Original Research

An exploration of factors influencing the retention of senior female employees in a financial services organisation

Lucy-Skye Hammond, Melinde Coetzee

Received: 21 May 2022; Accepted: 06 Aug. 2022; Published: 30 Sept. 2022

Copyright: © 2022. The Author(s). Licensee: AOSIS.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Orientation: High turnover rates have negative repercussions for organisations, such as increases in costs related to the orientation, hiring and training of new employees. Insight into the factors that contribute to employees’ retention therefore remains a critical concern for organisations.

Research purpose: The objective of this study was to gain in-depth insights into senior female employees’ views of the factors that either enable or impede their retention.

Motivation for the study: Presently, there seems to be a dearth of retention studies among women in the financial services sector.

Research approach/design and method: A qualitative approach was utilised to obtain semi-structured interview data from a purposive sample of senior female employees in a South African financial services organisation. The Atlas.tiTM Version 8 data analysis programme assisted in inductively eliciting the higher-order themes that emerged from the interviews.

Main findings: The qualitative thematic data analysis revealed rich insight into (1) senior female employees’ employment experiences in the organisation; (2) the objective and subjective factors that enable their retention and (3) the objective and subjective factors that impede their retention.

Practical/managerial implications: The findings highlighted formalised consistency in the application of human resource policies and procedures, fair, competitive compensation and benefits, training and development, managerial support, opportunities for career development, as well as work–life balance in workload and deadlines as core factors to address in a retention strategy.

Contribution/value-add: The insights gained regarding female staff members’ parameters for their retention may inform retention practices and prevent staff turnover among valuable talents.

Keywords: career values; retention enablers; retention impeders; career development needs of women; psychological work immersion; Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM); work–life balance.

Introduction

In the modern-day economic climate, retention remains one of the most significant concerns organisations are faced with (Aqil & Memon, 2019; Bussin, 2018; Mabaso et al., 2021). The concept of employee retention alludes to an organisation’s capacity to warrant that their sought-after employees remain with the organisation for sustainable profitability, competitiveness and productivity (Sepahvand & Khodashahri, 2021). Organisational retention efforts generally foster a conducive work environment that contributes to organisational growth, stability and revenue generation (Sepahvand & Khodashahri, 2021; Zala & Rajani, 2021).

The South African financial services organisation relevant to the current study has highlighted exceptionally high levels of turnover (i.e. 108.84%) and low levels of retention among especially senior female employees employed by the organisation (M. Lourens, personal communication, July 23, 2021). The negative turnover trend has resulted in an increase in costs related to the orientation, hiring and training of new employees and a decrease in the overall levels of retention in the organisation. The company management expressed a dire need for deeper insight into the factors that contribute to employee retention (M. Lourens, personal communication, July 23, 2021).

Regardless of scholarly endeavours to better understand the motivations of employees who leave organisations, researchers continue to be confounded by the principles and conditions that lead to this occurrence. This is evident in the increasing levels of research pertaining to the concepts of talent retention interventions and turnover intentions in the 21st century (Barkhuizen & Gumede, 2021). Scholars agree that talent retention strategies must be adapted frequently and continuously to ensure that they remain applicable and relevant within the context of the rapidly changing technologically driven working world (Barkhuizen & Gumede, 2021). This will also ensure that organisations are able to manage future challenges relevant to employee retention (Barkhuizen & Gumede, 2021; Coetzee et al., 2018; Petriglieri, 2018).

Studies pertaining to retention generally tend to be relevant to developed countries (Annabi & Lebovitz, 2017). These studies mostly relate to medical professionals (Naidu et al., 2020) and highly technical fields of work (Nel & Meyer, 2016); therefore, they are not always relevant within the broader South African financial services industry setting. There have been a variety of studies pertaining to female employee retention worldwide. These include studies that encompass the female population in the United States of America within the technology workforce (Annabi & Lebovitz, 2017), the field of academic medicine (Carr et al., 2017), as well as female physicians (Lin et al., 2019). In a South African context, studies pertaining to the retention of female employees comprise surgeons (Naidu et al., 2020) and technical employees (Nel & Meyer, 2016). João and Coetzee’s (2012) research on retention in the South African financial sector referred to employees in general. Presently, there seems to be a dearth of retention studies among women in the financial services sector. The present study is thus timely in its endeavour to address this gap in research.

Research objective

The objective of this study was to gain in-depth insight into senior female employees’ views of the factors that either enable or impede their retention. The following research questions were formulated in terms of the empirical study:

• Research question 1: What are senior female employees’ employment experiences in the organisation?
• Research question 2: What are the objective and subjective factors that enable the retention of senior female employees?
• Research question 3: What are the objective and subjective factors that impede the retention of senior female employees?

Literature review

Retention enablers

Table 1 summarises general research trends on enabling and impeding factors that may contribute to improved levels of retention within organisations. In the South African work context, factors such as remuneration, job characteristics, opportunities for training and development, managerial support, career progression and trajectory prospects, as well as work–life balance have been identified over the years (Döckel, 2003; João & Coetzee, 2012; Van Dyk et al., 2013).

Remuneration implies the concepts of financial rewards, basic salary as well as benefits packages (Bussin, 2018; Coetzee, 2021; Döckel, 2003). Job characteristics like autonomy and variety are well-established contributing factors of organisational commitment (João & Coetzee, 2012). Prospects for training and development are vital to business success as it is essential to ensure updated skills and to remain aligned with emerging technologies (Coetzee & Veldsman, 2022). Travaglione et al. (2017) highlight that managerial support is not only related to skills provision, job opportunities, fair pay and training, but also refers to the establishment of an environment that encourages employees, motivates commitment and ensures involvement in an organisation, thus enabling a culture of trust as well as a safe psychological environment. A safe psychological environment encourages individuals and safeguards their involvement and commitment to the organisation (Boxall & Macky, 2009).

In accordance with Potgieter et al. (2018) and Tladinyane et al. (2013), additional factors that may encourage individuals in the workplace include career progression and career trajectory prospects. These factors represent retention practices that encourage employees to work towards mastering their present roles and responsibilities by enhancing their skills and improving their knowledge (Potgieter et al., 2018; Tladinyane et al., 2013). Work–life balance as a component of retention may be characterised as an individual’s evaluation of how well-balanced their various life roles are (Haar et al., 2014). Most work–life balance literature studies view the aspects of life and family as interchangeable, specifically when considering individuals with caregiving obligations for their dependents (Jayasingam et al., 2021; Özbilgin et al., 2011).

The aspects of job characteristics, remuneration, opportunities for training and development, managerial support, career progression and trajectory prospects, as well as work–life balance, relate positively to the concepts of job embeddedness, career and job satisfaction, work commitment, work engagement and employee turnover holistically (Ferreira et al., 2022; Van Dyk et al., 2013). Retention enablers in an organisation are characteristic of the career structure that has been pursued, as well as the employee’s individual ideas pertaining to satisfaction and success (Döckel et al., 2006; Van Dyk & Coetzee, 2012). Organisations will retain educated, professional women if they are willing to modify the ways in which work is completed (Annabi & Lebovitz, 2017). Prominence should also be given to promoting non-traditional career paths, enhancing work–life balance and applying efficient mentor–mentee structures (Coetzee, 2021; Schutte, 2017; Takawira & Coetzee, 2019).

Research has revealed that the motives engendering employees’ exit from organisations reflect a range of both pull and push factors. The pull factors comprise, for example, career changes, career mobility, maternity leave, children and spousal job changes. Push factors include pay grades, a lack of career development prospects, a lack of person–organisation fit that leads to unmet needs of employees, a lack of support as well as stress and work conditions (Cregård & Corin, 2019). In addition, employees’ psychological work immersion may also contribute to their retention (Veldsman, 2018). The notion of psychological work immersion alludes to the fit between the employees and their organisation’s identity that flows from three conditions – (1) the synergy between an employee’s expectations and the organisational procedures and environment; (2) the link between an employee’s role and how it fulfils organisational objectives and (3) the values, practices and conventions in the organisation, and whether employees experience them as consistent or not (Coetzee & Veldsman, 2013; Veldsman, 2018). Psychological work immersion may foster higher levels of retention among employees because of access to people-efficacy enablers. These may include appreciative feedback, manager credibility, individual congruence, intrateam effectiveness, an enabling environment as well as strategic connection (Veldsman & Coetzee, 2014).

Retention and the unique career development needs of women

The Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM) (Mainiero & Sullivan, 2005) posits that women and men have different considerations for their careers at various career stages (Mainiero & Gibson, 2018). Female careers tend to be more horizontally driven and sporadic, and shift between organisations, as opposed to the constant career progression within one organisation generally preferred by men (Mainiero & Gibson, 2018; Shapiro et al., 2008; Sullivan & Baruch, 2009). The authenticity, balance and challenge (ABC) parameters of the KCM (Mainiero & Sullivan, 2005) allude to women’s specific career development needs that function as boundary conditions or criteria for remaining within or leaving an organisation throughout the career lifespan.

Authenticity denotes the psychological boundary condition of experiencing alignment between one’s internal values and personal external behaviours and the values of the employing organisation. Individuals experience authenticity, job satisfaction and affective commitment towards the organisation when there is a good fit between their personal values and the organisational values (Ferreira et al., 2022; Sullivan et al., 2009). Balance alludes to the need for achieving an equilibrium between work and personal life roles and responsibilities. Research has shown positive associations between work–life balance and career satisfaction among women (Takawira & Coetzee, 2019). Challenge denotes the need for stimulating work and experiences of job autonomy, including career advancement, growth and development (Coetzee, 2021; Mainiero & Gibson, 2018; Sullivan et al., 2009). Women generally tend to evaluate career choices and options available through the lens of the kaleidoscope by assessing work environments in terms of the fit among work demands, constraints and opportunities, as well as relationships and personal values and interests (Sullivan et al., 2009; Takawira & Coetzee, 2019). In this regard, it stands to reason that employers interested in retaining valuable female staff members need to have deeper insight into their ABC employment experiences and the factors that affect their retention.

Method

Research setting

The South African financial services organisation involved in this study is a business located in Pretoria, Gauteng province, that functions across the fields of insurance, finance and education. Data collection took place on Microsoft Teams^TM (i.e. MS Teams) because of the continued presence of the COVID-19 pandemic and to ensure that no participants were placed at risk.

Entrée and establishing the researcher’s role

Access to the research setting was gained through the company’s operations team. The primary researcher made contact with the organisation based on mutual connections that had been established within the financial services organisation. As a result of COVID-19, communication and information dissemination predominantly took place through digital and virtual platform methods. These included telephone calls, emails as well as MS Teams interactions. The Chief Operations Officer served as a coordinator and gate-keeper throughout the process. The researchers had no affiliation with the organisation and therefore there were no evident power relationships throughout the process nor was there any conflict of interest. The role of the researcher in qualitative research is to endeavour to gain valuable insight into the thoughts and emotions of the respondents (Sutton & Austin, 2015), and in doing so, ensure the safeguarding of the participants, as well as the information obtained from the participants. The roles of both the researcher and the participant were contracted through the process of informed consent. Written informed consent was also obtained from every participant, and the details specific to the contract between the researcher and the respondents were detailed therein. The primary researcher conducted the entire research process from end to end herself. This includes, and is not limited to, the data collection process, the transcription process, the analysis process as well as the establishment of the final report.

Sampling procedure

A purposive voluntary sample was utilised for the purposes of this study. At the time of the study, the organisation employed 356 staff members in total. Female employees comprised 215 of which nine women were employed at senior levels. Only senior female employees who met the inclusion criteria were invited to voluntarily participate in the study. The population included female individuals employed by the South African financial services organisation who were between the ages of 23 and 65 years and who were employed in a permanent capacity at managerial level or higher. This constituted women who had a minimum of one direct report.

Women below the age of 23 and above the age of 65 years were excluded from the study. In addition, any women who did not have direct reports and were not employed in a permanent capacity were also excluded. The women were initially selected according to the predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria and were then invited to take part in the study on a voluntary basis. The final sample of nine senior female employees comprised one indian employee, one coloured employee, two black employees and five white female employees with 1–13 years of tenure. Their ages ranged between 30 and 55 years.

Data collection and recording procedure

Data were collected by using MS Teams because of the continued presence of the COVID-19 pandemic and to ensure that no participants were placed at risk. A qualitative semi-structured interview approach was followed to explore the participants’ subjective opinions and perspectives, as well as individual experiences (Flick, 2009). An interview schedule aligned to the study’s three research questions was drafted to ensure the reliability of the data collection process across the participants. Each participant met the researcher for introductory purposes and attended a planned 45-min interview.

The virtual (MS Teams) interviews were recorded with prior written informed consent from the participants. Furthermore, field notes were taken pertaining to the body language and facial expressions of the participants. Any other aspects that were noteworthy throughout the study were also noted. The participant interviews were anonymised and all risks were addressed by adhering to principles of ethics.

Ethical considerations

Ethical clearance was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of the Department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology at the University of South Africa (ERC Reference: #2021_CEMS/IOP_016). Permission to conduct the study was sought from the legal department of the organisation with clear conditions after permission was obtained from the Chief Operations Officer.

The participants provided written informed consent for voluntary participation in the research. No dependent or unequal relationships were present during the interviews that could have compromised the principle of voluntary participation. Confidentiality, privacy and anonymity were maintained throughout the study by ensuring that all participants were anonymised, and their names along with all identifying factors were removed from all the data collected. Rigour was applied to ensure that the research findings were presented accurately and without bias.

Data were recorded, maintained and stored in a password-protected online drive for the duration of the study to ensure that no breaches of anonymity or confidentiality took place. In accordance with Gray (2014), interviews require extensive levels of trust, and consequently researchers have a responsibility to be honest and always prevent harm. All participants were treated with dignity and respect (Health Professions Act No. 56 of 1974, 2008).

The participants were debriefed by the primary researcher during the data collection process. In these sessions, the participants were given the opportunity to explore their experiences and mitigate any harm that may have occurred. The researcher was equipped with the necessary skills and experience to conduct the research in an ethical and responsible manner.

Data analysis procedure

Data are presented sequentially according to the structure of the research objectives underpinning the study. Inductive thematic analysis was conducted once the interviews had taken place and had been transcribed. Inductive thematic analysis is suitable for analysing understandings, perceptions and experiences; it is also suitable for analysing large sets of qualitative data in a flexible manner (Creswell, 2013). Inductive thematic analysis was deemed to be well suited to and justified for this study in order to understand and explore employees’ experiences of the organisation (Creswell, 2013), as well as to understand the factors that influence the retention and turnover of senior female employees in a South African financial services organisation.

Atlas.tiTM Version 8 was utilised for the purposes of analysing the data. This software was designed by Thomas Muhr with the objective of overseeing a large amount of research data (Soratto et al., 2017). Phase 1 involved becoming familiar with the data, followed by phase 2, generating initial codes, and phase 3, building a coding frame (Soratto et al., 2017). Phase 4 then involved searching for themes, followed by phase 5, which involved reviewing those themes, and phase 6, which involved defining and naming those themes, and finally, phase 7, producing the report using Atlas.tiTM Version 8 (Soratto et al., 2017).

Strategies employed to ensure quality data

Credibility, integrity and dependability of the data findings (Mandal, 2018) were ensured through persistent observation as well as triangulation of the data collected, including the application of scientific rigour regarding the documentation of methods and the data itself. Following the guidelines of Mandal (2018), triangulation was utilised to ensure the conformability of the study (Mandal, 2018) by the primary researcher adopting an impartial approach throughout the data collection and data analysis process. The sample size was adequate for data saturation which provides authenticity to the study. The study is sincere in that it is characterised by self-reflexivity pertaining to the biases, inclinations and subjective values of the researchers.

Findings

The higher-order themes that emerged from the data analysis comprised the following information: (1) senior female employees’ employment experiences within the organisation, (2) the objective and subjective factors that enable the retention of senior female employees and (3) the objective and subjective factors that impede the retention of senior female employees. Each theme along with its associated category is elucidated in explicit detail below.

Senior female employees’ employment experiences within the organisation

As shown in Table 2, the senior female participants had varied but mostly positive employment experiences within the organisation. Some of the participants indicated that their employment experiences had been challenging and filled with aspects related to learning, growth and development, and in certain instances also of unfair treatment. Some participants stated that although they had experienced certain aspects of learning, growth and development, they would like more formal and more standardised learning and growth to occur. This included further studies, certification and training that they would like the organisation to provide. Responses indicating experiences of unfair treatment alluded to issues of salary in comparison with male peers, differential treatment in the application of human resources policies and procedures and a lack of work–life balance because of workload and tight deadlines.

Objective and subjective factors that enable retention

As shown in Table 3, two subthemes emerged: (1) factors preventing the employees from leaving the organisation and (2) factors that could improve the individual retention of senior female employees.

Factors preventing the senior female employees from leaving the organisation

Table 3 shows that the participants viewed several factors that they feel prevent them from leaving the organisation. These include factors such as convenient location (i.e. close to home), job satisfaction and job characteristics, the security of a monthly salary and medical aid benefits, meeting personal goals, opportunities for growth, learning and development, and a conducive work environment.

Factors that could improve the retention of senior female employees

As depicted in Table 3, most of the participants sought career progression and career trajectory prospects or opportunities for growth. They also wanted study support and/or training and development. In addition, those who did not have a benefits structure really wanted one, in fact so much so that in most instances they would have moved simply for an opportunity that would offer them such benefits. The employees who advocated for formalised organisational structures and designs were those who lacked work–life balance because the workload was not being evenly distributed. In addition, those who advocated for fair and consistent human resource policies and procedures were those who were directly affected by the lack thereof.

Objective and subjective factors that impede retention

As shown in Table 4, only one subtheme emerged as an extension of the third higher-order theme, namely, factors motivating the employees to leave the organisation. The predominant themes that emerged included factors such as the need for a fair, equitable and market competitive salary and benefits package, company location close to home, consistency in application of organisational policies and procedures, opportunities for growth and development, and job autonomy.

Discussion

The objective of the study was to gain deeper insight into senior female employees’ views of the factors that either enable or impede their retention. The findings showed that the employment experiences and perceived factors that either enable or impede retention of the cohort of the senior female participants had common themes relating to (1) the work environment, (2) extrinsic rewards (i.e. remuneration, benefits and job security), (3) the need for self-expression (i.e. challenging work, job autonomy, training and development opportunities for upskilling, and career development opportunities for personal growth and satisfaction) and (4) organisational values, practices and support (i.e. consistency in policy application, fair treatment and work–life balance). South African research in the services industry indicates these themes as core career values embedded in perceptions of employer psychological contract obligations towards employees (Coetzee, 2021). The findings are further in agreement with previous research on enabling retention, organisational commitment and job or career satisfaction factors in the South African work context (Coetzee, 2021; Döckel, 2003; Ferreira et al., 2022; João & Coetzee, 2012; Potgieter et al., 2018; Takawira & Coetzee, 2019; Tladinyane et al., 2013; Van Dyk et al., 2013).

The four core themes of career values that emerged in the present study further seem to corroborate the unique KCM (Mainiero & Sullivan, 2006; Sullivan et al., 2009) career development needs for ABC as conditions for the retention of the female participants. The condition or parameter of authenticity was reflected in the participants’ evaluation of synergy between their personal values and the organisational values and practices (i.e. consistent application of human resources policies, competitive market-related compensation and benefits and fair remuneration practices). Research on psychological immersion (Veldsman & Coetzee, 2014) highlights the importance of an enabling and supportive work environment to enhance employees’ psychological attachment to the organisation. The findings of the present study further corroborate research that shows employees’ perceptions of unfairness versus impartial treatment may be a fundamental retention enabler or impeder (Ceplenski, 2013). Perceptions of unfair treatment may increase counter-productive work behaviour, create an environment of hostility and distrust and, furthermore, increase absenteeism as well as voluntary turnover (Ceplenski, 2013).

Balance as a parameter of retention was reflected in the participants’ need for work–life balance and the importance of the location of the company to be close to home to lessen travel time. Some participants seemed to struggle balancing their various obligations as a result of their workload and tight deadlines. Research by Takawira and Coetzee (2019) also indicates company support for work–life balance as a predictor of women’s career satisfaction. Previous research suggests that organisations will retain educated professional women if they are willing to revise the ways work needs to be completed (Annabi & Lebovitz, 2017).

The parameter of challenge was evident in the participants’ views of challenging work, job autonomy, opportunities for career growth, training and development for upskilling and personal development as important enabling or impeding factors of their retention. Research has shown that training and development opportunities not only motivate employees but also increase their loyalty to the organisation (Hassan et al., 2013). Opportunities for training and development are highlighted by various research studies as vital to the retention of employees in a South African organisational context (Döckel et al., 2006; Van Dyk & Coetzee, 2012; Van Dyk et al., 2013). Although the senior female participants indicated positive experiences of growth and development, they also expressed a need for more formalised and standardised learning and growth to occur. This included further studies, certification and training that employees would like the organisation to provide as a retention motivating factor.

Implications for practice

The findings of the study suggest that the company should ensure that female employees’ parameters for ABC are met as considerations of retention. The findings highlighted formalised consistency in the application of human resource policies and procedures, fair, competitive compensation and benefits, training and development, managerial support, opportunities for career development, as well as work–life balance in workload and deadlines as core factors to address in a retention strategy. Addressing the unique KCM ABC (Mainiero & Sullivan, 2005; Sullivan et al., 2009) parameters for retention expressed by the participants may help to create greater synergy or fit between personal career values and those of the organisation. The female cohort may become more deeply immersed psychologically when considering their identification with the company which may promote their retention.

Limitations of and directions for future research

A core limitation of the qualitative study is the subjective and self-report nature of the research design. Caution should be exercised in generalising the findings, as these are only relevant to the present organisation and the sample of female participants. Future studies could consider involving a larger sample of women across various occupational groups in various industries using quantitative studies to compare the findings of the current study with those obtained from other samples. The intention is to utilise the insights gained from this research to help stimulate replication research across industries and organisations to deepen the understanding of the unique career and retention needs of senior female staff members.

Conclusion

Notwithstanding the limitations of the qualitative design of the present study, new insights were gained regarding female staff members’ parameters or conditions for their retention. In essence, the findings highlighted formalised consistency in the application of human resource policies and procedures, fair, competitive compensation and benefits, training and development, managerial support, opportunities for career development, as well as work–life balance in workload and deadlines as core factors to address in a retention strategy for senior female employees. The findings may be used to introduce practices that support the retention of valuable female talent.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the company and participants for their support in conducting this research.

The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.

All authors contributed equally to this work.

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Data used in this study can be made available only upon approval of the corresponding author’s research institution’s research ethics committee, with formal reasonable request to the author.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the authors.

References