Employee assistance programmes in higher education: a case study of a Namibian higher education institution

Abstract

The study sought to assess the effectiveness of Employee Assistance Programmes in reducing absenteeism at the Polytechnic of Namibia1 in Windhoek. The study was motivated by the realisation of a lack of effective strategies or programmes that deal with employees’ immediate and indirect circumstances, which have a negative influence on their job commitment or productivity. This was evidenced by the high absenteeism rate of 28% during the three-year period, 2014 to 2016. High absenteeism has a significant effect on the quality of education. Hence, this study was an interventionist study, conducted through a mixed methods philosophy. A descriptive case study approach was employed in which the Polytechnic of Namibia was the case study. The study explored the causes of high absenteeism, the relationship between job stress and absenteeism, the relationship between job satisfaction and absenteeism and assessed how an Employee Assistance Programmes can mitigate job stress, personal problems and absenteeism. Data was acquired from a 100 randomly selected respondents from five departments at the Polytechnic of Namibia and 10 purposively selected key respondents through a 100 self-administered questionnaires and 10 face-to-face interviews. It was found that high job stress, employees’ personal problems and inequity in reward systems, the difficulties with relocation issues and employees’ dissatisfaction were the major causes of absenteeism. Secondly, the study found that high job stress and low job satisfaction had a significant influence on absenteeism. Overall, the study found that the adoption and proper implementation of Employee Assistance Programmes in higher education institutions had the potential to increase employees’ job satisfaction, commitment and retention, as well as reduce high absenteeism. Therefore, this study recommends the implementation of Employee Assistance Programmes in higher education institutions.