Strategies for employee’s retention in a competitive market: a case study of Namibian commercial banks

A key among outcome goals of employers in today’s business setting is usually to decrease employee turnover, thereby decreasing training and recruitment costs, as well as loss of talent and organizational knowledge. This study investigates the Strategies for Employees Retention in a Competitive Market with a primary focus on Namibian Commercial Banks. More specifically the study investigates the efforts and attempts by Namibia Commercial Banks employers to keep highly skilled employees in order to effectively execute their functions and achieve the levels of excellence as desired by their customers, with retention in this sense, being the strategy rather than the outcome. Thus by providing most appealing work environment to meet competitors on equal terms in a very competitive Namibia talented human capital market, banks may retain and capture niche markets; or later find themselves at the receiving end through the loss of their skilled manpower, as well as find it difficult to retain and attract new workers. Both the qualitative and quantitative research methods were used in the study, though quantitative methods dominated the qualitative methods. The analysis utilized the formation of tables and computations from SPSS. The total sample included one hundred and sixty (160) respondents from the selected commercial banks, with forty five questionnaires administered per bank (including five each for employers). The findings of this study shed light on the strategies the Namibia commercial banks have adopted to attract and retain talented employees at their organizations; while sighted research shows how successful management of talent employees as well as strategies adopted by organizations for retaining key staff lead to organizations attaining their competitive edges. Recommendations on strategies that commercial banks can implement to attract and retain skilled staff are as well presented. The researcher’s findings could also be of help to employers in other industry sectors in the country and across Africa, including the Namibia public service commission and professional bodies. Thus by implementing lessons learned from the Namibia Commercial Banks’ key organizational behavior concepts, employers can improve employee retention rates and in so doing decrease the associated costs of high turnover across economies.