This shift carries a serious risk of knowledge loss due to the retirement of long-serving experts. To address this, it is crucial to understand what motivates Generation Z employees, not only to attract, but especially to retain them. Contrary to common beliefs, generations differ from each other in their motivational needs. Addressing these specific motivators is essential for overcoming human capital challenges and maintaining competitiveness. This issue is particularly relevant for Endress+Hauser Flow in Reinach, a leader in flow measuring technology for industrial process engineering.

The purpose of this thesis is to uncover what truly motivates Generation Z employees at Endress+Hauser Flow to remain with the company. It explores the intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors influencing this vital segment of the workforce and analyzes how effectively the company already fulfills these motivational needs. The goal is to develop a set of concrete and data-driven recommendations to foster Generation Z employee retention. To address this issue, a comprehensive quantitative survey was conducted among Generation Z employees at Endress+Hauser Flow in Reinach, Switzerland.

The survey explored both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, yielding a mix of findings — some aligning with existing literature and others offering contradictory and potentially surprising insights into what motivates this generation. Detailed analysis of the survey results highlighted significant gaps between the importance of various motivational factors and their perceived fulfillment within the company. As these gaps represent the greatest potential for improvement, the study develops concrete recommendations to address them and to promote employee retention for this target group. To guide Endress+Hauser Flow in prioritizing these recommendations, an effort versus return analysis was conducted, ensuring that the most impactful levers are pursued first.