Retention Strategy and Employee’s Turnover Among Academic Staff of Lagos State Owned Tertiary Institutions

Abstract

The study investigated the influence of retention strategies of tertiary institutions on academic staff turnover. Employing exploratory study, the Key Informant Interview (KII) combined with Focused Group Discussion (FGD) was deployed to elicit responses from third party respondents in two (2) Lagos State owned tertiary institutions. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the responses obtained. It was found that the same pattern of retention strategic offerings obtained in the two institutions. The distinguishing turnover factor (TF) for the two institutions was the differences in agency (leadership/management) dispositions to academic staff in terms of creating an enabling environment and climate that meet the expectations of academic staff in an ideal academic milieu. The study also established that differential academic status (cadres) require differential retention strategies to reduce the risk of turnover among the cadres. It was recommended among other things that tertiary institutions’ management need to periodically examine the existing value propositions profile offered to their academic staff in terms of their sufficiency and adequacy in comparison to what obtain in other global clime if they are not to further lose competent staff to competitors at both local and international academic market space