Investigating the Voluntary Turnover Intention of Architectural Designers: A Case Study in Suzhou

High turnover rate of employees is an issue currently confronted by the construction industry in China. Architectural designers have critical influences on the successful delivery of construction projects. A reduction of turnover rate in a design company also facilitates to a sustainable development of their business, in addition to achieve the construction project's goals in terms of quality, safety and cost. There, however, are few studies that investigate the turnover intention among architectural designers in China. This research, therefore, focuses on architectural designers working in the construction industry. In detail, the degree of architectural designers’ turnover intention and influencing factors affecting their turnover intention are explored, which are followed by proposing the strategies to reduce this intention. A questionnaire survey among 61 Chinese architectural designers is conducted to measure their turnover intention and identify critical influencing factors affecting their turnover intention and potential strategies to reduce this problem. Statistical methods such as ranking is adopted for verification and further analysis of the questionnaire data. The results indicated that the turnover intention of architectural designers in Suzhou is not very high. The five most crucial factors having effects on architectural designers’ turnover intention are: “job prospect”, “salary”, “job satisfaction”, “work location” and “welfare”. The main strategies that should be undertaken to reduce the turnover intention are “giving more room for development” and “establishing a fair salary policy”. This research is helpful for employers to better understand and evaluate their employees, especially architectural designers in terms of their turnover intention. The effective strategies to reduce this intention are also recognised and provided as a useful reference for employers.