| dc.description.abstract | The objectives of the study were to identify factors which contribute to employee
engagement; and to determine the extent to which employees are engaged at Zain Kenya
Limited. A case study research design was adopted. The population of interest consisted
of management and non management staff working at Zain Nairobi headquarter. A
sample size of 42 respondents was selected through stratified random sampling process to
ensure representativeness of the Divisions of the company. Data was collected through
questionnaires emailed to respondents and results analyzed using factor analysis, mean
scores, and standard deviation. Results were presented in tables. Out of the forty two
sampled respondents, 21 responded representing a response rate of 50 percent.
Even though respondents were represented in various age groups, majority of the
employees sampled (52 percent) were aged between 21 and 30. Seventy six percent of the
respondents were females, and sixty seven percent of employees had worked for less than
5 years at Zain. Married respondents were represented by 57 percent while respondents
who were single were represented by 43 percent.
Remuneration contributed to employee engagement to a very large extent. Other factors
which contributed to engagement to a large extent include training and development;
career growth; supervisor skills and fairness; job security; and recognition and
appreciation. On the other hand, provision of mobile phones by the company; and
company mission statement were identified as factors which contributed to engagement to
a small extent implying that they were less significant. On the contrary, the study found
that punishment had a moderate but, positive contribution to employee engagement. It
was also noted that the contribution of punishment to engagement was greater than
provision of free mobile phones and company mission statement.
It was established that employees at Zain were disengaged. This was depicted by
distraction from work, lack of satisfaction with remuneration, work-life balance.
Respondents showed that they lacked the freedom to express their opinions and that they
were not adequately involved in making company strategic decisions. It was concluded
that several factors contribute to engagement but, salary and benefits was the largest
contributor. It was also concluded that punishment could be used to positively influence
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employee engagement. This however, would depend on the magnitude of punishment as
well as circumstances leading to punishment.
Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that;
1. The relationship between punishment and engagement of employee at the place of
work should be investigated by researchers in future.
2. Zain should undertake remuneration survey within the communication industry
and consequently use findings to review its remuneration levels.
3. Zain should allow her employees to form a trade union or register with existing
unions to represent them effectively.
4. Since career development is crucial for retaining staff, the company should invest
in staff training and be fair and objective when carrying out promotion of
employees.
5. Studies on employee engagement should be replicated in other industries. | en |
