LIST OF APPENDICES
8. Monitor and evaluate
5.2 Attraction of talent
The first research question sought to understand what attracted the research participants to seek employment in the public service. The underlying motive was to find out what were the current attraction factors to prospective employees to the City of Cape Town. The importance of this research question cannot be underestimated, as competition for talent is increasing growing fierce between the public and private sectors.
In response to this question, most of the respondents (87%) who took part in the survey saw job security as the primary factor that influenced them to seek employment with the City of Cape Town. Inherent in the following caption is the concept of job security in that the respondent tried the private sector but as they indicate, there is no security of tenure in the private sector. One respondent contributed, in their response to the research question:
“...I used to work for ... [government owned organisation - name withheld for anonymity]... for about 9 years and then I got bored and I went to the
of you now...”
Many scholars of job security define it as the prospect of continued employment with little or no fear of being forced to leave, as clearly demonstrated by one of the responses quoted below, which espouses a common theme from the research participants about one of the reasons they are attracted to the public service.
Scholars of this phenomenon, which is prevalent in the public service, warn that it can also reduce worker productivity and restrict the efficient movement of resources between jobs.
“There was a sense that it’s a lifetime job especially pertaining to job security...”
This respondent has in their mind that it will be lifetime job and the danger in here is that there might be an element of complacency in terms of giving their utmost best because they know that they will never lose their job. According to (Grobler et al., 2006:417) employees need to have a sense of job security and want to believe that management will not make unfair and arbitrary decisions about their employment as seen in the response below (own emphasis).
“...Well it’s firstly a good salary and then of course the fringe benefits with the City are very good and then also job stability. If you look at me, I have been here for 27 years and I’m still happy...”
This respondent (as others) also mentions other factors such as job satisfaction and pay satisfaction, which were dealt with in chapter three of this study as dependent variables of talent management.
Other respondents cited previous experience gained through for example, an internship programme, as a factor that attracted them to seek employment with the City of Cape Town. To quote one respondent:
“ What attracted me to the City was that I had experience with the then Metropolitan Council before I started working permanently for the City of Cape Town...I completed three months of in-service training; and on completion I then entered into my BTech and in doing my BTech I was required to complete a number of projects in the industry; and I returned yet again to the Metropolitan Council to complete those and then I got more exposure to the organisation and understood what the dynamics were...”
A sizeable (10%) amount of respondents cited family ties and connections as the factor that attracted them to the City of Cape Town.
As mentioned by one respondent as captioned above, pay satisfaction is also an attraction factor for many prospective employees. In fact one respondent boldly claimed:
“If you compare public service, City of Cape Town is the best paying institution”.
While this research can neither deny nor confirm the above statement, it is important to note at this juncture the fact that the element of pay satisfaction is emphasised by the respondent. One respondent added:
“It’s the competitive salary package for the young ones coming in. To an extent, there is still job security as well”.
In the preceding statements, job satisfaction, organisational commitment and tenure are highlighted. It has been argued in the literature visited that these variables are crucial in ensuring talent retention in organisations. In agreement here is (Brewster et al., 2008:294) who add that pay and rewards are critical components in ensuring maximum return from human resources. This maximum return may be from the fact that employees give their best and remain loyal to their organisations because they are committed and satisfied with their jobs and employers.
Grobler et al. (2006:245), supports the above statement; who argued that some employees not only seek good salaries and benefits but also desire to satisfy certain human needs through their work. They want to work with agreeable and friendly co- workers and to receive ego satisfaction from performing their jobs:
“I’ve been here in as an HR professional for 25 years and I have never had a day that I’m bored and there’s never any lack of challenges...and the City of Cape Town specifically is a wonderful organisation to be part of...”
It can be safely concluded that the above statement has tenure, job satisfaction and organisational commitment inherent in it. This professional has been with the organisation for 25 years and they claim that they have never had a day that was boring because the City has abundant challenges for them to keep going.
All in all, job security, pay satisfaction, job satisfaction and organisational commitment were the main ideas provided as responses to the first research question by the research participants. In conclusion, it can be safely asserted that the City of Cape Town is an “an employer of choice” as evidenced by the responses from the research participants.