Onboarding Practice and Employee Performance in County Governments in Kenya

Abstract

This study aimed at establishing the influence of onboarding practice on employee performance in County Governments in Kenya. It was anchored on Communication Accommodation Theory. It employed a descriptive design. The target population for this study was 4631 employees in 9 selected counties. Using statistical formulae, a sample of 369 employees was obtained which was allocated proportionately. Thereafter, simple random sampling was used on the sample obtained across county departments. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect primary data from the respondents. Prior to data collection, the data collection instrument was piloted on 37 respondents (10% of sample size) from Nyandarua, Kericho and Nyamira Counties who did not participate in the actual study. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, supported by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The results of the survey were presented in tables. The study established that onboarding practice had weak and positive correlation with employee performance. The study concluded that onboarding practice was found to be significant predictors of employee performance. The study recommends the need for County Governments to benchmark with industry best practices, thereby aligning their staff needs to changing industry needs. In addition, they need to restructure their communication mechanism to enhance onboarding process and continuously encourage use of onboarding teams for easier, quicker employee-focused onboarding process.