Factors Affecting Employee’s Retention Intention: Evidence from a Leading Apparel Manufacturer in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The study empirically investigates the factors affecting employees' retention intentions at a selected apparel company in Sri Lanka. The specific objective of the study is to identify the impact of salary, labor dignity, workload, and supervision on employees' retention intentions, analyze the relationship between independent and dependent variables, and recommend suggestions to enhance the retention of employees to minimize turnover, which is a major problem for organizations. The data was collected using a simple random sampling technique, and the sample size was 400 operational-level employees in the company. Out of 400 employees, 349 respondents were selected to analyze the data. A structured questionnaire was administered to collect the data, which were analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. Descriptive statistics, the Pearson correlation coefficient, and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The findings of the study revealed that salary has a positive, moderately significant relationship with employee retention intention (r = 0.659, p 0.01). Labor dignity has a positive, moderately significant relationship with employee retention intention (r = 0.523, p 0.01). Workload has a positive but weakly significant relationship with employee retention intention (r = 0.392, p 0.01). Supervision has a positive, moderately significant relationship with employee retention intention (r = 0.452, p 0.01). According to the findings, the apparel companies should implement strategic human resource practices to enhance the level of salary, labor dignity, and supervision of the employees to satisfy them and achieve a higher rate of retention.