CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The Covid 19 pandemic period impacts the level of human health and impacts the level of economic activity. Among the financial activities affected by the Covid pandemic is economic activities in the service industry, such as banking, tourism, and other service firms (Pohan et al., 2020; Sembiring et al., 2020; Yanti et al., 2020). The disruption as well spread to educational sector where schools were closed for several months. Entrepreneurs utilize different type of techniques to survive the pandemic. Business management techniques in times of a pandemic can surely be the firm to keep operating with employee shift records or to be virtualized to always keep income from the business. This problem is an obstacle for firm leaders to preserve employee motivation throughout a pandemic (Wolor et al., 2020). The explanation is the determination to put out a high degree of initiative to organizational objectives and meet individual requirements (Riniwati, 2011). This motivation can be a sign of the success of corporate management in the area of human resources (Permadi, 2020).
In this moment of global economic challenges brought by Covid 19 pandemic, many organizations have intensified efforts to adequately provide employees with all available resource in an attempt to accelerate their competitive advantage to outperform different competitors both locally and their international counterparts. This strategic focus can be postponed or perhaps be hindered because of lack of motivation in employees or unexpected loss of key employees as a result of lack of adequate employee benefits. As pointed by Furtado et al. (2009), employee performance will be reduced when organizations define their employee benefits to the understanding of their employee with prompt implementation.
In Nigeria, the situation of employees work condition and benefits differ throughout sectors and organizations, leading to high employee performance and preparedness of many employees to move to new companies or sectors looking for greater benefits, and much far better work conditions. As a result, only fewer employees dedicate their time and abilities in the development and productivity of the organization where they were employed. This has resulted in reduced performance and inefficiency in lots of public and private organizations particularly the educational sector which ought to be the prime driver of a developing nation like Nigeria.
According to Siagian (2004), among the factors that affect work motivation is employee benefits. According to Mondy (2008), payment is compensation for employees' services for the work or work they offer to the firm. The amount cannot just impact motivation. It can likewise impact job performance, job satisfaction, and performance (Permadi, 2020). The significance of these employee benefits can likewise be seen from a number of research results regarding the impact of payment on work performance, motivation, job satisfaction, and employee performance throughout the Covid 19 pandemic. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate the impact of employee benefits on employee performance in a post-Covid 19 by using University of Lagos Researchers as a case study.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Designing and executing a good employee benefit strategy is a massive challenge for many organizations in Nigeria. A study carried out by Cascio (2003) in some West African nations including Nigeria disclosed that many organizations in developing nations do not structure and implement their employee benefit plans in a suitable manner; thus, employees find it challenging to truly believe they are benefiting from their workplace.
Poorly designed benefit plans that do not really inspire employees to put in their best at work is a major issue in organizations in Nigeria today. Organizations that do not design their employee benefit plans based on the individuality and nature of their employees have the tendency to be wasting resources and efforts, as employees are not inspired to work hard if specific benefit plans provided by the company do not speak to their needs. An average Nigerian employee places more value to the benefits he or she will acquire from working, for that reason they are really worried regarding what they are paid. Cascio (2003) opines that due to the importance that employee benefits hold for people's way of living and self-esteem, employees are really concerned about what they are paid as benefits- a reasonable and competitive employee benefit, while wise organizations are concerned about what they pay since it inspires vital employee decisions particularly when it involves job delivery and performance.
Implementation of employee benefit is likewise a significant challenge in businesses in Nigeria, as employee benefits are in some cases delayed or dismissed as a result of cost reduction measures by the management of an organization. This has brought about huge corruption, high employee turnover and low employee moral/performance.
1.3 Research Objectives
The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of employee benefits on employee performance in a post-Covid 19 by using University of Lagos Researchers as a case study. However, the specific objectives include:
i) To ascertain whether health protection benefits have an effect on Researchers performance in University of Lagos in this post-Covid 19.
ii) To examine the employee packages offered to University of Lagos Researchers in this post-Covid 19.
iii) To assess out the design and implementation of employee benefit plans/ policies of University of Lagos Researchers in this post-Covid 19.
iv) To suggest better employee benefit packages and plans to the management of University of Lagos Researchers.
1.4 Research Questions
In a bid to achieve the above objectives of the study, the following research questions were developed by the researcher:
i) To what extent does health protection benefits have an effect on Researchers performance in University of Lagos in this post-Covid 19?
ii) What are the existing employee packages offered to University of Lagos Researchers in this post-Covid 19?
iii) What is the design and implementation of employee benefit plans/ policies of University of Lagos Researchers in this post-Covid 19?
iv) What are the better employee benefit packages and plans to the management of University of Lagos Researchers?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
The followings are the research hypotheses for this study:
i) There is a significant relationship between employee benefit packages and employee performance.
ii) There is a significant relationship between health protection benefits and employee performance.
iii) There is no significant correlation between design and implementation of employee benefit plans/ policies and employee performance.
1.6 Significance of the Study
There is some debate over fringe benefits on whether they facilitate organizational performance and whether they impact on an organization’s ability to attract, retain and motivate employee’s conventional wisdom also says that fringe benefits can affect recruitment to support this conclusion. This statement indicates that there is a gap which has not explored and therefore this study was undertaken to seek to establish whether fringe benefits really do have an effect on employee performance and make appropriate recommendation on how to address the problem. The researchers benefited from the study as it added on the growing body of knowledge on the roles of fringe benefits in organization.
The study will also bring out specifically, the employee benefit packages which the bank has been able to make available to its employees. It also seeks to bring out the level of encouragement and motivation the bank has given to its employees to work effectively, among others. The importance of this study is therefore to highlight the various employee benefits and how it affects the productivity of employees in an organization. This study will go a long way to illustrate how organizations should treat employees’ in-order to increase productivity.
1.7 Scope of the Study
The scope of the research will be limited to the impact of employee benefits on employee performance in a post-Covid 19 among University of Lagos Researchers, Lagos State, Nigeria. The research will rely on the school for vital information as well as information from secondary source.
1.8 Limitations of the Study
The researcher encountered a limitation in regards to availability of information. Thus due to the institutions working ethics, the researcher could not get access to vital information since it was treated as confidential and the targeted respondent’s number was not attained, since some employees were on leave. Inadequate funds and availability of time also became a limitation.
