STAFF RECRUITMENT, RETENTION STRATEGIES AND PERFORMANCE OF SELECTED PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS IN NIGERIA

This study focused on the comparative analysis of staff recruitment, retention strategies and performance of public and private organizations in Nigeria. For any organization to experience enhanced performance, a competent workforce is required. Competent workforce on the other hand, required appropriate staff recruitment and adequate retention strategies to bring into the organization the needed workforce and retain them for performance. The challenge facing organizations irrespective of the sector, however, was that of frequent labour turnover and the inability of organizations to achieve their goals arising from inadequate competent workforce. This is in spite of “quality structure and well packaged incentives” put in place to recruit and retain the staff. The purpose of this study was to identify the unique role under-taken by competent personnel in bringing about the realization of the goals and objectives of organizations whether in the public or private sector. The objectives of this study therefore, were to comparatively examine staff recruitment, retention strategies, labour turnover, job satisfaction, reward systems and performance of six selected public and private organizations in Nigeria. The organizations are the Federal, Delta and Lagos State Civil Service (public sector); and Nestle Nig. Plc, Nigerian Breweries Nig. Plc and Zenith Bank Nig. Plc (private sector). The study adopted the Chi-Square (X2) (two-tailed) analytical technique (error, = 0.05 percent) to test the significant relationship between the independent variables of staff recruitment, retention strategies, labour turnover, job satisfaction and reward systems; and the dependent variable – performance in the public and private organizations in Nigeria. In addition, the study adopted Cramer’s V analytical technique to determine the degree of association between the dependent and independent variables. Furthermore, the Mann Whitney– U (two-tailed) analytical technique (error, = 0.05 percent) was adopted to compare the views of respondents in public and private organizations on the impact of staff recruitment and retention strategies on organizational performance. The study revealed a significant relationship between staff recruitment, retention strategies and performance in the public and private organizations. The study among others showed that private organizations institute better strategies to aid staff retention hence their enhanced performance, which was manifested in increased profit. Consequently, the study concluded with a prognosis for management across the two sectors in their desire to recruit and retain competent workforce for enhanced performanc