Employee empowerment, reward system, employee engagement and employee retention: a case of selected secondary schools in Wakiso district

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to establish the relationship between Employee Empowerment, Reward System, Employee Engagement, and Employee Retention in some selected Secondary Schools in Wakiso District. A cross sectional survey design was adapted and data collected through the use of both quantitative and qualitative techniques. The researcher used simple random sampling design and questionnaires were distributed to a representative sample of 205 respondents. The Bivariate correlation results revealed a positively significant relationship between Employee Empowerment, Reward System, Employee Engagement, and Employee Retention. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression and correlations were used to analyze the results. The regression model output below indicates that Employee Engagement, Reward System and Employee Empowerment linearly and positively relate to Employee retention in Schools (F=73.6, Sig=.000). Employee Empowerment, Reward System and Employee Engagement explain 44.5% of the variance in Employee Retention. Employee Empowerment has a significant positive relationship with Employee Retention with Beta=.266, Reward System has a significant positive relationship with Employee Retention with Beta=.524 and Employee Engagement does not have a significant positive relationship with Employee Retention with Beta=.109. The researcher basing on the findings and literature review recommended that, Ministry of Education and private school management should promote good reward system and empowerment strategies that facilitate teacher engagement hence teacher retention. Supportive school practices, policies and procedures should be a priority. Management should therefore on a continuous basis monitor the reward system and empowerment strategies, to ensure high level of employee engagement.