RETENTION OF STAFF IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

Retention of employees is arguably a widely discussed subject and an important dilemma many organizations and higher institutions of learning might face in the future, if not facing it already. Universities are institutions that develop the kind of expertise and human resource essential to develop the countries policies, governance structures, cultural and socio-economic aspects of development. Globalisation has brought on dynamic markets and competition, and with that it is not hard to picture that universities are likely to focus and should be focusing on long-term strategies and a greater focus on attracting, developing and retaining its employees, particularly the core workers both academic and non academic to guarantee sustainability of programs and personnel. The purpose of this paper is to reveal through review of literature, the identified causes or determinants of staff turnover that may assist university administration reduce staff turnover in public universities. By comparing local and international research findings the paper highlights existing research gaps and findings that can be evaluated and employed to hire, develop and retain a committed workforce in institutions of higher learning. The review focuses on research published in peer reviewed journals from the year 1990 to 2010. The review focused on articles that addressed these concerns and synthesized those with a defensible research design.