The study of employee loyalty in a South African speciality chemical industry (the case of Improchem).

Abstract

Employee loyalty plays a vital role in employee retention, organisational development and improvement of human capital that results in overall growth of any organisation. The research investigated the study of employee loyalty in a speciality chemical industry, using ImproChem (Pty) Ltd with headquarters in Johannesburg as a case study. ImproChem operates in a highly competitive environment. The organisation was faced with employee loyalty issues such that skilled technical employees left the employ of the organisation and some migrated to other countries. Increased attrition of production and manufacturing staff became a growing concern. Sales team were looking for job offers with better packages and some were unhappy at other issues like leadership, communication, company culture, mentoring and coaching, performance rewards and employee engagement. A quantitative research approach was utilized for this study. The study employed a random sampling technique where a total of 395 employees were selected to participate in the online survey, out of which 156 completed the online survey. The study revealed that effective communication, organisational structure, leadership, mentoring and coaching, performance rewards and employee engagement were factors that influenced employee loyalty in Improchem. The study also accessed the extent to which the reviewed factors affected the ImproChem employees. The findings confirmed that employees desired more of open door communication policy and that more training should be organised for line managers to improve communication abilities. The study revealed that transformation and servant leadership should be maintained at ImproChem. Further, employees desired more commitment from management on mentoring and coaching. Findings also revealed that ImproChem needed to pay competitive salaries. It showed that employees were enthusiastic about the work environment, as they desired to go above and beyond to achieve organisational goals. Recommendations were offered to the management of ImproChem. Some of such recommendations were that the management should organise more training for line managers and supervisors with respect to communication. It was also recommended to the management of ImproChem to pay competitive salaries and focus should be given to employees awareness and understanding of ImproChem’s retention strategy. The study was not exhaustive enough as it was limited to ImproChem as a speciality chemical industry in South Africa. Future studies should be encouraged to explore other chemical and manufacturing industries.