The impact of demographics on voluntary labour turnover in South Africa

Abstract

This paper will demonstrate the relevance of employee demographics as extended factors in the voluntary turnover process as these models currently do not sufficiently explain the factors impacting the turnover decision. Over 1000 managers and knowledge workers were surveyed by making use of a cross-sectional questionnaire to identify potential similarities in demographics when deciding on leaving the organization. Findings indicated that various demographic factors (age, race and gender) influence whether pull- or push factors are cited in the turnover process. In addition, it was also found that the level of education has a stronger relationship to employee mobility than race, which contradicts current sentiment of the labour market. Furthermore, it is concluded that demographic factors of employees should be considered in the extension of contemporary turnover models. The findings have implications for human resource management practices in organisations which are more dependent on knowledge workers. In addition the findings have implications on current prevailing theory on voluntary turnover research. Copyright