Relationship Between Employee Retention Strategies and Commitment in Insurance Companies in Kenya

Abstract

Employee commitment to an organization is a demonstration of employee satisfaction with the employer in terms of their expectations. When an employer meets the expectations of the employee the employee in turn provides commitment. This is what makes work get done. Commitment comes if an employee has been provided with an enabling environment to be able to maximize of their full potential. This is where the employer gets value for their investment on the employee. It is the desire of all employers to retain their staff for a long time because it reduces the costs of recruiting new staff, training them and it takes a considerable amount of time for the new staff to understand and get into the system. Employee retention is important in almost all organizations. The study sought to establish the relationship between employee retention strategies and commitment in insurance companies in Kenya. The study adopted descriptive research design. The population of the study comprised of all the 46 insurance companies in Kenya. The study used primary data which was collected using selfadministered questionnaires. The collected data was analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences and presented in tables and charts. The study found out that the insurance companies have adopted several strategies to retain its employees. These strategies include annual review of salary, training, offering performance related incentives, open forums, open and fair resource policy, clear career plan and policies on employee promotion, information sharing between supervisors, flexible work schedules for employees and coaching and mentoring program. The adoption of the strategies by the companies resulted in employee commitment. It was concluded that highly committed employees are the destiny of an organization and there is need for insurance companies to review retention strategies as the employee needs keep on changing depending on the career levels in relation to the hierarchy of needs. Insurance companies need to be watchful of their employees’ perceptions regarding their satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior and physical working environment as they trigger the need to exit for most employees. The study found out that the employees are committed to the insurance companies as a result of satisfaction they receive from their needs being fulfilled through different strategies. Organizational policies and procedures provide overall guidelines on how things are done in a company. There is need to have employee friendly policies and procedures that provide an enabling environment that allows creativity and innovation. It is recommended that these policies need to be continuously reviewed and updated. Policies that are transparent and clear help remove bias in decision making and employees feel that the employer has a fair work environment where decision making is structured and the leadership style is more supportive to the employee needs. This kind of environment fosters commitment and retention as employees will not feel insecure and with clear procedures on career growth and development the employees’ needs are well addressed