International Journal of Management and Commerce Innovations ISSN 2348-7585 (Online) Vol. 7, Issue 2, pp: (1124-1130), Month: October 2019 - March 2020, Available at: www.researchpublish.com
COMPENSATION VARIATIONS AND EMPLOYEE TURNOVER IN THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY IN KENYA 1
*Esther Nyandoya Azinga, 2*Dr. Mary Kamaara, 3*Dr. Kepha Ombui 1 1
* PhD Candidate, 2* PhD, 3* PhD
* Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Kenya 2* 3*
JKUAT, Kenya
Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization
Abstract: This paper sought to examine the influence of compensation diversity on employee turnover in the Insurance industry in Kenya. Increased employee turnover has continually affected the effectiveness and continued performance of insurance organizations in Kenya. The increased costs of recruiting and training new employees as well as losing the best talents to the competitors negatively affect the performance of insurance organizations. This paper unveils the role played by compensation variations on the employee turnover in insurance companies. The study adopted the descriptive research design which used both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The philosophy of the study that was adopted was the positivism approach. The target population was 2,167 employees of the top five performing insurance companies in Kenya. Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted: purposive random sampling was used in the first stage, to identify the top five performing insurance companies. In the second stage, stratified random sampling was used to come up with a sample size of employees in the top five companies. The sample size comprised of 338 employees. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire for employees that had both open-ended and close-ended questions. An interview guide for human resource managers was used too. Hypotheses were tested using regression model. The study established that Compensation Variations had a significant and positive influence on employee turnover among insurance companies in Kenya. Conversely, the study established that firm characteristics had an insignificant and negative moderating effect on the relationship between compensation variations and employee turnover. The study concluded that compensation variations created a gap within the organizations thus leading to increased employee turnover hence the recommendation that the management of the insurance companies ought to adopt better ways of balancing their salaries and benefits as so as to reduce employee turnover. Keywords: Compensation, Variations, Employee, Turnover, Insurance.
1. INTRODUCTION Background of the Study Workplace diversity is the collective mixture of human differences and similarities, including geographic origin, educational background, sexual preference, political affiliation, culture, professional, tenure in an organization, and other socio-economic, ethical-racial and psychographic attributes (Gossen, 2016). Organizations need to recognize the ways in which the workforce has changed in terms of demographics. Dessler (2013) defines compensation as performance-based salary increases which are given to individual employees based on their individual performance. It is divided into two forms; compensation for financial payments directly and indirectly. Whereby, direct financial payments include: salaries, wages, incentives, bonuses and commissions. Indirect financial payments include: insurance and recreation. Compensation is one of the strategies used in human resource management to attract and retain useful employees as well as to facilitate them to improve their performance through motivation (Nzyoka & Orwa, 2016).
Page | 1124 Research Publish Journals