REWARDS AND THE PERFORMANCE OF HEALTH WORKERS AT MENGO HOSPITAL, UGANDA

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between rewards and performance of health workers at Mengo Hospital, Uganda. The problem of the study was that it poor performance of health workers has been documented but there is a lack of evidence on what actually works to improve the performance of health workers. The objectives of the study were, to find out the perceptions of health workers towards the reward system, to determine the relationship between financial rewards and the performance of health workers and to find out the relationship between non-financial rewards and the performance of health workers. A cross-sectional research design was used during the study. 376 respondents within Mengo Hospital were targeted. A sample size of 111 health workers and five top management members was drawn. The 111 respondents were selected using the simple random sampling method while the five top management members were purposively sampled. Questionnairebased survey and interview methods were used to collect data from the respondents. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in data presentation. The study revealed that the health workers of Mengo Hospital are not satisfied with the reward system. Findings also reveal a significant positive relationship between financial rewards and the performance of health workers; and a moderate positive relationship between non-financial rewards and the performance of health workers. A regression analysis indicates that both financial and nonfinancial rewards play a major role in determining health worker performance. The findings of the study reveal that rewards affect the performance of health workers. The recommendation from this study is that Mengo Hospital should focus on developing a comprehensive reward system, tailoring it to the needs of the employees and communicating it effectively to the health workers so that they will know what is due to them