Discussion of the Findings on the perceived relationship between employee
retention and organizational performance
The study had the objective of establishing the perceived relationship between employee
Retention practices and organizational performance at National Oil Corporation of Kenya
which according to the research problem has been found to be related to organisational
performance. This is because the findings of the study show that 80% of Employees
Retention Practices are moderately practiced at NOC. This is in line with Hertzberg two
factor theories who contend that employees will stay in their work place so long as their
needs are satisfied and are motivated that they will be committed to their work hence
increased performance in the organisation. This is as shown below:
NOC has some moderate criteria for Recruitment and Selection including hiring tools and
structured interview. This is in line with Berney & Wright,(1988) who assert that the
strategic significance of recruitment & selection emphasis on the need to attract and
retain high quality staff to gain competitive advantage. Training and Career development
is important but the study found that at NOC, training is offered moderately. This is not
in line with Accenture, (2001) who asserts that training, skill and career development are
the key factors of attraction and retention. NOC need to come up detailed training and
career development policy which should be uniformly applied to all employees.
Compensation plays significant role in attracting and retaining good employees,
especially those employees who gives outstanding performance or unique skill which is
indispensable to the organization because company invest heavy amount on their training
and orientation. This is in line with Lawler, (1990) who emphasizes that high
compensation package, helps organizations to create culture of excellence. NOC need to
do a survey within and without the industry to benchmark on the pay package to
standardize their offer in line of what their co-players are offering.
Effective communications improve employee identification with their agency and build
openness and trust culture. This is in line with Smith & Rupp, (2004) who contend that
effective communication is where employee are free to discuss and voice their opinions
in projects, as it results to increased performance as the best solutions are offered and
applied. The study shows NOC working environment is not conducive also. Work
environment is considered one of the most important factors in employee‟s retention, this
is in line with Galbreath, (2010) who contends that having a working environment that is
fair is essential in order to reduce the rate of employee turnover and improve
performance. At NOC‟s Head office, spacing is sequenced making the working
environment not conducive but plans are underway to move the HQ to a building NOC
has build to host their organisation. Leadership style is considered an affective factor in
employee retention this is in line with (Ontario, 2004) who asserts that if the relationship
among workers and supervisors is strong, the workers will never seek any other new
employment opportunity rather they will stay in the organization and vice versa,
employees leave the leaders not jobs so leader support is also essential. Culture is a
powerful way of controlling and managing employee behaviors than organizational rules,
this is in line with Joan and Harris, (1999) who contend that in order to recruit and retain
new employees organizational culture is more important than the job itself.
Summary of the Findings
The objective of the study was to establish the perceived relationship between
Employee Retention Practices and organizational performance at NOC. The
respondents were employee of National Oil Corporation of Kenya. On the
demographic characteristics of the respondents, the research revealed that
although female were more than male, the difference was not significant and
therefore the study was not skewed toward any gender. It was established that
majority of respondents were Middle Level Managers, supervisors and senior
managers implying that they understand the relationship of employee retention
practices and organisation performance and that they are in a position to tell to
what extent has NOC implemented these practices to improve the organisation
performance. The study also established that majority of the respondents has
worked at NOC for less than 5 years. It is perceived that majority of employees
are not settled meaning their fate to stay or leave the organisation is still
hanging. The education levels of the respondents showed that majority were
undergraduates meaning they had the requisite academic credentials to
understand the employee retention practices that organisation need to offer to
employees to ensure commitment and ultimately achieve good performance.
This also implies that the respondents had the capacity to give quality response
for the purpose of the study.
On the employee retention practices, the study highlights that NOC has a
moderate criteria for selecting candidates who match the demands of the job in
terms of their skills, attitudes and behaviors. However, the use of structured
interview instrument to enhance validity and reliability is not largely used at NOC.
The study about training and development concludes that employees at NOC
have acquired training and development which has helped them improve
performance and training assessment to establish the skill gap is moderately
carried out at NOC. However, the analysis established that there is no policy on
Training and Development at NOC and that evaluation of training programme
is not consistence to gauge the effectiveness of the training.
Analysis on Career advancement, the study found that employee are
moderately encouraged to participate in deciding their career path, the
responsibility of career advancement is not an obligation of individual staff and
their supervisors and NOC does not always promote employees who complete
their career advancement program and ultimately and that employees are not
equally offered opportunities for career advancement to increase performance.
This research finding shows that in general NOC offers a fairly moderate salary
in comparison to players in the same sector. However, NOC does not reward
high performing employees neither does it give positive recognition to
employee who produce high quality work. Results of the findings indicate
that on top of the salary and fridge benefits that employee at NOC get, they
will appreciate Flexi time work system, annual increment and bonus on yearly
basis, car loan with lower interest rate, responsibility allowance, mortgage at a
lower interest rate and transport for their children in that order of importance
from their employer.
The study found that communication practiced at NOC is not effective, to an
extent that employee are not continuously informed on important matters to
them, and that organisation structure does not encourage vertical as well as
horizontal communication, decision concerning the employee welfare are not
communicated continuously to them, the structure does not allows speedy
delivery of quality service to the customers this was not consensus meaning the
structure moderately allow speedy delivery of services it is further observed
that NOC does not allow skill flexibility to employees in their working process
also without consensus showing to some extent NOC allows skill flexibility to
employee to improve performance.
From the study‟s findings it is revealed that, teamwork spirit is not customarily
valued at NOC, no employment security is provided at NOC and that
employee‟s personal values are not a good fit with the NOC values. The study
also established that sometimes a few employees at NOC get clear job
instruction while other do not and that employee and supervisors agree on work
plan. However, the results indicate that at NOC, most supervisors do not give
their supervisors open, honest and constructive feedback on their performance.
From the study at NOC employees are proud of their organisation and can tell
others about their organisation, they are moderately aware of their
organisation core values,
goals, strategy and vision and that employees are willing to put more effort to
help organisation improve its performance. However, the corporate culture at
NOC does not support their work performance.
Conclusions
From the findings, the study concludes that Recruitment and Selection of staff,
Training and Development, Career advancement, compensation of staff,
effective communication, conducive working environment, supervisor support
and relationship and organisation culture are important in the organization since
they greatly influence the organization performance. The Implementation of
these practices is important to an organisation. Use of a comprehensive hiring
tool and a well-structured interview helps bring in new staff with the right skills
attitude and behavior for better productivity. Continuous improvement of
employee skills through training is important for organization‟s performance
this helped by carrying out continuous training need assessment to identify the
skill and knowledge gap to help identify the right training. Career
advancement is also important to help employee to strategically position
themselves for promotions. It also helps in HR planning in an organisation.
Compensation and reward is equally important as it is the main reason
employees will put more effort in their work keeping them glued to a particular
organisation. It is therefore, prudent that organisation consider equity in the
operation into the offer that they extent to the employees.
Communication between managers and employees is crucial to improve
performance and proper structure should be formulated to enable breakthrough
in the communication be it between customers and employee or between
employee and managers. Conducive work
environment helps employee work properly without disturbance hence
increased productivity. Supervisors should support their subordinates to
enhance a free relationship which boost communication hence high
productivity among employees. Organisation culture should try to guide the
employee commitment into their work. Employee input is very important into
organisation performance and thus they need to be motivated continuously to
stay committed into their work for increased productivity and ultimately
improve organisational performance.
Recommendations
Based on the findings and discussion on the perceived relationship between
Employee Retention Practices and organisational performance at NOC, the
researcher recommends that NOC should formulate detailed written HR policy
on Employee Retention Practices that ensure lively and conducive working
environment in National Oil to promote employee retention. This will not only
motivate employee but will help increased productivity in an organisation. This
research has established that supervisor-employee relationship mostly affect
employee productivity at NOC. A training need analysis need to be carried out
particularly on Managers to establish the gap in the relationship. In terms of
compensation and reward NOC should carry out a survey within the energy
sector to establish what they offer their employee and try to match with their
offer to their employees. This will assist in retaining professional employees
who are being poached by those firms.
Academically, this study has important implication for studies aimed to
understand why employee turnover is on the increase lately. By highlighting
significant employee retention practices, this study hopes to expand on such a
focus. To the other government parastatals, the study provide insight into
reasons for high employee turnover and poor performance, Organizations today
constantly wrestle with revolutionary trends; accelerating product and
technological changes, global competition, deregulation, demographic changes,
and at the same time, they must strive to implement trends towards a service
and information age society. Society has now become knowledge-based where
clearly human capital is considered a key resource and indispensable to the
survival of businesses. In the new paradigm companies recognize that an
important element in business management practices is the need to successfully
motivate and retain high talent employees who survive organizational
restructuring, downsizing, consolidation, reorganizing or re-engineering
initiatives.
