Employee Perspectives on Retention Policies in Bengaluru’s IT Sector: A Structured Narrative Review

Abstract

Skilled IT employees can usually find another job without much trouble. It is therefore a constant worry for IT companies to retain employees. Pay is only part of the picture. Career growth, work–life balance, recognition, job satisfaction, leadership and workplace culture also shape whether people stay or go. This paper reviews 44 studies on employee retention and related outcomes such as turnover intention, engagement and organisational commitment, and groups them by theme: rewards, career development, work–life balance, satisfaction and engagement, culture and leadership, and job embeddedness. The studies mix surveys, qualitative work, mixed methods, conceptual papers and earlier reviews, and they differ in location, population and method, so their findings cannot simply be added together. Taken as a whole, they suggest that people are more likely to stay when they feel fairly paid, supported, respected and able to grow. What the literature still lacks is a clear account of how IT employees in Bengaluru themselves experience and judge the retention policies on offer, and this review points to that gap.