Determinants of Employees’ Retention in Tanzanian Local Government Authorities: Insights from Njombe District Council

Abstract

This paper adopted equity theory to investigate the factors of employee retention in Local Government Authorities (LGAs) with insights  from Njombe District Council by using a cross-sectional research design. The study employed a mixed methods approach whereby  qualitative was the major approach supported partly with quantitative approach. Data were collected from 60 randomly selected respondents and from 8 key informants. The study used survey and interview methods with questionnaires and interview guides as data  collection tools respectively. The descriptive statistics was used to analyse quantitative data while the qualitative data were analysed by  content analysis. The findings posit that, basic salary/pay rate, fringe benefits, training and development opportunities, existence of  chances for career growth and development and adequacy of working facilities and resources are the leading factors in LGAs employees’  retention. Consequently, the study achieved its objectives and determinants for employees’ retention are well identified. The study  therefore recommends that there should be harmonisation of salary and benefit schemes across the public sector in Tanzania as a means  to mitigate the transfer of LGAs employees to other public sectors.