Managing Employee Compensation and Benefits Essay

IntroductionLibraries and development Centres services in Nigeria be existence regarded as humanitarian services and on that pointfore issue of allowance and benefits be non well defined. However, other clears of financial assistance embed in the Nigeria civil service rule include things alike Monetization, case Health Insurance Scheme, Contributory Pension, and Pension Benefits all of which staff of Libraries and Information Centres in any case benefit from. Aside this is the Annual Appraisal Form (Aperform) that contains rudimentary requirements expected of an employee before he can be promoted. Nigerian Universities also makes white plague of this to assess staff in order to determine their wage as at when due. For corporate body compositions where special libraries and information centres form part of the organization, requital and benefits will depend on the annual approximation or bank line happiness based on criteria spell out in their organizations handb ook.Evaluation forms also contains inter alia what you atomic number 18 expected to do according to your billet descriptions, your relationship with staff, creativity, sense of direction, contrasted mission of duty, which will be rated as either fair, good, very good, satisfactory and excellence. on the whole these indices hinges on employees performances. Though an employer compensates his employee with motivation and benefits based on job performance, there is have for job mirth. Every employer expects certain degree of result lie services that would fall in line with his vision and mission bandage every employee demands job enjoyment. Ordinarily, the management of people at work is an underlying part of the management process, put differently, managers need to understand the critical brilliance of people in their organizations so as to recognize that the human particle and the organization ar synonymous. (Tella, Adeyemi, and Popoola, 2007)Therefore, it is imperative to compensate an employee with benefits if he merits it. Cascio (2003) opines that because of the importance that honorarium holds for peoples lifestyle and self-esteem, individuals be very concerned or so what they be paying(a) a fair and competitive wage, while organizations are also concerned about what they cover because it motivates important decisionsof employees about taking a job, leaving a job and on the job performance. stipend as a ideal according to (Bernadin, 2007) refers to all forms of financial returns and tactile benefits that employee receives as part of employment relationship. compensation as it were is divided into both parts and these are cash compensation which is the direct gift provided by employer for work performed by the employee and fringe compensation which refers to employee benefit programs. Cash compensation has two elements which include base pay and pay possible.Base pay has to do with hourly or weekly wages plus overtime pay, shif t differential and uniform allowance while pay contingent is concerned with performance allowances such as merit increases, incentive pay bonuses and gain sharing. rush compensation on the other hand refers to employee benefits programs. Fringe compensation also has two parts to it which are legally need benefit programs and discretional benefits. Legally required benefit programs include well-disposed security, workers compensation while discretional programs include health benefits, pension plans, paid time off, tuition reimbursement, recognition award, foreign service premiums, office allowance, claw care, on campus accommodation, pro deed, annual increment and a host of others ( Cascio, 2003 Dessler, 2005 Bernadin,2007).Benefits, in a nutshell are the indirect financial and non-financial payments employees receive for continuing their employment with an organization. The image of employee compensation and benefits cannot be discussed in a vacuum. Various studies have natu ralized that salaries and benefits are well-nigh related to job satisfaction (St. Lifer, 1994) and job satisfaction can bring about motivation which in turn affects employee job performance and organizational commitment.Statement of the ProblemIf one turns his attention unaccompanied to pedantic libraries in Nigeria, it has been observed that certain compensation and benefits enjoyed by expertness lecturers are not extended to practicing academic librarians. The reason may not be farfetched in the sense that the edict that constituteed universities has ceaselessly considered the university depository library as a supporting unit of measurement, thus placing it and its employees as a second value. This analyze therefore aims at identifying those benefits and compensation enjoyed by academic staff anddenied professional libraries and its effects on librarians job performance and satisfaction with a view to recommending a way out of the situation.Objectives of the StudyThis e ssay seeks to achieve the following objectives1. To identify the various forms of benefits provided for by library employers. 2. To establish other forms of compensation that academic librarians would like to enjoy outside their salary. 3. To secure if there are any other types of benefits enjoyed by their counterparts within the organization that is not extended to them. 4. To establish the relationship between compensation, benefits and job satisfaction among academic librariansReactionThe findings of this study revealed that there is a relationship between employee compensation and job satisfaction as 66.75% of the thespians affirmed that they are satisfied with the salary they receive. This is in agreement with St. Lifer (1994) who stated that salaries and benefits are related to job satisfaction. Even at that, 68.6% of the participants would like to be paid overtime/ displacement allowance in addition to their salary while 83.3% suggested hazard allowance. However, 29.4% of the participant who probably are sectional heads suggested responsibility allowance. This may not be out of place since their counterparts in the faculty who are heads of departments receive responsibility allowance. After all, some sections of the library have the same number of staff office or more than we have in the departments.Also, the following forms of benefits as revealed by the study are enjoyed by library personnel though at a different take and various percentages. In other of their grade from Babcock University they are health care, pension, in- service training, retirement plans, boor care and conferences/ shop class allowance. From University of Lagos, ratings are as follows in- service training, annual leave, conferences and workshops, promotion, health care, pension and genial security. From Lagos State University annual increment, on campus accommodation in-service training, health care and child care. Findings revealed that insignificant number of participa nts benefitted from other forms of employee benefitssuch as on campus accommodation, foreign service premiums, tuition refund, reversal of wrong done and conferences/seminars. However, some of the benefits are not available at all to some of the participants.These include genial security, Foreign Service premiums, and on- campus accommodation. The study has revealed that apart from the available forms of benefits to participants, there are others enjoyed by their counterparts in the faculty which they are exempted from. This finding has shown some level of inequity in benefits within these organizations and so cannot be said to be satisfactory. After all satisfaction on a job could be motivated by the nature of the job, its pervasive social climate and finis to which workers peculiar needs are met (Tella, Ayeni, Popoola, 2007) and working condition that are correspondent to that of other professions in the locality (Oshagbemi, 2000).Other salient issues raised by participants ra nged from exclusion from teaching course work especially that which has to do with students use of library which has been hijacked by faculty academic staff, to late night remainder without any arrangement on how they will get to their various destinations. This exposes personnel to danger and constitutes security risk. Also some of the respondents complained of not benefitting from some of the internally generated revenue from non-degree awarding programs available in these institutions even when they are make to serve this group of users whereas their counterparts at faculty benefit from the proceeds.Conclusion and RecommendationsCompensation plays an important role in the recruitment and retention of librarians. Though librarians in academic libraries these days enjoy significant increase in their salaries and benefits that are generally provided by their parent institutions, there is still room for improvement. This study has revealed that in some universities, this group of pe ople is denied some benefits that are being enjoyed by their counterparts in the faculty which may be as a result of the library being seen as a support unit of the university. There may be need for university policy makers to review this concept and see university libraries and librarians as integral part of the educational institution.The academic library human imagination specialist should therefore set in motion strategies to address especially benefits packages available to library employers across board as well as creating awork environment that is appreciative of its employees and contributive to professional growth. The concept of work life balance (Switzer, 2004) which is valued by todays library employee should be understood and embraced by library human resource specialist.High Income EarnersBenefits & Compensation Case StudyThe blotSam, age 58, and Susie, age 54Three children living independently dickens grandchildrenSam is a top executive of a large club with signif icant compensation and a benefits package with many options. Sam and Susies combined balance sheet tops $8 million, including some preoccupation in Sams employer memory. As Sam and Susie near retirement age, they want to be sure that they make the right financial decisions, particularly in regard to Sams lodge restrict sprout awards and stock options. They have a number of things they want to do in retirement, including buying a second home and gifting to their children and grandchildren. They know the importance of qualification smart choices today to be able to meet these goals but need some direction.The SolutionPayne riches Partners professional team would start by developing a deep understanding of Sams compensation and benefits package including studying company documents and discussing each plan with his human resource department. Next, we would prepared a wealth plan illustrating where Sam and Susie stand today financially and what their future balance sheet may loo k like under different circumstances. By coordinating choices regarding Sams restricted stock awards and stock options along with all of the other activity in their financial lives we would be able to maximize the value realized from these company benefits. Additionally, we would work closely with Sam and Susies CPA to assure our recommended strategies were revenue enhancement efficient and feasible, given their income tax picture.Our professionalteam would be closely involved in developing and executing key strategies for exercising stock options. An important consideration would be Sam and Susies concentration in employer stock, with possible strategies designed to exit positions in a way that were efficient, so far still increased Sam and Susies chances of meeting their life goals. Payne Wealth Partners would be recommending an investment management program that considered their present employer stock concentration and that was accompanied by ongoing reporting permitting comp arison to appropriate bench mark indexes. Their personal wealth plan would be the platform for relating Sam and Susies assets and earnings to their goals as it was revisited and updated over the years. Written recommendations for action items would been integral in staying focused and organized in these complex areas.