Staff Retention in Developing Countries: A Case Study of an NGO in the Health Sector

Given the importance of human resources as a source of competitive advantage and the fact that staff turnover is inevitable, the retention of skilled staff is vital in any organizational set up. In the health sector, particularly in developing countries, staff retention is regarded as an important human resource management issue. Any critical shortages prevent the delivery of quality healthcare services. Therefore, it is imperative for managers to identify factors that employees’ value and which consequently influence their intention to continue working for an organization. It is against this backdrop that this paper attempted to examine the key determinants of staff retention in developing countries based on a case study of an NGO in the health sector in Malawi. Using survey data collected from 299 employees, the results of this study revealed that it was the non financial/intangible rewards and not the financial package that significantly contributed to employees’ feelings of satisfaction and their intention to continue working for the case NGO. These results imply that when designing retention strategies, it is not just about money, but rather, it is important to factor in intangible rewards which could provide psychological satisfaction and may indeed have a deeper and longer lasting effect.