INFLUENCE OF GENDER AND SKILL DIVERSITY ON EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT

Abstract

Diversity in the workforce refers to the presence of individuals of varying attributes within the workforce. As time passes, issues concerning diversity in the Nigerian workforce have continued to increase, this is shown in the Federal Character Commission (FCM) enacted both in public and private sectors. It is also evident in the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) acts on diversity of the board of public quoted companies, aimed at enhancing the accessibility of equal opportunities in the workplace across ethnic groups, languages and religions which have defined the country’s cultural heritage overtime. The study therefore examined the relationship between the diversity of the workforce (gender and skill diversity) and employee commitment using workers in firms within Benin City’s banking industry as its population. In achieving this, the study made use of all the permanent and contract staff in the regional offices of three new and three old generation Money Deposits Banks (MDB) in Benin City. Out of a population of two hundred and eighty nine (289), one hundred and sixty eight (168) employees in the regional office of three old generations and three new generations’ banks in Benin City were randomly selected using the Yamane formula. Data was elicited through questionnaires from the sampled respondents and were then analysed with descriptive statistics and multiple regressions with the aim of verifying the manner of relationships between the variables. The findings of the study showed that a significant relationship exists between workforce diversity and employee level of commitment in Benin City’s banking industry as the R-squared value of the regression model was 0.678, indicating that all the considered dimensions explained 68% of the systematic change in employee commitment in the banking industry. It specifically showed that gender diversity had a significant relationship with employee’s commitment in banking industry in Benin City, it found however that the diversity in the skills of the workforce did not significantly influence employee commitment. This study therefore recommends that bank management ensure their firms consist of a proper mix of individuals of different genders. The study also recommends that management uphold the varying gender and cultural values held by its diverse members through appropriate design of jobs, recruitment, selections and deployment policies.