Length of Service versus Employee Retention Factors: Hotels in Cape Town, South Africa
Length of Service versus Employee Retention Factors: Hotels in Cape Town, South Africa

Summary/Abstract: Employee retention can be measured quite accurately by the actual number of years that employees have worked in an organisation. This study investigates relationships between hotel employees’ length of service and responses to individual variables explaining employee retention factors. A structured questionnaire survey of 217 hotel employees in Cape Town, South Africa was used to obtain information that were subjected to bivariate and multivariate analyses. Key results show that the employees who have worked longer in the hotel have particular characteristics: they perceive that working hours in the hotel do not infringe on their personal quality time with friends; they perceive it will be difficult for them to leave the hotel; they want to remain in the hotel for a long time; and quite interestingly, they perceive they do not receive continuous training in the hotel. Further costs of hiring and developing new employees can be reduced if loyal and talented employees are retained for longer periods through continuous career development. This study is of particular interest to the hotel sector management, as it is focussed on retaining those staff who really want to build a career in the hospitality industry.

• Details
• Contents