Background: The nursing shortage is a global challenge which has consequences on both patient safety and nurses' working environment. With an ageing population, the lack of nurses becomes successively more evident and the need for more nurses escalates. Swedish counties report high competition from other employers, retirement, and a lack of educated nurses as some of the causes of the nursing shortage. Thus, the need to retain nurses in their workplace increases.

Aim: To highlight factors contributing to nurses’ willingness to stay in their workplace.

Method: Literature study based on qualitative articles. Two systematic searches were conducted in two scientific databases. A total of eight articles were included and analyzed. 

Results: Three main themes and nine subthemes emerged. The main themes were “Supportive workplace”, “Collegial relationship and work culture” and “Meaningful work”. The formal leader of nurses plays a role in the retention of nurses. They act as facilitators for creating and maintaining meaningful, comprehensible, and manageable working conditions. The relationship between colleagues was also of importance, especially in terms of making work manageable and meaningful. Nurses also pointed out that variation in work and working closelywith patients made their work meaningful, thus making them want to stay in their workplace.

Conclusion: To retain nurses, organizations and their leaders should facilitate working conditions that make nurses’ work comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful. This includes making sure that work is varied and that the nurses work closely with their patients. Good collegial culture and relationships also need to be protected.