Effects of Gender on Employee Pay And Retention In Five Star Hotels In Nairobi County

Abstract

Labor turnover have proven to be a global crises, especially in the hospitality industry. Generally, majority of hotels are grappling with employee retention that is a resultant of employee turnover. While many studies have been conducted with a view of understanding employee retention in hotels, the debate on the effects of gender on pay and retention among hotels is not exhaustive. This study aimed at establishing the effects of gender on pay gap and employee retention among five-star hotels in Nairobi County. Specifically, the study sought; To assess the pay gap between male and female employees in five star hotels in Nairobi, To determine the effects of gender on employee pay in five-star hotels in Nairobi, To identify job characteristics and social-demographic factors that influence employee pay and retention in five-star hotels in Nairobi and to determine the effects of gender on employee retention in five star hotels in Nairobi. The study adopted a quantitative approach with a cross-sectional research design. The target population of the study was 392 employees from five star hotels in Nairobi County. Multistage sampling technique was employed to draw 197 respondents. Data collected using self-administered questionnaires was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS. Mean difference and independent sample t- was used to assess the employee pay gap between male and female employees. General linear modeling (GLM) Univariate ANOVA was used to test the main effects of independent variable on dependent variables for the second, third and fourth objectives. The wage mean between male and female employees did significantly different at p=.040 and male employees had a lower wage mean of 2.80 than the female employees who reported a wage mean of 3.58. Gender had a significant effect on employee pay F (16.815, 1) = 4.42, P=.038 and the effect size partial Eta squared = .039. The job characteristics and demographic factors that influenced employee pay were the level of education (F=12.707, P=.000), position held (F=8.253,P=.001), department(F=3.210, P=.010), age group(F=4.230, P=.018), and number of years worked in the hotel(F=2.655, P=.053). The job characteristics and demographic factors that significantly influenced employee retention were gender (F=3.603, P=.051), department (F=4.722, P=.001) and number of hours worked (F=3.518, P=.034) .Gender also had a significant effect on employee retention (F=3.603, P=.051).In addition, pairwise comparisons showed that female earned significantly higher salaries than male employees (MD= 78, p=0.04) and female employees have higher retention rates than male employees (MD= 6.89, p=0.05). This study concluded that gender has a significant effect on employee pay and retention, where female employee earned more pay than male and were more likely to be retained. The outcomes of the study are to point at key areas to focus on when addressing the high employee turnover and improve employee retention in respect to gender. The study findings therefore will inform the hospitality human resource managers and academicians on gender issues and employee retention in the hospitality industry.