The Effectiveness of Employee Retention Strategies at the British - American Insurance Company, Kenya

Abstract

Employee retention is the strategy employed by an organization to encourage their employees to remain with the organization for the maximum period of time or until the completion of a project and is beneficial for the organization as well as the employee. The study sought to assess the effectiveness of retention strategies used in British- American Insurance Company. The main objective of the study was to determine the effectiveness of retention strategies used in British- Amcrican Insurance. I his study adopted a case study design which concentrated on the case of British- America Insurance Company.. The study was done using an interview guide to collect information ensuring high quality data collection, and also maintaining a high response rate from the respondents. The key respondents of the study were the members of the management team that is the human resources manager, manager life insurance, manager general insurance business, and chief accountant. These were interviewed and then the content analysis done as per the objective of the study. The findings of the study revealed that the company has recognized that the human capital is very critical to the company and hence has continually put strategics that are aimed at influencing employee loyalty and hence retention. The strategies being used include training and development, career development, competitive reward systems, good working environment, through recruitment and selection practices that leads to attracting of right talent for the various positions. The employee turnover is still within what is best practice, but there is concern of losing especially the very scarce talents in the company to competitors. This affects transition and performance of the company. The study recommended that the company should continually uphold the practices that they have adopted in employee retention and endeavor to communicate the strategies to the management and supervisors. The effectiveness of these strategies will also he released if the management is held accountable for their teams as far as their mandate is concerned for example in mentorship, quality supervision, career guidance and coaching. Proper records of exit interviews that give reports of trends in turnover will keep the management informed of what they need to keep doing to remain relevant in their strategies against those of the competitors who tend to poach their staff.