Influence of Retention Strategies on Employees’ Turnover Intentions in The Hospitality Industry in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

The hospitality industry contributes to key employment opportunities in various ways which include; travel and tourism, food and beverage as well as accommodation. The industry however faces high turnover rate which has been worsened by COVID-19. As a result, this study interrogated the influence of retention strategies on employee’s turnover intentions in the hospitality industry in Nairobi County, Kenya focusing on the influence of remuneration, work-life balance, recognition and involvement practices. A descriptive research design was adopted and the target population comprised of 1,202 registered business in the Nairobi region under Tourism Regulatory Authority. Out of the number, 291 firms were established and sampled through stratified random methods where the human resource managers were targeted. A structured questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data which was analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics that is correlation and regression analysis. The regression results indicated that remuneration practices, employee recognition practices, work-life balance practices and employee involvement practices have a negative and significant influence on turnover intentions (P-Value < 0.05). The findings imply that a unit increase in adoption of employee retention practices leads to decrease in the turnover intentions among the employees in the hospitality industry in Kenya. The study recommends firms in the hospitality industry to fastrack adoption of remuneration practices which are currently being moderately adopted. Specifically, they include provision of commuter allowances, leave allowances, different employee benefit schemes (pension scheme and medical scheme) as well as incentives. There is also a need for the firms to continue adopting the work life balance practices so as to retain more of their employees, given that Covid-19 is still around focusing on flexible work schedules and occasionally allowing employees to work from home. The firms can also appreciate good performance by employees.

Key Words: Remuneration, Work-Life Balance, Recognition, Involvement, Hospitality Industry