The effects of the staff separation on employees, a case study of AMREF Kenya

This paper assesses the effects of the staff separation process on the employees of AMREF Kenya. The Survey Research Design was used to carry out this study with the aim of accurately reflecting the real figure in the wider population of AMREF Kenya employees and to find out the effects of AMREF Kenya’s Separation Process towards the employees. The study population consisted of men and women who are employees of AMREF Kenya Country Office. The Systematic Random Sampling technique was used to obtain a sample size of 50 employees, 42 of whom participated in the study. Approval was sort by the Principal Investigator from the management of AMREF Kenya Country Office; a brief introduction and purpose of the study was given, and a written /oral consent to take part in the study was then obtained. This was followed by data collection using questionnaires that had both quantitative and qualitative properties. The questionnaires were collected after a month from all the 42 participants and were stored, then the data analyzed. Data entry was done during analysis where the questionnaires’ serial numbers were cross checked to confirm if all questionnaires were returned. Data entry was carried out using the Microsoft Excel package. The data was then edited to correct errors and verification was done to eliminate any discrepancies in the numbers entered. The data was summarized appropriately using means and proportions, and it was analyzed using the IBM SPSS version 20.0 where the findings were presented in tables and figures for easy interpretation. The findings show that majority of the separated staff were stressed as a result of their job loss; this was followed by financial difficulties, depression, poor health and family problems. The paper further shows that the employees of AMREF Kenya experienced high levels of uncertainty after layoffs; their trust towards management reduced; they were angered by layoffs and their loyalty towards the organization slightly reduced. Employee productivity and participation, and their confidence towards the management of AMREF Kenya worsened. It was concluded that the effects of the staff separation at AMREF Kenya negatively impacted on both the separated and retained staff. The findings show that separated employees face a plethora of challenges as a result of the layoff which affects their morale and way of life. The layoffs are also detrimental to the retained staff as they negatively affect their productivity, loyalty and confidence towards AMREF Kenya’s management thus causing them to seek for employment opportunities with job security in mind. The study recommended that AMREF’s management should carry out employee engagement surveys on a regular basis to find out the various implications that both the separated and retained staff experience as a result of the layoffs and ways to mitigate them.