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Full Length Research Paper
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Developing a
retention strategy for qualified staff at the Polytechnic of
Namibia
N. Sylvia Naris and I. Wilfred Ukpere*
Faculty of Business, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
(CPUT), Room 22, Commerce Building, P. O. Box 1906, Bellville,
Cape Town, South Africa.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
pastorwilfred@yahoo.co.uk,
ukpere@cput.ac.za. Tel: 27-735295587, 27-21-959-6013.
Fax: 27-21-7615126.
Accepted 7 May, 2010 |
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Abstract |
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Tertiary educational institutions depend on their employees’
skills, knowledge, and abilities for efficient and effective
delivery of services in order to stay abreast with new changes
and to achieve the vision of the institution. Therefore,
attracting and retaining skilled, employees have become an
important aspect for institutions. Where there are no clear
retention strategies to retain
employees the ultimate goals of the institution might not be
achieved. The main objective of the study was to find out
reasons why staff members resign after attending development
programmes, which would assist the institution to developed
retention strategies, as it prepares itself to become a
university of science and technology that requires more and
better qualified staff. The enquiry employed a case study
approach because it dealt with a specific institution in
Windhoek, Namibia. A triangulation method was utilised to
solicit information from academics, administrative and support
staff by conducting semi-structured interviews with Head of
Departments (HODs) and sectional heads. A closed-ended
questionnaire was distributed to 230 staff members of which 130
responded, which gave a considerable satisfactorily response
rate of 65%. Research proved convincingly that there are no
retention strategies in place and also no good reward systems to
retain staff that attended development programmes. A total of
fifty-six (56) staff members resigned from the institution after
obtaining their qualification. It was evident from the
interviews conducted with top management that there were no
retention strategies. Employees that obtain a vertical higher
degree qualify for a notch increase. However, ex-staff members
noted that the notch increase was not sufficient therefore, the
researcher recommended that the Polytechnic of Namibia (PoN)
should develop a proper innovative retention strategy. The
research focus is on Namibians and permanent resident staff that
have been employed at the institution until July 2008 and hence
excluded non-Namibians, who are appointed on contract. It will
be in the best interest of PoN to conduct a study that focuses
on quantifying the cost of recruitment and the cost of labour
turnover. An investigation should be conducted to assess the
roles that supervisors and senior management plays in employee
retention. This paper offers PoN management an insight into the
views of current and ex-staff members regarding employee
retention. Retention is an ongoing issue that affects most
tertiary educational institutions, therefore finding out the
retention strategies and reasons why employees resign after
obtaining their qualifications will benefit the PoN. This will
ensure that an innovative retention strategy be develop in order
to retain qualified employees that are in short supply for the
growth and continuation of the institution.
Key words:
Development, Institution, retention, strategy, tertiary. |
