Succession Planning and Talent Retention: Evidence from the Manufacturing Sector in Nigeria

Abstract:

Manufacturing firms are regularly filling management and top leadership positions. Any organization's imminent performance depends on the rigor of succession planning and management commitment to it. With increased employee turnover rate, organizations risk losing a wealth of knowledge to old employees, which new employees cannot learn from reading manuals or hand over notes. One-way employee retention can be guaranteed in any organization is the employee's perception towards the possibility of taking up higher roles that are more challenging in the future. The study identifies ineffective succession planning strategy as a factor responsible for the increase in employee turnover in the organization. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, 218 respondents were purposively selected to examine how the improvement of the succession planning strategy could reduce the rate of employee turnover. Therefore, it recommends embarking on advocacy to gain management's commitment to the development of potential employees for future roles