.3. Visualised Representation of Data
Section A: Participant Demographical Information
AGE
17%
25-30
41%
30-35
42%
35-40
Figure 4.1. The chart represents the percentage difference of
the ages between the millennials in the company.
Gender
Female
58%
Male
42%
Male
Female
other
Figure 4.2. The chart represents the gender types between the
millennials in the organisation.
Highest Qualification
Secondary
17%
Post-graduate
25%
Diploma
17%
Degree
41%
Primary
Secondary
Diploma
Degree
Post-graduate
Figure 4.3. Indicates the difference in the highest qualifications
the millennials have reached.
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Section B
Number of participants
1. What Circumstances will make you stay longer in
the organization
10
8
6
4
2
0
Healthy Work
environment
Financial Rewards
1
Scale
2
Job Promotion
3
4
Opportunity for
training and
development
5
Figure 4.4. Demonstrates the respondents’ answers towards what would make them
stay longer in the organisation. This assists the research because it provides primary
data relating to motivation for retention strategies for millennials in the organisation
2. How do you rate being rewarded for hard work?
6
Participants
5
4
3
2
1
0
Financial rewards
Scale
1
2
3
4
5
Figure 4.5. The bar graph represents how millennials prefer to be rewarded
for hard work. This is relevant to the study because it allows the researcher
to quantify how many participants rate financial rewards.
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Participants
3. Which Job Perks do you feel as most important to
you as a millennial
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Healthy work environment
Scale
Skills Development
1
2
3
4
Financial rewards
5
Figure 4.6. The bar chart represents the job perks which are the most important for
the millennials. This helps the research to conclude which top job perks millennials
believe in, that will benefit them within the organisation.
4. How do these factors contribute to your job
dissatisfaction?
Participants
5
4
3
2
1
0
Work-related stress and anxiety
Scale
1
Poor employer-employee relationship
2
3
4
5
Figure 4.7. The graph represents the factors which contribute to the
millennials job dissatisfaction. it Helps the research to indicate the most
crucial factors that bring dissatisfaction in the current job of the millennials.
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5. How important is your relationship with your employer
6
Participants
5
4
3
2
1
0
Employer-employee relationship importance
Scale
1
2
3
4
5
Figure 4.8. the bar graph demonstrates the importance of the relationship between the
employer and the millennials. It helps the research with assessing how the importance
of the relationship between the employer and the employee is towards the millennials.
Participants
6. What do you look for when it comes to development
programs
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Clear directions provided
during training
There is career
development after
receiving trainings
Scale
1
2
Training provided
improves employees’
performance
3
4
Training is relevant to my
job
5
Figure 4.9. The chart represents the development programs that millennials are
looking for when it comes to their skills development. Thus, it helps the researcher
when it comes to assessing the main aspects that the millennials are looking for in
skills development.
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4.4. Data Analysis/Discussion
The Questionnaire, the tool which we have used to collect data has two sections for
the respondents, Section A & B. Section A focuses on basic demographical data of
the participant, while section B focuses on the respondents’ responses with regards
to millennial retention. The sample size was made of 12 respondents and the method
of answering the question. The Scoring of the respondents’ answers are made as
follows: Scale numbers (1-5) X number of respondents who selected that specific
scale added up.
With regards to the circumstances that will retain employees a healthy work
environment scored the highest with a total score of 55, followed by “Financial
rewards” at 52, while “Opportunity for training and development scored the lowest with
35. This results’ interpretation suggests that millennial employees look for
circumstances or factors that have an immediate benefit to them in the workplace. This
is supported by how “opportunity for training and development” which is a long-term
oriented benefit scored the lowest when looking at the work benefits and retention
factors amongst the millennial respondents. With regards to the question about what
the employees seek from their training and development programs “Training, provided
it improves employee’s performance” scored the highest of the possible answers.” This
further points to the consistently highlighted statement in the research theory that
millennial employees want something that they can associate certain outcome with,
this means that they want to attend training and development programs that are
immediately useful to the job that they do.
4.5 Conclusion
Understanding the visualized representation of data, there are more women than men
between the 12 participants and mostly having a degree forming 41%, 25% having a
post-graduate and 17% have secondary and diploma certificate, in a sense that most
of the millennials are qualified for their role in the business. We can see that as there
are more participants in the ages between 25-35 years old. The main purpose of this
section is to condense the results and support the initial hypothesis. With the data
collected we get to understand that most of the participants are staying in the
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organization due to the healthy work environment, with financial reward being the
second most selected choice.
In addition, most of the participants praise a healthy work environment and financial
rewards as being the essential perks for millennials to perform these days. Candidates
feel as work-related anxiety and poor employee-employer relationship contribute to
job dissatisfaction as they feel like employee-employer relationship is important for the
growth of the organization.
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Chapter Five: Summary of Findings and Conclusions
5.1. Introduction
Millennial employee retention is a problem that is growing in the world, with extensive
implications especially for the success of an organization. The threat is posed by the
need to succeed, skills development and beliefs that the millennials have. The purpose
3of this study was to evaluate what these millennial employees need, when it comes
to retention strategies using their own evaluations with what suits them best in relation
to employer and employee relationships, career development, and financial rewards.
Retention strategies are linked to distinct ways in which the employer can retain the
millennial employees and growth their loyalty with the organization; these ways include
offering millennials with training that helps them develop their skills, offering
performance bonuses, a healthy work environment, and good relationship between
the employer and the employee. Several organizations are affected by the loss of
millennial employees. Most of these organizations lose millennial workers because
they do not put in place retention strategies that would give them guidance and steps
in different retention methods to retain millennials, they also provide very little
opportunity for their employees which in turn does not allow the to grow either in the
organization or as an individual. This research studied millennials retention with a
focus on helping employers to understand the importance of making the millennials
stay longer in the organization. The first section provides a summary of the findings
from the objectives of the study, assessing the objectives made in the first in the
introductory chapter. The second section provides recommendations to the findings
from the objectives of the study, and lastly will draw conclusions through closing
remarks to the study.
5.2. Summary of Findings
Chapter one is introduced by identifying the background of the research, the problem
statement, which then follows to the research objectives and questions. The
background of the research discusses the work industry with focus on millennials. This
chapter also provides the problem statement which indicates the impact of
unemployment and subsequent effects of COVID-19. The first chapter also discusses
the research objectives which assess intrinsic motivation on employee retention and
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the impact of financial and non-financial rewards on employee retention. The research
questions provide questions on the contribution to the retention of millennials and how
does job enlargement retain millennials.
Chapter one also discusses the rational of the study which discusses the strategies
and incentives that organisations use to retain millennials, the limitations of existing
research and the factors involved in the retention of millennials. It also recommends
the factors that make millennials stay in their jobs and organisations which
incorporates the factors in their retention strategies. Chapter one concludes with the
report layout which summarizes and outlines the design of the research with chapter
one being the introduction to the study, chapter two defining the literature review,
chapter three on research methodology, chapter four analyzing the data collected and
chapter five summarizing the findings and conclusion.
In chapter two, from the consulted literature included in the research, it is evident that
varying motivations lead individuals to act in a certain way. The existence of
motivations amongst distinguished demographics helps academics draw conclusions
based on characteristics exhibited by individuals sharing similar characteristics. These
characteristics for the research are age which is the millennial age group, and job
class, which is white collar jobs. The differences in the theories that explain motivation
all bring forth the conclusion that no matter the source of the individuals’ motivation, it
all in the end drives them to act on it. While Maslow’s hierarchy of motivation describes
that the motivation of humans stems from their need to survive, and all the other needs
systematically build up from that. Herzberg’s two factor theory explains that motivation
of individuals is far more complex than that because of the understanding that people
exist in around circumstances that constantly change and with factors that may
continuously contribute either positively to a situation or negatively, which drives the
individual to act. The theories combined create a meaningful base for the research to
understand what long-term and contemporary circumstances that exist in the
workplace and affect the traditional way of work can be adjusted to retain millennials
in the workplace. This from the literature review helps us understand the nature of
modern work, the nature of millennials in the workplace and the global trends and
changes that affect work. The focus on millennials helps with understanding the
methods that can be used by organisations to retain them as they are the next biggest
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age group in the labour force. The literature review summarily explains existing work
that discusses, the nature of motivation, Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, the
technological trends affecting work and the social dynamics affecting work. The
motivation explains a cause-effect relationship whereby millennials work productively
because they are motivated to by the organisation that they work for. The technological
aspect explains how the growing reliability of the internet, computer aided learning
tools and hybrid work environments affect the conditions and nature in which
millennials work in. The social aspects explained how millennials are committed in
creating a healthy work-life balance and want organisations to be socially responsible
in their actions.
In chapter three, the qualitative research seeks to understand the factors that create
an appealing situation to millennial employees and would result in them making the
decision to stay longer in the organisation. This decision to stay longer will, from the
organisation’s point of view is employee retention. This chapter focused on the
population of Millennials in the workplace and the sample of respondents which will
provide us with the data needed to make inferences and draw concrete conclusions.
These conclusions can then translate into meaningful information which will aidmanagers who intend to retain millennials in their organisations. The approach of the
study was to focus on ways of reasoning behind the decisions of millennials to stay in
an organisation. The research consists of primary data which is collected from
millennials employees who are in employment and secondary data. The secondary
data in the research focuses on motivations, global labour forces and the change in
communication methods which change the way work is done in businesses. Regarding
the sampling and data collection methods, a non-probability method of choosing
respondents will be used, this is because the basis of the research makes a distinction
in the responses that will be utilised in the collection of data, which is professionals
who serve in the service industry. This collection of the data will be using a
questionnaire that where respondents will answer questions using Likert scales. With
a data analysis, firstly, the scales and methods of responses will be explained, then
followed by the presentation of the aggregated responses, then the analysis of the
data. Through the analysis of the data, inferences and conclusions will be made and
recommendations regarding effective strategies to retain millennial employees will be
made. The questionnaires are designed in a way that the data collected will produce
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meaningful results and does not bring ethical questions into the nature of the questions
asked. The ethical consideration which is maintained in the questionnaire is such that,
the nature of the questions keeps the respondent anonymous and they do not request
information that would make respondents divulge trade secrets, which may
compromise their competitiveness in their industry of operation. The other ethical
dimensions which were considered to make the questionnaire ethically compliant was:
the
legality
of
disclosing
personal
information,
openness,
and
honesty.
Standardization of the questionnaire to make responses comparable and respondent’s
consent to use the information they have provided through the questionnaire.
5.3. Retention Strategies for Millennials
Based on the chapter one (Introduction), there were questions and objectives that
were expressed for the study:
a) To assess the impact of intrinsic motivation on employee retention.
b) To assess the impact of financial rewards on employee retention.
c) To assess the impact of non-financial compensation on employee retention.
5.3.1. The Impact of Intrinsic Motivation on Employee Retention
The main findings of this section concluded that motivation process has different
phases and is an individual phenomenon that is considered as intentional and
assumed to be under the control of the worker which influences the relationship
between the organisation and it members. This objective was met successfully in the
chapter two, as the report showed that the decisions usually done by the organizations
in adopting retentions strategies for millennials to retain them, are made upon different
motivation factors provided to the millennials. Motivation is a necessary contributor to
job performance and can be made easier with the improvement of ability, skills,
knowledge of the tasks, feelings, and facilitating and inhibiting work conditions.
Millennials have different human needs which influence their behaviour and
performance, that create concerns such as work-life balance, flexible working
requirements, career advancement and personal development and growth. High
performance organisations should create the conditions to enable their workers to
perform good by creating systems that reinforce attachment and exploration,
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developing a passion for work and have the workers performing at their best. The
intrinsic motivation on employee retention is an important element to this study
because it aims to answer a research objective through a broader lens. The first
objective was successfully met in the literature review chapter (Chapter two). This
chapter analysed the motivation strategies by discussing how organizations can retain
the millennials workers through different intrinsic motivation retention strategies.
5.3.2. The Impact of Financial Rewards on Employee Retention
In answering the impact of financial rewards on the employee from a secondary data
perspective it was found that monetary value is indeed a strong motivator in various
industries in the workplace. This is because monetary value is an essential element in
human survival. Most employees end up leaving the current job post because they
were offered a battery cash component at another post. Financial rewards are also a
form of motivating employees for the work that they do as a form of value and
recognition. Promotions in the workplace is also a form of financial rewards because
it means that it will improve an employee’s performance. This form of reward will
satisfy the employee considered hardworking and serve as a motivational source for
other employees who wish to attain the same. From a primary perspective, it was also
noted that most respondents are motivated by financial rewards. This showed the
research that the impact of financial rewards on employee retention should be taken
into consideration by employers as it is one of the biggest reasons that employees
leave the employers with a high turnover rate. Thus, financial rewards should be taken
into consideration as a retention strategy for millennial. The second objective was
successfully met throughout the research, which is a combination of chapter two and
four, that analysed the financial rewards from a secondary perspective based on prior
research from scholars and primary research from questionnaires.
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5.3.3. The Impact of Non-Financial Compensation on Employee Retention
In this section it was concluded that besides the importance of financial rewards, the
millennial workers expect different non-financial rewards for example job recognition,
decision making and appreciation from the organization. These non-financial are a
beneficial tool to develop employees job satisfaction. This section of the research was
necessary because it supported the last objective relating to the impact of nonfinancial rewards on millennial employees’ retention. It was found that financial
rewards (intrinsic motivation) and non-financial rewards (extrinsic motivation) are
substantial as they have an interrelation providing the organization with strategies that
would help them retain the millennial workers. The objective was met successfully in
the literature review chapter, as the report displayed to move from financial
compensation on employee retention discussing intrinsic motivation to non-financial
compensation discussing the extrinsic motivation. It also showed that sometimes can
be difficult to establish a link between financial and non-financial rewards when the
millennial workers have different needs. Non-financial rewards have several
implications in the organization performance and job satisfaction.
5.4 Recommendations
a) Wellness programs
This will ensure that the millennial’s are taken care of and checked up on regularly
and that their needs are heard.
b) Clear company policies
This will set clear expectations for their work and future at the organisation.
Expectations should be communicated in the first week of employment.
Connecting newly hired employees to the team and assisting them to build
relationships and fit into the company culture.
c) Good working relationship with managers
This is an important recommendation because often millennial employees leave
the company because there is poor relationship with their manager. Leadership
skills can be trained, and companies should ensure that management skills is part
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of their training criteria in which they can offer. Mentorship to managers at all levels
can be crucial to employee retention in millennials.
5.5 Concluding Remarks
In the compilation of the responses gathered, a ‘healthy work environment’ ranks first
as the response with the most scores. This leads to the conclusion that while money
may be important in motivating some employees, a healthy working environment is
more important to millennial employees. This is supported by the theory of “Herzberg’s
2 factor theory” that non-financial rewards matter to employees. This research data
has supported the theory and further shows that a healthy work environment matters
more than the financial rewards that the employees get from their job. According to
SA Health. 2022, a healthy workplace is a place where there are mutual efforts from
the employer and employee to improve the wellbeing and mental health of the
employees. This research presents an understanding of the impact millennials have
in the new society with emphasis on the shift in technology. Many people have seen
their placements in the modern industry affected by the appearance of COVID-19 and
this brings a change in the work industry as businesses see themselves having to
enhance work even though most of them are being shut down or retrenched. The new
development in the work industry suggests the need for employee satisfaction and the
need for tackling staff morale as they are considered the pilar of the business. Our
research tackles this needs and have been trying to integrate new mechanisms to
provide better work condition and better employee-employer relationship.
From the collected data, these conclusive remarks can be made, it is apparent from
the responses that a “A healthy work environment” ranks the highest, followed by
“Financial rewards” and “recognition”. These top responses imply if managers want to
retain their millennial employee, they will need to make sure that the work culture is
conducive to the mental health, ensure that they properly pay their employees and
communicate their business’ objectives and give recognition to the progress and
efforts of their millennial employees by showing them how much their work contributes
to moving the organisation forward. Managers should also note that the precedence
of a healthy work environment being a priority amongst millennial employees means
that they are inclined to maintain a great work/life balance, thus any improvement
efforts in this regard will contribute positively to a healthy work environment. As these
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areas have ranked the highest, organisations that get them right will benefit from high
retention levels of millennials as these are their biggest concerns in their workplaces.
To conclude, participants acknowledge that there is career development after
receiving training when it comes to development programs implemented in the
business. They believe a good training program uplifts their skills and morale when
performing duties and tasks.
Page 38 of 51
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Appendix I – Questionnaire
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Appendix II – Authorization to Proceed/Company Clearance
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