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Barrio, Maria Luz (2022) An investigation into the factors affecting turnover of Generation Z employees in the Human Resources function in Ireland. Masters thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.
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Abstract
This study attempts to address the factors affecting the turnover of Generation Z employees in the HR function in Ireland. HR skills are readily transferable between organisations and industry sectors and the HR profession has the highest turnover of any job function. The challenge facing employers is to accommodate Generation Z to the workplace and to understand the factors affecting the turnover of such employees. Research to date has identified the traits of Generation Z, their expectations regarding the workplace and the difficulties of engaging with this generation. The importance of job satisfaction, engagement, wellbeing, work life balance (WLB) and learning and development (L&D) to Generation Z have been identified in the literature. The review of the literature has however revealed several gaps in the literature regarding Generation Z concerning the psychological contract, leadership style, the development of a comprehensive strategy to retain Generation Z and the Irish experience regarding the retention of Generation Z employees.
The rationale of this study is to assist organisations, managers, and employees in uncovering the reasons why Generation Z leave organisations in the early years of their employment. The researcher has adopted a qualitative approach to the investigation, which has enabled the views of Generation Z interviewees to be ascertained through semi-structured interviews so as to attempt to understand what motivates this generation.
The findings were developed using thematic analysis where four themes, together with related sub-themes, emerged in the interview process: L&D, career progression, WLB and management style. The findings suggest that job satisfaction and engagement increase the sense of attachment that the interviewees feel towards an organisation, and this serves to reduce Generation Z turnover. Overall, this investigation has confirmed the importance that Generation Z place upon L&D, career progression, WLB and wellbeing, and the pivotal role played by management in accommodating Generation Z within the organisation. Surprisingly, onboarding did not appear to be an issue of concern to the interviewees, which may be due to the prevalence of small medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ireland.
Policies should be tailored to Generation Z needs and expectations in order to increase employee engagement and job satisfaction as a powerful retention tool. It is important that all organisations meet the challenge of integrating Generation Z employees successfully into their workforce and the researcher makes five recommendations regarding L&D, onboarding, total rewards package, variation in tasks and manager support training as potential useful retention tools.
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