An evaluation of the remuneration preferences to retain knowledge workers in an integrated international energy and chemical company

2 DECLARATION . 3 ETHICAL CLEARANCE . 4 TURNITIN REPORT . 5 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH PROBLEM . 9 1.1 Why was the problem selected? 9 1.2 What evidence verifies the identification of the problem? 9 1.3 What is the relevance of this topic? 12 1.4 Problem statement . 15 1.5 Brief outline of the document to follow. 16 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW . 17 2.1 Total Rewards: WorldatWork . 17 2.1.1 Compensation and Benefits . 19 2.1.2 Work-life Effectiveness . 19 2.1.3 Recognition . 20 2.1.4 Performance Management . 20 2.1.5 Talent Development . 20 2.1. 6 Benefits of WorldatWork . 20 2.2 Knowledge Workers . 21 2.3 Turnover . 22 2.4 Retention . 27 2.5 Talent Management . 33 2.6 Research Objective . 34 CHAPTER 3: HYPOTHESIS . 35 3.1 Total Rewards preference for knowledge workers . 35 3.2 Retention . 36 3.3 Demographic variables . 36 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY . 38 © University of Pretoria 7 4.1 Choice of Methodology . 38 4.2 Population . 40 4.3 Unit of analysis . 41 4.4 Sampling Method and Size . 41 4.5 Measurement Instrument . 42 4.6 Data gathering process . 43 4.7 Analysis approach. 44 4.7.1 Defence of tests . 45 4.8 Limitations . 46 CHAPTER 5: RESULTS . 47 5.1 Description of the sample obtained . 47 5.1.1 Age . 47 5.1.2 Gender. 48 5.1.3 Race . 49 5.1.4 Qualifications . 50 5.1.5 Marital Status . 50 5.1. 6 Family Status . 50 5.1. 7 Job Level . 51 5.1. 8 Number of years with the organisation . 52 5.1. 9 Length of time you intend to continue working for this organisation . 53 5.1.10 Last merit rating at the organisation . 54 5.2 Results on reliability and validity of the data . 55 5.3 Data transformations . 56 5.4 Statistical results per hypothesis . 58 CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION OF RESULTS . 69 6.1 Recap of Literature review . 69 6.2 Hypothesis 1 . 72 6.3 Hypothesis 2 . 74 6.4 Hypothesis 3 . 75 6.5 Hypothesis 4 . 76 © University of Pretoria 8 6.6 Hypothesis 5 . 77 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION . 81 7.1 Principal findings . 82 7.2 Implications for management . 83 7.3 Limitations of the research . 86 7.4 Suggestions for future research . 86 REFERENCES . 87 APPENDIX . 90 APPENDIX 1: SAMPLE QUESTIONAIRE . 90 Cover Letter of Consent as per the Green Pages (2016): . 90 Test Questionnaire . 91 APPENDIX 2: TURNITIN REPORT . 98 APPENDIX 3: CONSISTENCY MATRIX . 104 © University of Pretoria 9 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH PROBLEM 1.1 Why was the problem selected? “The right total reward strategy can deliver the right amount to the right people at the right time, for the right reasons” (Smit, 2013, page 1). The context of employment is continuously changing with both demographic and economic pressures (Tatoglu, Glaister, & Demirbag, 2016). These include an increasing life expectancy, declining birth rates, the higher flexibility of human capital to relocate through globalisation and the shift towards knowledge based economies (Tatoglu et al., 2016). As globalisation continues to increase the talent available to organisations will also increase. However, the ability to attract, retain and motivate this talent will become harder due to the increased turnover costs which are comprised of loss of corporate memory, productivity and intellectual and social capital. There are different costs associated with losing talented employees (Schlechter, Thompson, & Bussin, 2014). The direct costs include the cost of a new recruite, lost time, recruiting, interviewing, onboarding and the onboarding of the new employee. Costs for losing an employee can be up to 2.5 times the annual salary paid for the job. The indirect financial costs include work disruptions, loss of knowledge, productivity, customers, mentors and even increased employee turnover (Schlechter, et al., 2014). This research will evaluate the remuneration preferences of knowledge workers within a la