Employee Retention: Perspectives of Foreign Teachers at a Demonstration (Satit) School in Thailand

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand the reasons of foreign teachers who are working at a demonstration school in terms of retention. A qualitative research approach was applied to answering the research questions proposed for this study, employing a Phenomenological strategy. The setting involved purposive sampling that was used to identify 7 participants who had experienced this phenomenon. Interview data, document reviews were integrated to answer the two research questions. The participants were interviewed by using an in-depth semi-structured interview. All the perceptions were interpreted into nine categories, they were: (1) Reason for teaching career, (2) Life experience, (3) Work environment, (4) Work experience, (5) Reason for retention, (6) Reason for leaving, (7) controversial FTS’ position, (8) Problem issues, (9) Future plan. The important findings of this study regarding employee retention are their reasons for retention and leaving. Concerning the retention issue, the reasons mainly conclude enjoying teaching, good vacation, good salary, and pleasant work environment as well as some personal reasons. At the same time, the potential leaving reasons refer to dissatisfaction with management, communication problems in terms of cultural understanding, and personal reasons for going back to their countries.