Rewards and recognition on staff retention at Koforidua Polytechnic

Abstract

Within the polytechnics, enormous strides are being made with some of the polytechnics striving to introduce more market driven programmes such as Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech). These emerging trends require that the Koforidua Polytechnic positions itself in all strategic human resources management, including recognition and rewards. This prompted the need to investigate current rewards and recognition and their potential effects on employee retention at the polytechnic. The study employed descriptive crosssectional survey approach to collect and analyse data. Both probability and nonprobability sampling methods were used, in addition to proportional sampling allocation to the various academic schools in the polytechnic. Findings from the study suggest that staff were not generally satisfied with salaries and compensations available even though the salaries and compensations appeared the most favoured reward mechanism of staff. The study also established that staff members were not very impressed with the basis of determining their salaries. Equally, the research further observed that between the next one to ten years, the majority of the surveyed people had intentions of retiring or leaving the polytechnic, despite their average ages pointing towards less than 40 years. It is therefore recommended that the polytechnic need to seriously address issues on rewards and recognition in the polytechnic to improve staff retention at the polytechnic.