The relationship between manager support, work-life balance and talent retention in a South African utility organisation

Orientation: Skills retention is a critical strategic priority for every organisation. Currently, with the global war on talent, organisations are faced with a mammoth challenge on how to retain critical talent. Manager support and work-life balance enhance talent retention strategies.;Research purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine if manager support and work-life balance can determine the employee's intention to stay or leave the organisation.;Motivation of the study: Organisations are battling to find factors that contribute to retention of employees. Despite the fact that Human Resource (HR) practitioners are the ones taking care of retention strategies, the needs and factors that cause employees to stay or leave the organisation must be investigated.;Research design and methodology: A quantitative research design with a correlation analysis was chosen for this study. Non-probability purposive sampling was used with n = 172. A structured questionnaire was then used to collect data, and an analysis was made on the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).;Main findings: The findings indicate that manager support and work-life balance are predictors of intention to quit, with a 42% variance. The lack of manager support and work-life balance has an impact on the intention to quit. The higher the manager support is perceived, the less the intention to quit -- the same holds true for work-life balance.;Practical/managerial implication: The research identified factors that can predict the intention to quit and highlighted insight such as manager support and work-life balance as key issues to consider in increasing retention. Manager support and work-life balance play a pivotal role in employee retention. Furthermore, the research identified HR practitioners as key contributors who take care of these factors in the organisation, yet who also need to be taken care of. The organisation should develop retention strategies, which include HR practitioners as employees who take care of other employees in the organisation.;Contribution and value add: The research investigated a unique group that is known to provide retention strategies and that advises line managers on HR processes. Focusing attention on HR practitioners as a matter of study will contribute to organisational retention strategies on what causes them to stay with the organisation.