Managing for Retention

Abstract

Managing for retention has become an issue high on agenda in a number of organizations. Today hardening competition of the skilled and talented employees forces companies to formulate retention strategies in order to keep the employees.

The objective of the study was to explore how companies manage to retain employees despite the rapid changes in the business. More specifically it will examine the tools (HR practices) the companies have in terms of retention, and it will define the present and future challenges of turnover and retention. The theoretical framework of the study is grounded on the changing nature of careers, and the HR practices that are likely to have an influence on retention.

The chosen research method was qualitative in nature, which is argued to provide in-depth understanding and a detailed picture of the topic under scrutiny. Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted by interviewing HR specialists in banking, insurance and finance sector in Finland.

The findings suggest that the concept of boundaryless career is not true today in this sector, but might be in the future. The results also indicated that the HR practices that have an impact on employee retention are such as remuneration, leadership and career management together with training and development.