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Employee retention remains a critical concern across corporate sectors due to its far-reaching implications for operational efficiency, institutional knowledge preservation, and sustained organisational performance. This systematic literature review examines contemporary approaches to addressing employee retention challenges, with a specific focus on the manufacturing, healthcare, and tech industries. Drawing on peer-reviewed publications from 1998 to 2025, the study identifies and synthesises the primary drivers of employee turnover, while evaluating evidence-based strategies employed to mitigate it. The findings reveal that while financial incentives continue to play a foundational role in employee retention, they are increasingly insufficient in isolation. Sector-specific dynamics, such as labour inflexibility in manufacturing, emotional burnout in healthcare, and innovation fatigue in technology-intensive environments, necessitate tailored and context-sensitive retention strategies. Emerging themes identified include the growing influence of employee engagement initiatives, adaptive leadership practices, flexible work arrangements, and the strategic integration of technology in supporting retention goals. Notably, the review highlights a significant gap in the literature concerning psychological and behavioural dimensions of retention. Despite their demonstrated importance, factors such as intrinsic motivation, emotional well-being, and workplace stress remain underexplored. Addressing these elements is essential to formulating holistic, human-centred retention models. The study concludes by advocating for industry-aligned, psychologically informed, and adaptable frameworks that can respond to the evolving dynamics of modern organisational environments.  

This study aimed at identifying talent retention strategies for female academics in the higher education sector, paying particular attention to the Sub-Saharan context. Higher education institutions rely on the knowledge, abilities, and skills of their academics in order to keep abreast of the changing nature of higher education globally. These institutions of higher learning are required to be competitive and achieve their strategic goals in order to remain relevant in the sector. Studies have shown that female academics are leaving the higher education sector for the private sector for numerous reasons, including better salaries and further development. Additionally, some female academics are emigrating to European countries in search of greener pastures. Therefore, higher education institutions have to ensure that talent retention strategies are implemented to retain female academics, as well as to facilitate their progress to top leadership positions. The study utilized four crucial retention strategies identified in Kenya by Mutiria, Rukangu and Kubaison in 2015. These retention strategies include compensation and benefits, formal succession planning, training and development and career development opportunities. A quantitative research design was adopted for this study, whereby online questionnaires were completed by 112 female academics at a Sub-Saharan university. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27 for Windows. The results revealed a significant relationship between the four identified strategies and retention. Thus, institutions of higher learning should effectively implement these strategies in order to retain talented female academics, considering the dynamics in the sector.