Effect Of Career Development On Employee Retention In Benue State Civil Service, Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the effect of career development on employee retention in Benue State civil service, Benue state, Nigeria. The study aimed to specifically examine the effect of career planning, training and job rotation on employee retention in Benue State civil service, Benue state, Nigeria. This work is anchored on The Human Capital Theory by Schultz (1961). The study adopted a survey research design. The population used for the study comprised 14,966 civil servants out of which a sample size of 390 was determined using Yamane's (1967) formula and random sampling technique was used to select the respondents. Multi regression) was used for data analysis aided by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 27. The findings of the study showed that there is a strong positive association between career development with employee retention in Benue State civil service Benue State, Nigeria. The findings revealed that career planning, training and job rotation has a significant effect on employee retention in Benue State civil service, Benue State Nigeria. The study recommended that the government should strengthen career planning policies by ensuring clear promotion pathways, transparent appraisal systems, and structured career progression for employees, regular and well-funded training programmes should be implemented to improve employees’ skills and job performance and job rotation should be institutionalized within the civil service to expose employees to different roles and improve retention.