Academic Staff

This study investigated the effect of total reward on employee performance among academic staff at the University of Benin. Total reward has been recognised as a comprehensive approach that integrates financial and non-financial incentives to enhance employee motivation, satisfaction, and productivity. The specific objectives of the study were:  To examine the effect of compensation on employee performance.  To determine the extent to which benefits affect employee performance.  To assess whether work–life balance has a significant impact on employee performance.  To identify whether recognition influences employee performance.  To evaluate the relationship between development and employee performance. A survey research design was adopted, with structured questionnaires administered to 115 academic staff using a purposive sampling technique. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The findings revealed that compensation (p = .356) and benefits (p = .921) had positive but statistically insignificant effects on employee performance, while work–life balance (p = .136) also showed a positive but non-significant relationship. Recognition (p = .038) and development (p = .001) exhibited significant positive effects on employee performance. The regression model indicated that total reward components collectively explained 35.5% of the variance in employee performance (R² = .355, F = 11.976, p < .05). The study concludes that recognition and development are the most influential components of total reward in enhancing employee performance, while compensation and benefits primarily serve to sustain satisfaction and retention. It recommends that universities strengthen recognition systems, invest in continuous staff development, and implement integrated reward frameworks that balance both monetary and non-monetary incentives to promote long-term academic excellence and institutional productivity.

The act of mentoring is an age long practice that dates back to ancient Greek mythology when Odysseus entrusted the care of his son Telemachus to the charge of an old man named Mentor who guided Telemachus to adulthood and saved his life several times (Cartwright, 2012). Inzer and Crawford (2005) state that mentoring is a one to one relationship that exists between the mentor and the protégé with the aim of the expert (mentor) voluntarily giving time to teach, support and encourage a younger, less experienced person (Protégé). Many organizations have
come to recognize the importance of mentoring and coaching programmes and have formalized systems of doing both. The world of work is rapidly changing in Nigeria with the influx of younger persons, women and other minorities into the workforce and the exit of older workers either voluntarily or involuntarily (Agbonifoh & Idubor, 2016). It is therefore expedient that the experience and knowledge of the older workforce be passed on seamlessly to the younger generation through the act of mentoring and knowledge management (Maxwell, 1998). The importance of mentoring and its benefits not only to the organization, the mentor and protégé, have been severally demonstrated especially in Western countries (Kram, 1985; Noe, 1988; Zachary, 2000; Leidenfrost, Strassnig, Schutz, Carbon & Schabmann, 2014). The situation
may be slightly different in Nigerian organizations as noted by Okurame (2008) because the negative connotations of mentors as godfathers. The notion of godfatherism is that an employee is under the protection and influence of a more powerful person with the aim of the junior employee getting benefits he may not ordinarily be entitled to, and for him to avoid punishment 2 for infractions. Mentoring however is to ensure that the protégé acquires the requisite knowledge, experience and guidance to enable him perform exceptionally on the job in particular and in life generally. It is about getting the protégé to learn from the mentor what he may not ordinarily learn or for him to learn it faster and in greater depth.