The effect of diversity targeting on the motivation and retention of white technical graduates in a large South African corporation

Abstract

The aim of this research was to determine whether or not if levels of employee engagement is affected by their organisation’s diversity targeting programs, and whether this could be a possible reason for the perceived high turnover of certain classes of employees. The research was conducted using a structured survey sent out via email with the results being analysed quantitatively. The research was limited to engineering graduates working at Sasol. A secondary aim was to explore if there were any differences in motivation between the engineers of various race groups, ages and sexes. Finally the research aimed to rank factors known to affect employee engagement to assist organisations in developing their retention strategies. The most significant finding of the research done, was that the aggressive diversity targeting program within Sasol has not had a significant effect on the employee engagement of white engineers or for that matter on any of the racial groups, ages or sexes investigated. The results from this study supported the findings from various other studies in terms of which factors are perceived as the most important in terms of employee motivation. From the results a two stage employee engagement maturity model was developed which is presented.