**Abstract**

This chapter analyses employees as human assets by investigating various retention theories. It is imperative that employers do not treat employees like "cogs in the wheel" but rather understand what factors would retain these individuals. The working environment in any organisation is important, as it has to be conducive to attaining a competent and successful workforce. The chapter focuses on a research study conducted evaluating what makes employees remain in an organisation. From the findings a conceptual retention model was developed which would assist employers in retaining staff and ensuring they are treated as human assets. The retention model was based on both a quantitative and qualitative analysis, and many themes and theories have been included in this model.

**Keywords:** Human resources, assets, retention, culture in workplace

#### **1. Introduction**

Many great leaders, have always reiterated that our human resources in any organisation are our largest assets. Richard Branson advocates for shaping employees to their best version as the people you employ are a product of you. He further adds: "If you take care of your employees they take care of your business". In many industries we suddenly, see the inability to retain staff especially in the health sector. In this sector we require highly skilled labour and it's imperative once we have invested time and money on these individuals we actually should be retaining them.

It is quite obvious that not every employee is cut from the same cloth, or has the same motivation to remain in a job. Staff turnover can have serious financial implications for an organisation, such as the loss of clients, low morale, the added costs of the recruiting process and then training new employees. It is not only the cost incurred by a company that emphasises the need for retaining employees but also the prevention of these talented, skilled employees from being head-hunted [1]. Implementing an effective retention strategy can significantly reduce the high costs of increased turnover, prevent the loss of company knowledge, protect the intellectual property of the organisation, diminish the interruption of customer service and maintain the good will of the company, which in turn will regain the efficiency and effectiveness of the services [2].

While a wide range of retention strategies have been introduced in various settings to reduce unnecessary staff turnover and increase their length of stay, only a few of these have been rigorously evaluated. Little evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of any specific strategy is currently available [3]. Traditional retention strategies are no longer effective for retaining professionals, people have access to

more information due to the 4th industrial revolution. They able to learn more and most are looking for value in an organisation. This chapter focuses on retention strategies such as career anchors, job characteristics, job satisfaction, organisational commitment and intention to quit. Once employers can understand what retains employees, they are able to implement these strategies to ensure human resources are regarded as an asset.
