Extrinsic reward system and employee productivity: A study of National Examinations Council (NECO) Headquarters, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of extrinsic rewards on employee performance at NECO Headquarters, Minna, Niger State, and Nigeria. The various aspect of extrinsic rewards examined in the study includes pay rise, bonuses, insurance cover and pension fund scheme. The study makes use of primary data collected through a structured questionnaire administered on 275 staff of the Council out of which 174 were returned for analysis. The study employs both descriptive and inferential statistics (Ordinary Least Square) to analyse the data collected. Findings from the study show that pay rise (β = 0.061; sig. 0.037) and insurance cover (β = 0.328; sig. 0.000) have statistically significant effect on employee productivity; bonuses (β = 0.029; sig. 0.718) have a non-significant positive effect on employee productivity while pension fund scheme has (β = 0.016, sig. = 0.804) non-significant negative effect on employee productivity. Thus, while two of the null hypotheses were rejected, two were retained. The study therefore concludes that extrinsic reward as being practice at NECO Headquarters, Minna, has affected employee productivity positively to some extent, though, its application has not been very effective which accounts for the non-significant results obtained from the analysis and recommended among others that employers should considered regular pay rise, device a policy that strengthens the issuance of bonuses to employees, more comprehensive staff insurance scheme with adequate coverage of their immediate family members so as to get the best in term of productivity from employees and overhaul its pension scheme so as to allay employees fear and misgiving about the scheme so employees could give their best by way of increased productivity.