Relationship between rewards and employee retention in non governmental conservation Organizations in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

The general study objective was to investigate the relationship between rewards and employee retention among environmental conservation NGOs in Nairobi, Kenya. The study specifically aimed; to determine the effect of direct financial rewards on the employee retention among environmental conservation NGOs in Nairobi, Kenya, to determine the effect of indirect financial rewards on employee retention among environmental conservation NGOs in Nairobi, Kenya, to determine the influence of various work environments on employee retention among environmental conservation NGOs in Nairobi, Kenya and to determine the relationship between Learning and Development and employee retention among environmental conservation NGOs in Nairobi, Kenya. A descriptive survey was used in the collection of primary data. The target population was employees of environmental conservation NGOs in Nairobi, Kenya. The data was collected using self-administered questionnaires. The study respondents comprised all employees of the two selected Environmental Conservation NGOs. This was because the study would directly benefit the organizations who are currently working on their long term strategic plans part of which includes a retention strategy. The data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics to explore the various variables of the study. The study found that the work environment, learning and development, direct financial rewards and the indirect financial rewards all had a positive correlation to employee retention. It was clear that under the direct financial rewards, salary stood out to be the most important while under the indirect financial rewards, pension benefits, leave benefits and healthcare all contribute to satisfaction of employees. According to majority of the respondents, leadership style was very important in terms of work environment. On the aspect of organization learning, work place/learning was very significant. Majority of respondents indicated training was very significant on employee development. The study concluded that retention and motivation of employees is improved by providing challenging work, achievement opportunities, realistic performance management and review processes. The study also concluded that direct financial rewards and indirect financial rewards even though very important are not enough to retain employees, rather a combination of the work environment in particular the leadership style impact on employee retention. Organizations that only focus on the monetary rewards will not be able to retain their highly skilled workforce. From the multiple regression analysis done, the study implied that work environment contributes most to employee retention followed by direct financial rewards and then indirect financial rewards, while learning and development contributes the least to Employee Retention within the environmental conservation organizations in Nairobi. The study recommended that it would be useful to carry out comparable studies from other NGOs in a different sector to study their retention strategies and how they impact on employee motivation.