Perception of Employee Development Programs among Non-Academic Employees in Selected State-owned Tertiary Institutions in South-East Nigeria
Employees remain the most valuable asset for organisational productivity and success. As such, serious minded organisations have recognised the need for improving the knowledge and skills of their employees through employee development programs. However, the extent to which employee development programs are taken seriously within public tertiary institutions in Nigeria remains questionable. This study was therefore positioned to fill this gap in empirical research by investigating employee’s perception of employee development programs in public tertiary institutions in the Southeast Nigeria. Data for the study were collected from 205 non-academic employees of two selected State-owned tertiary institutions within the Southeast Nigeria, who participated in the study through a web-based questionnaire administration. Data collected through the Google Form web-based survey software package were transformed from the original Excel format to Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software package, which aided the processing of relevant data. Data processed through the SPSS software were thereafter analysed descriptively using frequency count and simple percentage and presented in tables and graphs. Findings of the study revealed that the employees of public tertiary institutions in the Southeast Nigeria expressed negative perception regarding the various aspects of employee development programs measured in terms of perceived frequency, availability, adequacy and quality of the programs. The study recommended the need for State-owned tertiary institutions in Nigeria and by extension all public tertiary institutions to realise the benefits of employee development programs and become serious with designing and implementing them at regularly or periodic intervals.