Human Resource Management Practices and Retention of Academic Staff at Kyambogo University

Abstract

The study examined the Effects of Human Resource Management Practices on Academic staff retention at Kyambogo University, Kampala-Uganda. The problem of concern was high labour turnover and poor performance of academic staffs at Kyambogo University. The objectives of the study were to find out how recruitment affects academic staff retention at Kyambogo University, to investigate how training programs affects retention of academic staff at Kyambogo University and to investigate how rewards affects retention of academic staff at Kyambogo University. The study adopted a cross sectional survey design. Both purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used in data sampling. Primary and secondary data were collected. Primary data involved direct extraction of information from the respondents through self- administered questionnaires and interview guide while secondary data were collected from the review of available literature.

The study found out that academic staff at Kyambogo University were recruited basing on internal recruitment than external recruitment. The findings revealed that recruitment has a moderate positive influence on the employee’s retention at Kyambogo University. About 26.4% of the employees agree that internal adverts always encourage employees to stay at work and to continue giving service at Kyambogo University. Recruitment processes are still very poor at Kyambogo University. It does not relate to work experience. The findings show that training programs at Kyambogo University has a weak positive relation to academic staff retention. Training was not done based on need identification by favors from different departments. The findings revealed that reward system has negative influence on academic staff retention. About 8.4% of employees strongly disagreed that there were good working condition that ensures their stability at Kyambogo University. This has led to high turnover. Hence, the finding indicates that the current working conditions at Kyambogo University are not favorable in promoting employee retention. The study recommends that Kyambogo University should encourage and promote equal opportunity to joining academic staff by advertising in the national and international media namely: - newspapers and web pages which reach beyond the University. The study recommends the individual staff training needs identification based on performance gaps, departmental needs and objectives of Kyambogo University.