The influence of human resource practices on medical officers’ retention in Nairobi County in Kenya

Date
2016
Authors
Wanguku, Josephine Muthoni
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
This research is about the influence of human resources practices on retention of medical officers in Nairobi County. The focus being level 5 and 6 hospitals. The human resources practices are on-boarding process, performance management process, talent motivation and human resources development. The research is to determine the extent to which the above variables affect staff retention and make recommendations on how to effectively retain their medical officers in the selected hospitals. The study adopted a mixed research design to investigate the influence of HR practices on medical officers’ retention, used exploratory and descriptive methods. The methods allow flexibility of unplanned analysis due to the fact that the data were both qualitative and quantitative. The study examined five hospitals in Nairobi County which comprised of a population of 192 medical officers with a sample size of 61 respondents. By use of interview schedules, the questions were in the form of likert Scale which were used to collect data from the medical officers and hospital heads or supervisors. This was to get detailed information from both perspective that is the employee in this case the medical officer and the supervisor. There was 100% response rate (53 medical officers and 8 supervisors). The findings used Pearson’s correlation to determine the relationship between the independent variables (On-boarding process, performance management process, talent motivation and human resources development). Then Logit regression analysis was used to determine the significance of each independent variable with staff retention. The findings indicated all the four independent variables have a correlation between themselves. However, regression analysis shows that there is statistically significance in talent motivation and performance management process. Based on the findings, the following recommendations were made which the Nairobi county and other hospitals in Kenya can implement to ensure staffs are retained and to achieve the vision 2030. The on-boarding process should be streamlined such that the hospital management should ensure that the on-boarding process is carried out well. There should be an on-boarding schedule and a person who has the responsibility to ensure that the new staffs are introduced to the relevant people that they will be working with. There is a clear job description that outlines what the staff is required to do on their job and the expectations or targets to be accomplished and also to ensure that the staff have the required resources to make their work more efficient. The performance management process should be carried out frequently like quarterly or half yearly to ensure continuous improvement. The management needs to ensure that the medical officers are informed about the process and its value hence, are able to fully participate. Supervisors and the medical officers to set the targets to ensure that they are realistic and both parties are in agreement. Feedback from the process should be relayed back to ensure that the medical officers are aware of the areas that they need to improve on. Performance should also be used to determine who gets promotion and the promotions should be done without delay to ensure that the medical officers are continuously motivated and that would ensure that they do not leave. Talent motivation was more helpful in terms of career growth and training opportunities, the medical officers did not see the value in most of the incentives like family medical cover, yearly salary increment, housing allowance and less working hours. The hospital should focus more in providing good salaries, opportunities for career growth and training rather than other non-monetary rewards.
Description
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Business Administration
Keywords
Human resource practices, Medical officers, Retention, Nairobi County
Citation