Staff retention and elements of a sustainable strategy: a case study of KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

Abstract

Trends of the South African workforce show that the South African public sector is struggling to retain invaluable employees. Very soon the public sector will be left understaffed and with less qualified workforce that will ultimately hinder the public sector to deliver service needed to the community. Studies have been conducted on factors that cause employees to leave the public sector but very little is known about the factors that influence public sector employees to remain in the sector. In other words, retention practices have been overlooked. This study explored the implementation of financial and non-financial strategies designed to retain employees at CoGTA in Pietermaritzburg. Therefore, the main research objective was to determine the financial and non-financial strategies used to retain employees. The study used a case study research design and qualitative research methodology. The target population was employees at the CoGTA in Pietermaritzburg. Purposive sampling was used to select eight participants. Data was analysed using thematic analysis. The results of the study indicate that money is an important motivator to employees to stay at CoGT A Money as an incentive at CoGTA is used in form of good salaries, pensions, bonuses and capped leave encashment. Money plays a crucial role in satisfying physiological, security, and social needs for employees at CoGTA. There is need for CoGTA to strike a balance between the provision of financial incentives and non-financial incentives to employees.