Abstract
This study titled “Remuneration and Workers Productivity: A Study of Ebonyi State Water Corporation, Abakaliki” was geared towards examining the relationship between remuneration and Workers Productivity. The study covered all the Water Schemes in Ebonyi State with a population of 1481 staff which was reduced to the sample size of 315 using Taro Yemenis statistical formular and simple random sampling techniques was used. The study is guided by research questions, objectives and hypotheses. The research adopted Expectancy Theory propounded by Victor Vroom in 1964. Descriptive survey design was adopted using structured questionnaire. Frequency distribution table, simple percentage methods were used to analyze the data collected. Whereas Chi-square statistics (X2) was used for testing the hypotheses. The findings of the study reveals that remuneration is one of the basic factors used in motivating workers to put up better performances at their duty post; Economic meltdown, saturation of labour market, job requirements etc are factors affecting workers remuneration; Government has not adequately ensured that workers of Ebonyi State Water Corporation are adequately motivated and employee recognition is one of the non financial rewards that can enhanced Workers productivity. The study recommends that Government should endeavour to provide employees with adequate pay reward to facilitate the achievement of desired high productivity; Government should provide training opportunities for the employees to enhance their productivity; Government at all levels should find out what actually motivates individual employees most, so that incentives can be effectively applied to achieve enhanced productivity in civil service; Government should ensure that work environment is made as conducive as possible.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Remuneration is a total compensation that an employee receives in exchange for the service he/she performs for his/her employer. Typically, this consists of monetary rewards, also referred to as wages or salary. A number of complementary benefits, however, are increasingly popular remuneration mechanisms.
According to Collins (2012), remuneration has been defined as a policy which addresses compensation, earnings, emoluments, fees, income, indemnity, payment, profit, recompense, reimbursement, reparation, repayment retainer, return, reward, salary, stipend, and wages.
For Bowman (2006), remuneration can be defined as all the employers’ available tools that may be used to attract, retain, motivates and satisfy employees. This encompasses every single investment that an organization makes in its people and everything its employees value in the employment relationship.
Good remuneration has been found over the years to be one of the policies that organization can adopt to increase their workers’ performance and thereby increase the organizations productivity. Also with the present global economic trends, most employers of labour have realized the fact that for their organizations to compete favorably, the performance of their workers goes a long way in determining the success of the organization. On the other hand, performance of the employees in any organization is vital, not only for the growth of the organization, but also for the growth of individual employee (Meyer and Peng, 2006). An organization must know who are its outstanding workers, those who need additional training and those not contributing to the efficiency and welfare of the organization or company.
In Ebonyi state Water Corporation, Abakaliki workers are generally under-trapped, underutilized, poorly remunerated and consequently perform low blow their standard to ensure effective productivity. The usually enhanced inadequate by the high rate of inflation pervading the economy over the years. Workers have witnessed a lot of neglect which has to lead to drop in salary and wages.
The problems associated with unmotivated workers includes the complacency or service quality, strikes/industrial disputes, breakdowns in employee communication and relationship, complaints about pay and working conditions, a widespread discouragement.
Ejumudo, (2014), found that remuneration systems are arguably at the heart of employee performance in any organization. This assertion is premised on the understanding that reward systems have the potency of engendering through the stimulation and direction of employees along the path of goal accomplishment. As a matter of fact, employees are the most critical of all organizational resources and their capacity to function of both their inward potentials and the outward environment in which they operate. This nature-nurture perspective of explaining the indicators of employee performance underscores the indispensability of reward systems as an integral part of organizational environments. In the light of this, it is instructive to assert that well rewarded employees are much likely to feel valued and cherished by their organizations
Works remuneration can either be financial or non-financial or both. What is important is that an employee is adequately compensated for his efforts and such practice actually induces him for greater performance (Gunu, 2005). However, reward that motivates employees may not be the same for everybody. In fact, Fery (1997) argues that once pay exceeds a subsistence level, intrinsic factors are stronger motivators and staff motivation requires intrinsic rewards such as satisfaction at doing a good job and sense of doing something worthwhile. There are mixed findings in the literature to determine which type of reward is more effective in increasing employees’ performance. According to Perry (2006), financial rewards is not the most motivating factors as it sometimes show some de-motivating effects among high level employees.
On the other hand, although Perry (2006) found that financial reward is not the most motivating factor and that financial incentives have de-motivating effect among employees, Lotta (2012) insists that financial incentives are indeed very effective in motivating employee. Also, Ojokuku and Sajuyigbe (2009) lent their own support to the finding when they found in their own study that financial incentives (pay satisfaction dimensions) have significant effect on employee’s performance. However, good as these findings appear, it is important to note that in applying financial and non-financial rewards to workers, effective manager must as a matter of necessity realize that different motivators are appropriate for different staff and that different staff will demonstrate differing inherent levels of motivation in setting their own targets and striving to achieve them (Kida, Mahmud and Nuhu, 2015).
On productivity, the need for productivity improvement exists virtually in all countries of the world whether developed or developing countries like Nigeria etc. The primary reason for this is precisely because of increased productivity and performance and economic growth. Consequently, industrial development effort will come to naught unless a nation’s productivity also improves in the developing countries. It is generally accepted that salaries and wages have to bear some relationship to productivity. The theory is that wages cannot diverge significantly from productivity without causing either inflation or unemployment. The implication is that a dynamic economy with full employment and no inflation might be an achievement in the performance of the organization.
Tagged with: Productivity, Remuneration, Workers, Workers' Productivity
