Employee Recruitment and Retention Practices at the Mobile Network Operator Firms in Kenya

Abstract

Employee recruitment and retention in the telecommunication industry has emerged as one of the primary challenges facing employers in this sector today. As such the current study sought to establish the recruitment practices and employee retention in the telecommunication industry in Kenya. The study was guided by one prime objective, that is: To establish the relationship between employee recruitment practices and employee retention in the Mobile Network Operations in Kenya. Purposive sampling procedure was used in the study to sample the HR managers who participated in the study. A semi -structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the human resource managers. Quantitative data was coded and analyzed using SPSS, version 11 for Windows and presented in frequencies and percentages in tables and graphs with accompanying descriptive details. The study established that: Main recruitment practices adopted by the Mobile Network Operator firms in Kenya are broad sourcing, and screening and selection. These practices are directly linked with employee retention as it’s observed from classification of findings in terms of last employee selection process in the firms, the period it occurred, the method used, and the employees remaining from last selection. Safaricom limited and Orange Kenya who have adopted broad sourcing and induction as their recruitment practices have the lowest employee turnover rate. Airtel has the highest turnover rate. This is explained by the fact that, contrary to Safaricom limited and Orange Kenya, this firm employs job assessment, as its key recruitment practice. Yu is at the intermediate level, applying a combination of the recruitment practices