Engagement and retention of Generation Y employees in the Irish fast-food chain

The purpose of this paper is to explore the key drivers for engagement and retention of Generation Y employees working in the Irish fast-food chain. The author focused on six themes pointed by previous theories as enablers for engagement and retention: work-life balance, leadership, workplace culture, reward and recognition, career development opportunities, and learning and training. Qualitative research was chosen for this study, allowing the exploration of the research objectives with deeper detail through semi-structured interviews carried out with twelve individuals with work experience in the Irish fast-food chain. The aspects work-life balance, leadership, work environment and teamwork were unanimously classified as of great value to engage and retain the participants in the fast-food chain. The aspects career development opportunities, communication, learning and training and reward and recognition, despite having divided the participants’ opinions, were rated by most of them as factors that impact their engagement and retention. The justification of the participants who disagreed with this was mostly that they do not consider it as influencing factors because they do not intend to work in fast food for a long time. Only the aspect diversity and inclusion was rated by almost all participants as having no influence on their engagement and retention, and the main justification was that they believe this aspect should be a basic principle of all companies. The findings of this research support a better understanding and knowledge of Generation Y employees’ engagement and retention in the Irish context of fast-food restaurants, and it can be used as a tool for companies in this sector