Influence of Financial Incentives on Employee Performance in Ferry Service, Mombasa County

The main purpose of the study was to assess the influence of financial incentives on employee performance in Ferry Service, Mombasa. The study employed goal theory, Herzberg theory and self-efficacy theory. The study employed a descriptive survey study design. The study was carried out at Ferry Service, Mombasa with a population of 268 employees. Stratified random sampling with the non-proportionate allocation of sample sizes was used to draw samples from the target population. The researcher used questionnaires to collect data from the respondents. The data that was collected was organised, tabulated and analysed using descriptive statistics. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 26.0 was used to assist in data analysis. The analysed data was presented in tables and figures, percentages and frequencies. The study found that financial incentives were administered by the organisation to which salary and fringe benefits highly influence employee performance the most while bonus was found to be the least since not all employees were benefiting from the incentive except a few employees who represent a quarter of the total employees. The respondents highly agreed that the employees are required to be aware of the fringe benefits offered by the organisation to enhance their performance which was represented by a mean of 1.60 and a standard deviation of 0.769; other respondents agreed that every organisation provides total rewards packages to the employees in addition to the basic pay represented by a mean of 1.97 and a standard deviation of 1.09 while others agreed that some benefits are given to the employees to attract and retain them and to avoid absenteeism from work which was represented by a mean of 2.14 and standard deviation of 1.158. The study concludes that financial incentives provide a big role in influencing employee performance in the organisation. The study recommends that financial incentives given to employees should be emphasised and increased to influence employees to work more and provide what is best for them. The organisation should provide financial incentives to its employees in a fair manner without discrimination. Incentives are there to motivate employees to work more and more and not to discomfort them.