The Impact of Skilled Construction Workers’ Turnover on the Performance of Construction Projects in Kenya: a Case Study of Judiciary Projects

Abstract

High turnover of skilled construction workers contributes to reduced performance of construction projects. Consequently, this study investigated the persistent construction workers turnover detrimental to project performance in Kenya. The dependent variable was the performance of Kenyan construction projects and the independent study variables were; countering skilled construction workers’ turnover drivers, reduced impacts of skilled construction workers’ turnover on project performance and adopting mitigation measures for skilled construction workers’ turnover. The study specific objectives in context of the Kenya construction industry were; to identify and rank causes of skilled construction workers’ turnover in the Kenyan construction projects, to identify and rank negative project performance impacts of skilled construction workers’ turnover in the Kenyan construction projects and to develop mitigation measures for the identified causes of skilled construction workers’ turnover in the Kenyan construction projects. The research embraced a quantitative design which used primary data that was collected in the questionnaires which were administered to the 76 skilled construction workers that included 3 contractors’ representatives from our sample frame of 3 active judiciary construction projects. A 100% response was achieved through my persistent urging of contractors’ representatives who organized the workers to meet in groups and adequately briefed them on the goals of the questionnaires. Another source of primary data was the project reports, which included site meeting minutes, project manager reports, daily site activity reports and labor records. International Business Machines Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS) version 20.0 was used to quantitatively analyze data obtained from the respondents. The results from the descriptive analysis implied that when there is an increase in skilled construction workers’ turnover the performance of construction projects declines. Hypothesis testing produced results that supported the null hypothesis which stated that skilled construction workers’ turnover does not have an above average negative impact on the performance of construction projects in Kenya. The findings showed that delay in completion of activities had the utmost impact on the of Kenyan construction projects performance. It was followed by an increase in construction materials waste and defective works respectively. Closely following was reduced project reporting and accuracy in dimension that had the same impact and lastly the increase number.................................