“I’m Proud To Be A Health Worker”: Improving HR Management At Faith-Based Organizations In Kenya

Mary Kinyariro works at Kijabe Hospital in Kenya. For a long time, she thought managers paid little attention to making sure employees were qualified and supported. “Patient attendants even gave medicines in those days, as well as feed the patient or make beds. I never saw meetings of managers and staff.” Her colleague John Kuria lacked clarity about his job. “Things were not clear. I was never appraised on my performance.”

Kijabe Hospital is affiliated with the Christian Health Association of Kenya (CHAK). Faith-based organizations make a major contribution to health service delivery: CHAK and the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) provide about 40% of the country’s health care through approximately 900 facilities.

But without a clear set of policies and guidelines to organize their vast network of staff, these facilities didn’t operate as effectively as they could have. Some positions lacked job descriptions, performance appraisals were infrequent, criteria for promotion were absent or subjective, salary payments were uncertain, safety issues went overlooked, and so on. Employees’ job satisfaction suffered, and many left their jobs...