Factors Influencing Retention and Job Satisfaction among Health Workers in Public and Private Health Care Facilities: A Comparative Study

Background: Health workers retention and job satisfaction are critical to the stability and efficiency of any well performing healthcare systems in the world. However, factors affecting retention and job satisfaction vary between public and private healthcare facilities; they include salary, work environment, career growth, and job security among others. This study sought to identify key factors that contributing to retention and job satisfaction and their differences among health workers private and public healthcare facilities.  Methods: The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study was out among 353 and 60 health care workers in a public and private health facility in Keffi. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the sample size. A semi structured self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The collected data was analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistic.  Results: The study had more female respondents with M: F ration of 1:1.2. Majority 344(85.6%) of the respondents works in the public health facilities, they are Nurse 179(44.5%) with over 10 years of working experience 208(51.7%). Salary was not competitive when compared with other clime in both public 150(37.3%) and private 90(22.3%) health facilities. Public health workers enjoy timely payments of salary, promotion and access to training. Overall health workers in both public 270(67.1%) and private health facilities are not satisfied with their job. A higher proportion of health workers 47 (81%) intend to leave the private healthcare facility when compared to 218 (63.4%) who intend leaving from the public health facility and the association is significant with a p-value is 0.009. Comparing job satisfaction between employees in public and private health facilities, Private health facility showed a higher level of job satisfaction with a mean rank value of (224.17), when compared to their counterparts in the public healthcare facilities with a mean rank value of (197.68) but it’s not statistically significant p-value is 0.060. Conclusion: This study revealed clearly the poor remuneration status in both the public and private health facilities. with many of the health worker ready to leave their jobs due to lack of satisfaction and poor job retention strategies. This research therefore, provides valuable insights for healthcare administrators and policymakers to improve retention and job satisfaction, ensuring a stable and motivated healthcare workforce.