Factors affecting attraction and retention of academic employees at the Durban University of Technology.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Employees are said to be organisations‟ greatest asset as they form part of organisations‟ competitive advantage. Consequently, organisations seek to attract and retain the best talent to gain competitive advantage; offering them support, incentives, and making them feel that they are an essential part of the organisation. Employee retention is the most essential target for organisations. Recruiting new candidates is a very labour intensive and expensive exercise that often demands that company resources be directed towards it. However, poor staff retention poses the challenge of continually having to repeat the exercise. The hiring of qualified candidates is essential for an organisation, but their retention is more important than hiring because a huge amount is spent on the orientation and training of the new employees. This research, therefore, explored the factors affecting the attraction of academic employees and assessed the factors influencing their retention at the Durban University of Technology. In addition, the researcher set out to establish factors which employees perceived as critical in attracting and retaining the academic talent. The researcher also sought to investigate whether any significant differences existed between the views of academic staff when their responses were grouped by academic ranking. This study commenced with an exhaustive review of research literature followed by a practical survey and interviews. These surveys were conducted on all campuses of the Durban University of Technology. The study found that the university was not doing enough to attract academic talent as job offers appeared to be the dominant reason for employees opting for entering the employ of the institution. The study also found training and mentorship, flexible working hours, information, equipment and resources, job satisfaction and challenging jobs, to be the factors affecting the retention of academic personnel at the Durban University of Technology. The key recommendation to management of the institution was to develop effective employee attraction and retention strategies by improving factors such as the benefit and remuneration system, culture and working environment, and to develop a performance-management system. To achieve this senior management is to be visible at all times, changing the management style from the top-down to the bottom-up approach.