Critical Analysis of Talent Management Strategies on Medical Employees Retention in Public Hospitals in Kenya: A Case of Kenyatta National Hospital

Abstract

Hiring a qualified and talented workforce and implementing a program to retain these employees is a key component to successful workforce retention. However, one of the challenges of managers in today`s health sector in Kenya lies in building a workplace of choice where employees want to remain for a long time. Any employer`s foremost responsibility is retention of the best employees, and this can only be achieved by managing employee talent well to keep them satisfied and motivated. The purpose of this paper was to analyze various programs of managing medical personnel’s talent in the public hospitals in Kenya, a case of Kenyatta national hospital. The research objectives elaborated the independent variables which were: Availability of career development opportunities, nature of the workplace climate and learning, levels of training and development opportunities available, and attractiveness of compensation and benefits. These independent variables were assumed to have significant relationships with the dependent variable which was employee retention. Theoretical framework focused on the social exchange theory, cognitive career theory and Hertzberg`s motivation- hygiene theory. The total population of the study comprised of a total 800 medical doctors and nurses who have been in the service for less than five years and over five years at the Kenyatta national hospital Nairobi, Kenya. The study derived a sample size of eighty (80), arrived at by calculating 10% of the study population. The study`s sampling technique that was used was judgemental sampling. The study used mixed methods of data collection. Mean and standard deviation was calculated in data analysis. Regression analysis model was used to determine the relationship between the dependent and the independent variables. This was done using the statistical package for social studies software (SPSS) version 21.

Keywords: Talent management, medical employee, employee retention, Kenyatta national hospital