Key employee retention techniques within an aviation organisation

Abstract

Arguably, the commercial airline service industry has very high standards and for these to be reached, organisations need to acquire employees with core competences. This may be reached through enhancing a culture that encourages skill development and to maintain talent in the organisation by the adoption of effective retention techniques. From the study on Mediterranean Aviation Co. Ltd (Medavia), it was identified that because of the cost cutting measures adopted by the organisation, its focus has not been on retaining employees. Unfortunately, this has caused a loss of talented employees. The main objectives of this study were to seek understanding why key employees at Medavia voluntarily resigned and to recommend possible solutions towards reducing attrition of key personnel. The adoption of the recommendations will create benefits to the organisation, explicitly a reduction of turnover intention which will lead to a reduction in cost and time lost from attrition, and the retention of the required talent for future survival. To understand the human behaviour behind this attrition, a triangulation method was applied. It was then possible to understand the whole social setting and also to enlighten areas where the management's view of employee's perception was not in concordance. The responses were then analysed thematically and common emergent themes categorised. The study indicated that the most aspired factors that affected the motivation of key employees were skill development and growth opportunities whilst a good social environment was preferred as it encouraged performance and team bonding. The findings from the study also indicated areas where the organisation was lacking and recommendations on how to overcome these hindrances emerged.