An investigation into the factors influencing job satisfaction and employee turnover among healthcare assistants in the Irish home care sector

Wuraola, Moyinoluwa Martha (2021) An investigation into the factors influencing job satisfaction and employee turnover among healthcare assistants in the Irish home care sector. Masters thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

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Abstract

The home care sector in the healthcare system is an essential support for older and sick people to continue living as independently as possible in their homes. The industry in Ireland is an increasingly growing one due to the ageing population and high disability rates, making it essential to identify factors that cause job satisfaction and turnover among healthcare assistants who are the unit of analysis in this study. Much research on the healthcare sector that has strived to solve problems facing employee job satisfaction and turnover has focused mainly on doctors and nurses who are viewed as the primary and most influential healthcare providers within the healthcare sector. This seeming diminished research interest in the contributions of healthcare assistants triggered this study, among other gaps, including limited information on what causes their job satisfaction and turnover. The study adopted an experimental research design. This implies the use of qualitative research and interview method data collection. Through convenience sampling technique, five interview participants (healthcare assistants) were selected for the study, having met the conditions for selection. The data analysis was done using the Gioia method. Findings show that the overall job satisfaction of healthcare assistants in the Irish home care sector is moderate. It is sustained more by internal factors (passion and self-driven disposition to serve) than by external factors (reasonable compensation and good working conditions). The turnover of healthcare assistants was caused by demotivators such as unfavourable work conditions, poor work relations, and poor compensation plans. At the same time, job satisfaction could be enhanced by an improved compensation plan, favourable work conditions and improved workplace relations. Findings substantiate the position in previous research that job satisfaction and employee turnover are correlated. When the right factors (workplace conditions, compensation, and work motivation) are in place, job satisfaction increases vice versa. There is a need for work transformation in the Irish healthcare sector to elicit high job satisfaction from healthcare assistants. Process maps can be used to identify the constraints on the job and eliminate these to create a committed, satisfied, and loyal healthcare assistant workforce.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Job Satisfaction; Turnover; Healthcare Assistants; Home Care Sector; Employee Retention; Ireland
Subjects:	R Medicine > Healthcare Industry D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain > Ireland H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > Issues of Labour and Work > Quality of Work Life / Job Satisfaction H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > Issues of Labour and Work > Staff Turnover
Divisions:	School of Business > Master of Arts in Human Resource Management
Depositing User:	Clara Chan
Date Deposited:	27 Jan 2022 15:17
Last Modified:	27 Jan 2022 15:17
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/5357

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