Effect of human resource practices on employee turnover in selected medium sized hotels in Kisumu city- Kenya

Abstract

Employee turnover in the hotel industry is problematic and can be dysfunctional; there cannot be a cohesive successful team, if the team members are always changing. Turnover of hotel employees is the core issue of this research. In particular, the focus is on the influences of Human Resource Practices within these establishments that encouraged employees to either stay or leave. However, it is not just the retention of the staff that is of interest here, it is the examination of those elements of human resource practices, over which these establishments have some control. The broad objective of this research was to investigate the effect of human resource practices on employee turnover in selected medium sized hotels in Kisumu City. The research sought to establish the extent to which job assignment, job security and development/training of employees contributed to employee turnover. The research sought to assess the human resource practices that contribute to employee turnover. The research adopted Herzberg‟s two factor theory and equity theory. The research design was descriptive. A target of 24 medium sized hotels in Kisumu City comprising a population of 350 employees was used. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the hotels for the research, while stratified sampling method was used to select the various departments. Simple random sampling was used to select the respondents from the departments. A sample size of six hotels comprising 187 employees and 24 management staff was selected for this study. Primary and secondary data was used. Collection of data was done using questionnaires administered to the general employees and management staff. Descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyze the data. The findings indicated that job assignment, job security and employee development significantly affected employee turnover (p=.005) 2-tailed. Employee development affected job assignment and job security and played a significant contribution to the employee turnover, as compared to job assignment and security. The job assignment, job security and employee development have an effect on the employee turnover. From the multiple regression, (R2 = .674), it shows that all the predictors account for 67.4% variation for employee turnover. Training is a tool that can assist Hotels in building a more committed and productive workforce. Although training can play a major role in this process, Hotels need to look at additional strategies and practices that can enhance commitment. Training alone may offer many benefits but a much greater impact will be found when using a strategy to human resources that entails many different organizational practices and policies. Hotels need to strategically and methodically develop Human Resource Practices that are designed to fully achieve commitment and retention of employees in this informal sector in order to improve income per capita.