REWARD AND WORKERS' PERFORMANCE IN BANKING INDUSTRY

Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

In every human society, it is observed that normal individuals or group of individuals engage themselves in different work activities in order to make ends meet. People tend to gravitate towards jobs in which they are well rewarded and withdraw from jobs in which they are not rewarded. The interest and support of workers are sought by effective organizational managers or leaders and use a technique or another to spur their workers towards high productivity.

In many organizations, including the banking sector, reports of delayed payment of workers abound. Management employ principle of late payment of salaries to employees for reasons best known to them. This they do without considering that it could perhaps have counterproductive effect on the performance and general behaviour of their workers. For instance, a situation where bank workers do not receive their salaries quite in time, may result in non-challant attitude of workers to their jobs. Many bank workers may not pay attention to their work during the working period, simply because they are not happy doing the work that attracts delayed payment of salaries. When a worker performs his/her job without satisfaction, and a measure of happiness, the job itself may suffer a set back and company’s profitability may also be becomes low.

Poor salary is another factor that could bedevil the entire workforce of the banking sector in Nigeria. Many bank workers take salaries that rarely take them home. This means that the salary they receive per month and other wages are nothing to write home about. For instance, an adage says “pay poor salary and get monkey business”. This adage may be apt in the banking industry, where sensitive and stressful work is performed by workers without the commensurate salary to be taken home. Many workers start work very early in the morning and close very late at night, and therefore need to be remunerated adequately. In many instances, declined productivity amongst bank workers could be the off-shoot of poor salaries paid to workers.

Staff training is essential in any given organisation or banking industry. This is because without on-the-job or off-the-job training programmes, workers may not have the proper knowledge of the work they perform. Though, they may do the work, they may not do it as well as it is required to be done. Workers who are exposed to training may do better job than those who are not. Also, workers whose trainings are sponsored by the management may feel the sense of belonging and a sense of being recognized by the employer(s). This could spur them to put in their best, to ensure that productivity is high in order to augment for the training programmes sponsored by their employee(s). In a situation where management does not sponsor the training of its workers, it may lead to poor worker-customer relationships and may even lead to bank closure.

For workers to work effectively without many inhibitions, they perhaps need to be recognized by the management, in terms of promotion. Promotion could means that the worker is working well, and that the management appreciates the work done by the workers Non-promotion therefore, may perhaps signify that the worker’s work performance is not appreciated, or that the worker is not productive enough to be recognized and to be promoted. This managerial poor attitude of non-promotion of workers may not go down well with the employees who could likely feel snubbed and neglected. The result could be high worker-turnover rate. That is why bankers gravitate towards employments that guarantees their promotion by management.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Neglect for the motivation and reward of bank workers by not providing adequate salaries and wages as well as good welfare packages seems to have become the order of the day in the banking sector and probably in other organisations. Bank workers often complain of not having time for their personal needs and responsibilities due to the long hours of service that they put in their offices. The situation equally appears to have been extended by compelling every employee whether at the operation, customers’ service section, and particularly, the marketing department to attract some specified amount of profit to their finance without commensurate reward in terms of work benefits and incentives to workers.

This however could perhaps kill the morale of workers and reduce their performance, efficiency and productivity. This study is set out to discover whether reward has anything to do with bank workers’ productivity or not. Special interest is in First Bank Nigeria Plc, Lagos State. It will also find out why some managements have negative attitude towards rewarding their workers.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The objectives of the study include to:

1. Ascertain whether reward could influence the productivity of bank workers at the banking industry.
2. Find out whether employees of First Bank Nigeria Plc were well rewarded or not,
3. Find out whether bank workers attach much importance to their being rewarded or not,
4. Find out whether there was any difference in the productivity of bank workers who are rewarded and those who are not, and
5. Find out Whether management understands the importance of reward in the growth and development of workers and organizations.

1.4 Research Questions

The following research questions were asked to guide the study:

1. Can reward lead to increment in productivity of bank workers?
2. Are employees of First Bank Nigeria Plc well rewarded?
3. Do bank workers attach much importance to their being rewarded by the management or not?
4. Will there be any difference in the productivity of bank workers who are rewarded and those who are not?
5. Does the management understand the importance of reward in the growth and development of bank workers and organisations?

1.5 Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were postulated in order to help in establishing the relevance of the study.

1. H0: There will be no significant relationship between lack of promotion and productivity among workers of First Bank Plc.
2. H0: There will be no significant relationship between the productivity of bank workers who are rewarded and those who are not.
3. H0: There will be no significant relationship between the performance of bank workers who are trained and those who are not.
4. H0: There will be no significant relationship between poor salary and workers’ performance in the banking sector.

1.6 Significance of the Study

The study, it is hoped would be of much benefit to the entire management of the First Bank Nigeria Plc and other banking industries in Nigeria with regard to developing positive attitude towards rewarding of bank workers. Also, the employees themselves would benefit from the awareness which this study would have created among organisational managers because, their welfare would been taken care of. The organisational output would also increase since workers are expected to put in their best, after being rewarded thus, promoting the profit margin of the organisations. Furthermore, the whole society would enjoy relative peace as workers and employers’ conflict would have been curtailed as a result of the good treatment the former would have received from the latter and so on.

1.7 Scope/Delimitations

The study particularly covered members of staff of First Bank Nigeria Plc located in Somolu Local Government Area of Lagos State. It also examined the effect of reward on workers’ performance in the banking sector.

1.8 Limitations

The study was limited by the chances of getting the workers in all marketing departments easily for the collection of data since they are mostly busy with field operations. Time and protocol of obtaining clearance from the branch managers before having access to interact with their workers especially on official hours also will limit the study. Other factors such as company policy and management decision can hinder the successful completion of this project work.

1.9 Definition of Terms

The following terms were defined in the way they were used in this study.

Reward:

The incentives given to workers in any organization by the management after they had performed their work creditably. It is given to the workers so that they would be engaged for higher productivity.

Motivation:

This is the process of encouraging workers to rendering their utmost or efficient performance to the organisations where they are employed in order to achieve maximum productivity and profit.

Workers’ Productivity:

This has to do with the total output or result of work obtainable from the input of employees in any organisation. In other words, it is the total production level of all the workers in a company, industries, schools and other parastatals within the private and public sectors.

Motives:

The inner state that energizes activates moves and directs or channels behaviour towards goals.

Incentive:

Bonuses given in exchange for a job properly done

Impact:

This means the effect it has on factors.

Goals:

Refers to as “hoped for” reward towards which motivates are directed

Productivity:

The total volume of goals and services produced per worked within a specific period of time in a given production unit.

Employee Behaviour:

Refers to manners, moral conduct and treatment shown to or towards management

Motivational Technique:

These are means or incentives that managers/ organisations use in motivating or stimulating their employees.

Job fulfillment:

This is the final result an organization intend to see from the employees after being motivated.