Thesis:

Influence of incentive schemes on employee retention in County government of Samburu, Kenya

In organizational administration, employee retention is a crucial concern, particularly in the public sector. This study looked at how incentive programs affected Samburu County, Kenya, employees' retention. Keeping talented employees is a major problem for the public sector in this area, leading to high turnover that impairs service delivery and breaks organizational continuity. The study sought to determine how several incentive tactics, including monetary compensation, non-monetary advantages, professional growth chances, and recognition initiatives, affect staff retention in the county's public sector.The study used a descriptive research approach and focused on public servants working in several departments of the Samburu, Kenya, county government. Stratified random sampling was used to choose 150 workers in order to guarantee representation in a range of occupational categories. At Turkana County, pilot testing was carried out. Structured surveys were used to gather data, with an emphasis on how employees felt about the incentive programs in place and how they affected their choice to stay in their existing positions. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data, while inferential statistics like regression analysis and correlation were utilized to determine the relationship between incentive programs and staff retention. Both qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques were employed. Financial incentives and employee retention showed a strong positive association, with a standardized beta of 0.496 and a coefficient of 0.614, indicating that for every unit increase in financial incentives, employee retention increases by 0.613 units. A modest beta of 0.304 indicated a positive association, and the coefficient for employee wellbeing was 0.562, indicating that higher employee welfare resulted in a 0.562-unit increase in employee retention. With a beta of 0.227, indicating a moderately favorable effect, Better working conditions are associated with a 0.585-unit improvement in employee retention, according to the working circumstances coefficient of 0.585. Better employee recognition results in a 0.412-unit improvement in employee retention, according to the fact that employee recognition contributed to 0.412 employee retention with a beta of 0.217, indicating a significant but modest effect. The results show that every predictor variable significantly improves staff retention, demonstrating their significance in boosting employee retention performance in the Samburu, Kenya, county government. The study comes to the conclusion that in order to increase job retention in the county government of Samburu, Kenya, the government should promote financial incentives, employee welfare, pleasant working conditions, and the recognition of high-performing staff. The paper suggests that future research look at the difficulties in implementing incentive programs for staff retention in Kenyan county governments.