Strengthening Strategic Reward Framework in Health Systems: A Survey of Narok County, Kenya

BACKGROUND: Rewards are used to strengthen good behavior among employees based on the general assumption that rewards motivate staff to improve organizational productivity. However, the extent to which rewards influence motivation among health workers (HWs) has limited information that is useful to human resources (HRs) instruments. This study assessed the influence of rewards on motivation among HWs in Narok County, Kenya.

METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study done in two sub-counties of Narok County. Data on the rewards availability, rewards perceptions and influence of rewards on performance, as well as motivation level of the HWs, was collected using a self-administered questionnaire with HWs. SPSS version 21 was used to analyze descriptive statistics, and factor analysis and multivariate regression using Eigen vectors was used to assess the relationship between the reward intervention and HWs’ motivation.

RESULTS: A majority of HWs 175 (73.8%) had not received a reward for good performance. Only 3 (4.8%) of the respondents who received rewards were not motivated by the reward they received. Overall, reward significantly predicted general motivation (p-value = 0.009).

CONCLUSION: In Narok County, the HR’s instruments have not utilized the reward system known to motivate employees. In the study area, hard work was not acknowledged and rewarded accordingly. In addition, there were not sufficient opportunities for promotion in the county. An increased level of reward has the potential to motivate HWs to perform better. Therefore, providing rewards to employees to increase motivation is a strategy that the Narok County health system and its HR management should utilize.