Influence of Short-term Employment Contracts on Employee Performance in Humanitarian Non-governmental Organizations in Nairobi County

Abstract

Many organizations tend to use short term employment contracts and the trend is rapidly growing. The practice is spread across industries, from those manufacturing, those in service industry and other disciplines eg construction workers, medicine practioners, banking sector, as well as information technologists. The trend has been necessitated by the ever-rising costs of doing business hence employers are trying to cut labour costs as much as they can. This study aimed at finding out the influence of short-term employment contracts on employee performance in humanitarian governmental organizations in Nairobi County. The researcher has used descriptive research design and purposive sampling method for achievement of the study objective. The study targeted those employees on short term employment contracts of period of one week to one year. A sample size of 34 humanitarian non-governmental organizations in Nairobi County were sampled targeting 5 employees each with short term employment contracts from each organization. The researcher mainly used primary data which was collected. The collected data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) and presented in tables, figures pic charts, means, standard deviations etc. The study found out that short term employment contracts are used by employers as alternative employment, they create the feeling of job insecurity to the employees, the employees voluntarily accept these short-term employment contracts in anticipation of permanent contracts and above all, they influence employee performance both positively and negatively. The study found that humanitarian non-governmental organizations using short term employment contracts should have strategies of gradual absorption of the temporary employees into permanent positions whenever opportunities arise in order to cope with some of the challenges associated with short term employment contracts. Those on short term employment should be trained by the employers in order to acquire relevant skills to boost their skills for overall productivity enhancement. These organizations should also review compensation and benefits to bridge the gaps that are experienced between the two types of employment; short term employment contracts and the permanent employment