The Perceived Effect of Career Development Practices on Employee Retention at the Kenya Post Office Savings Bank

Abstract

In today's competitive environment, it is necessary that all organizations create a work environment which will enhance growth and development. It has become evident that in order to foster the necessary growth and development of employees all organization should develop a career development program in the workplace. An organizations employee is taken as core assets due to their input toward the existence, growth and development of an organization. In recognition of the pace of changes in the business and economic environment that is presently witnessed, managers and scholars have had to adopt new sources of competitive advantage and profitability. Career development is not about ‘getting ahead’, but rather about getting to be the best an individual can be and finding a place in an organization where they can express excellence and contribute to the goals of the organization. The objective of the study was to establish the effect of career development on employee retention at the Kenya Post Office Savings Bank (POST BANK). The study used cross sectional descriptive design. The population of the study comprised of all the employees of Postbank head office. The study used stratified sampling because of ease of classifying the population into strata’s. The study used primary data that was collected through self-administered questionnaires. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software and presented using tables and figures. The study found out that there are different career development practices that are being practiced in POST BANK. These practices include career planning, guidance and counselling, coaching and mentoring and training. These are geared towards retention of employees in the bank. The practices have resulted in development of staff for future positions, career planning being part of staff training content, formal sessions for discussing career development of each staff and discussion by both parties, helping the bank to know the positions in which they need to fill in order to achieve its objectives, helps in promoting decision-making, providing guidance to staff on career related rights and obligation, development of a healthy self-concept among individual employees, improve relationship and teamwork between staff at different levels, align employee performance with team and organizational objectives, enhance communication between managers and teams and that it help staff to accept and adapt to changes in a manner consistent with their personal values.