Effect of talent retention on organization efficiency of selected Sugar companies in Western circuit, Kenya

Abstract

Globally, employee retention has taken a center stage in various organizations which value skilled labor, knowledgeable and experienced staffs so as to remain efficient. These organizations prioritize talent retention strategies to enhance their efficiency in production. A survey by Kenya Sugar Board (KSB) in 2018 revealed that the staff productivity ratio in Kenya private sugar companies was at 46.2%. The employees attribute turnover to low staff morale, job dissatisfaction and lack of promotion, poor remuneration and poor working conditions. Reviewed literature links talent retention and performance, but no known study reviewed were done in private sugar companies using organizational efficiency as the dependent variable. Moreover, the reviewed studies revealed mixed conceptual and contextual framework with different methodologies. The general objective for the study was to examine the influence of talent retention on organizational efficiency at sugar companies in Western Kenya. Reviewed literature links talent retention and performance, but no known study reviewed were done in private sugar companies: Locally, many studies were carried out in national government, tea factories and learning institutions while majority of those studies done in other countries used descriptive research design. Additionally, none of the studies reviewed used independent variables; competitive remuneration, competency training and years of work experience. The specific objectives was to; determine the influence of competitive remuneration, competency training and years of work experience. The present study is anchored on Social Exchange Theory, Expectancy Theory and Efficiency Theory. The researcher has adopted a correlational research methodology to provide empirical data that helps addressing existing knowledge gap. Target population for the research consisted of 728 employees drawn from the three sugar companies. Stratified random technique was employed to arrive at 364 respondents from the population. Primary data was collected with the aid of structured questionnaire. The reliability instrument was determined by Cronbach Alpha method whereby results from Cronbach Alpha above 0.7 were deduced as acceptable degree thus confirming the internal validity while validity was ascertained through expert review. The primary data collected was analyzed using regression analysis. The findings revealed that competitive remuneration has a positive influence on organizational efficiency, β=.232, p<.05, competency training has a positive influence on organizational efficiency, β=.341, p<.05 and work experience has a positive influence on organizational efficiency β=.232, p<.05. Al, the three predictors that is, talent retention has a positive influence on organizational efficiency and accounts for 55.8% variance in organizational efficiency. It was concluded that competitive remuneration has a significant influence on organizational efficiency, competency training has a significant influence on organizational efficiency and finally, work experience has a positive influence on organizational efficiency. It was recommended that the sugar industry should improve employees’ remuneration, enhance their training in all sectors and retain employees with more years of work experience. The study may enable the management of the companies to appreciate the significant roles played by employees to improve a company’s efficiency thus creating the need to retain and reward them. Human capital department will use the findings of this study to influence their decision making concerning employees. The study may contribute to academia and research field by acting as literature for other researchers who may advance their research in the same field in continental Africa. The study findings will also provide the employees of the sugar companies with an insight of the need to improve on their efficiency and full production capacity in their duty.