Retention of high-potential employees in a development finance company

CITATION

Letchmiah, L., & Thomas, A. (2017). Retention of high-potential employees in a development finance company. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 15

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ABSTRACT
Orientation: The loss of high-potential employees was a concern to leaders at a South African
development finance company. The research question that guided the study was: How can
high-potential employees be retained in the company?
Research purpose: The objective of the study was to identify factors that positively impact the
retention of high-potential employees in a development finance company.
Motivation for the study: The organisation that comprised the unit of study had prioritised
employee development to retain high-potential employees, thereby aiming to build a strong
talent pipeline and a sustainable knowledge base. A prevalent concern was that there were no
formal retention programmes for high-potential employees. Accordingly, organisational
leaders could benefit from understanding those retention factors that may serve to retain such
employees.
Research design, approach and method: A qualitative methodology promoted a deeper
understanding of a social problem through a case study. Eleven purposefully chosen highpotential
employees provided insights into factors they considered to be important in their
retention. A content analysis of the data resulted in clusters of themes that addressed the
research objective.
Main findings: The following factors appeared to influence the retention of high-potential
employees: leadership and organisational culture, organisational purpose, developmental
opportunities, meaningful work and collegiality.
Practical and managerial implications: Leaders in the company should consider factors that
could influence the retention of high-potential employees. Such factors should be built into
formal retention strategies based on the intrinsic needs of employees; the strengths that the
organisational culture provides could be leveraged in this regard.
Contribution: The practical value of the study was the highlighting of the factors that can be
leveraged to retain high-potential employees in a development finance company


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