Retention : An explanatory study of Swedish employees in the financial sector regarding leadership style, remuneration and elements towards job satisfaction

Abstract: Introduction: Companies today are forced to function in a world full of change and complexity, and it is more important than ever to have the right employees in order to survive the surrounding competition. It is a fact that a too high turnover rate affects companies in a negative way and retention strategies should therefore be high on the agenda. When looking at this problem area we found that there may be actions and tools that companies could use to come to terms with this problem. Research told us that leadership, remuneration and elements like participation, feedback, autonomy, fairness, responsibility, development and work-atmosphere is important for job satisfaction and retention. Object: The main objective is to increase the understanding regarding employee’s retention in relation to leadership style, remuneration and elements such as participation, feedback, autonomy, fairness, responsibility, development and work-atmosphere in the Swedish financial sector. Method: We wanted to investigate how employee of the Swedish financial sector prefers to be retained, and how they consider and react to the chosen areas. The survey has a quantitative approach with a web based questionnaire and includes 129 respondents from banks, insurance and finance companies. The theoretical framework includes leadership and leadership style, financial as well as non-financial remuneration and research done in later years regarding participation, feedback, autonomy, fairness, responsibility, development and work-atmosphere connected to retention. Conclusion: The result shows that regarding leadership the respondents prefer leadership based on relations were they feel appreciation. Both appreciations from the closest manager as well as the company management influences employee job satisfaction in a positive way. More money was the most common reason for wanting to change jobs, and when asking how the remuneration system should be designed, base pay with additional bonus and benefits were preferred. But also non financial factors such as participation, feedback, autonomy, fairness, responsibility, development and work-atmosphere must be taken in consideration to satisfy since they seem to increase employees’ willingness to stay in the company.