The retention of employees is becoming a major
challenge in the Zambian Health Sector in this dynamic era of globalization and
competition. Health workers are migrating due to greater opportunities.
Job dissatisfaction of employees is becoming a
major challenge in the Zambian Health Sector in this dynamic era of
globalisation and competition. Health workers are migrating due to greater
opportunities in the private sector as well as abroad due to the economic
status of the country and other factors influencing them. Management is finding
it challenging to manage employee job satisfaction and it is due to this fact
that keen interest was drawn by the researcher to carry out this study. The
main aim of this study was to investigate on the factors affecting employee job
satisfaction at Chongwe District Hospital, a Public Hospital. It further aims
to provide recommendations to management on strategies that can assist to
retain employees at the Hospital.
The main objective of this research was to evaluate the causes of job
dissatisfaction among human resource for health at Chongwe District Hospital,
Zambia. According to the hospital superintendent the hospital has been
experiencing attrition from 2018 to date. This was a cross-sectional and
institutional-based study. The target population included all the 120 health workers at Chongwe District Hospital. The study
utilized stratified random sampling and a total of 42 respondents were included
in the sample. The collection of data was done through open-ended questions through
an interview guide and focus group discussions. Analysis of the results showed that the overall job dissatisfaction
rate of health workforce at Chongwe District Hospital was 61.9% among the health
workers surveyed. Nurses were among the categories with the highest job
dissatisfaction rate of 75% followed by doctors at 60%. The next highest job
dissatisfaction rate was revealed among the cadre of allied health
professionals at the rate of 58%. Factors which were revealed to have notable
relationship to job dissatisfaction following the thematic analysis were poor
working conditions, lack of promotion, poor management, poor policies, low salaries, lack of
motivation and the nature of work which rendered long working hours. Promotion
and recognition had the lowest satisfaction rates of 7.1% and 14.2%
respectively.
