Effect of financial incentives on employee work habit and performance in Nigerian public enterprises

Abstract

Poor performance in the Nigerian public enterprises in most cases stem from dissatisfaction among employees, this dissatisfaction is attributed to many factors of which low financial incentive and Limited opportunity for career advancement are suspected to be among. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of Financial incentives on employees work behavior and performance in Nigerian Public Enterprises. The study is a descriptive survey and both primary and secondary data were used, and formulated hypotheses tested using Kendal coefficient of concordance. The findings of the study indicated that there is a significant relationship between financial incentives and work habits and performance of employees of Nigerian Public Enterprises, also limited opportunities for career advancement demotivate employees of Nigerian Public Enterprises, Provision of adequate training opportunities and career development programs motivates and encourages higher performance among employees of Nigerian Public Enterprises, equally Lack of annual salary increment tied to employee performance contributes to low motivation and poor performance among employees of Nigerian Public Enterprises. The study draws its conclusion on the fact that improved financial incentive energizes employees in Nigerian Public Enterprises to focus on work activities and encourage better performance, and recommended among other things that the management of Nigerian Public Enterprises needs to understand their employees better and use appropriate tactics like financial incentive to influence their work behavior and over-all performance. Also, opportunity for career advancement should not be limited or politicized, because the implications of that are low quality expectations and lack of trust among employees of Nigerian Public Enterprises.