WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS (A CASE STUDY OF PANABIZ INTERNATIONAL LTD, LAGOS)

ABSTRACT

Wages and employment relations if well structured will bring about employee job performance, one of the crucial factors in maintaining and increasing effectiveness within a company or organization there are good numbers of ways that managers and leaders can help to improve their employee job performance. Job performance relies on several key issues being in place for each individual employee. Sadly, many employers forget the fact that their greatest resources is their employees. Improving employee performance begins by assisting and helping the employees to grow personally and professionally. If you have employees, chances are good that you want them to be happy, production and motivated employees work more efficiently and produce better results. Productive and happy employees lead to success. Unfortunately, there’s no secret formula for motivating employees who can be as individual as the employees who work for you. Some employees may be motivated by money, while others may be motivated by personal recognition. In Panabiz International Ltd wages structure is not motivating.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Wages are among the major factors in the economic and social life of any organization or community. In many advanced countries, the wages of manual workers total forty percent or more of the national income. Together with the salaries paid to clerical and non-manual workers, many of whose standards of living are little, this can absorb about sixty percent of the national income says workers ‘s Educational Manual (1982).

In the developing countries however, a large part of wage earners consists of agricultural peasants working in the subsistence farming and self-employed persons engaged in small –scale rural handicraft and petty trading.  Therefore, the proportion of wage earners is small, being as low as ten percent or fifteen percent of the total working population in some countries. It is equally noteworthy that in developed nations, average wages are below the average of all incomes (in poor nations reverse is the case ).  This development arises as a result of the low incomes of workers in the industry and government Mulvey (1968).

Workers and their families depend almost entirely on to provide for their needs.  In industry, wages form a big part of employer’s cost of production. Many governments are concerned with “wage standards “  which affect social climate of the country, employment, prices , inflation, national productivity and the ability of the country to export enough goods to pay for it’s import so as to have a clean international trade balance. That is why a simple economic theory puts it thus employment should fall when wages grow faster than prices Workers educational Manual(1969).

As a result of frequent conflicts between workers and employers due to poor wages, trade unions and their members press for improved wages to enable them meet up with needs. High wages boost workers morale, establishment of new undertakings and the expansion of older ones and ultimately economic growth. Basic problems of wages are the same the world over but methods of resolving such conflicts differ. The employers and workers (collective bargaining) at individual undertakings fix wages of some countries whereas; in others, they are regulated by collective agreement that apply to whole industries.

In countries with planned economies, the total wages amount is fixed centrally in accordance with the national economic programmes thereby occupying wages into the polices of workers, employment and government. Where trade unions are well established, bargaining is very keen. If demands are so high, workers may be driven to negotiate their demands and persuaded to discontinue with conflicts, as they are not earning wages while on strike.

1.1    OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The following objectives were proposed for this work;

(i)           To examine the different types of wages and wage incentives made to the employees of Panabiz International Limited

(ii)          To examine how existing wage system promotes expansion on employment of the company.

(iii)        To further, examine the procedures used in fixing a particular wage system of the company.

1.2    STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In developing countries, there is no evidence of standard of wage employment relationship. What seems to be seldom use is the time series on aggregated employment and real wages to estimate labour-demands functions.

The bulk of wage laborers are closer to the status of self-employed either as peasants in the rural areas or in formal urban activities. Because of the constant problem associated with employment and workers’ wage, organizations are today so concerned about employment matters as never before.

As wages affect employment, employment in itself affects wages positively and negatively. Since organization, institution, and parastals have seriously ventures into employment processes, the big question is; can our present economy overwhelm the balance of nature and destroy the labour market, as we not know?

Specifically, this study to find answers to the following;

1.           The extent to which wages promote a healthy working environment.

2.           The extent to which employees’ output is measured as a result of wage paid

3.           The extent to which employees’ morale is boosted or dissatisfied due to remuneration offered

1.3    RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The under listed research questions are formulated for his work.

(i)           Does a sound wage system promote a healthy employment environment?

(ii)          Does  a stable and uniform wage structure motivate an individual worker of Panabiz International Limited?

1.4    RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

The following hypotheses are formulated for this work.

(i)           There is no significant relationship between wages and the type of employment offered

(ii)          There is no significant relationship between wages and productivity.

1.5    HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF PANABIZ INTERNATIONAL LTD.

Panabiz international limited was incorporated in 1992 with the objective of being the number on marketing company in Nigeria, adopting the corporate philosophy “our passion: customer care” the company started with a capital of twenty million naira.

About sixty percent f the company’s turnover is accrued form the sales of Panasonic ranges of products while other divisions contribute for remaining forty percent.

Today, Panabiz has individual division involves in:

·        Panasonic office automation and telecommunications

·        Panasonic audio/video

·        Ericsson cellular

·        Foods divisions (Indomie instant noodles)

·        Consumer durable division (Tyres, cars, trucks, rugs and carpets).

·        Export division (Agricultural Products).

The advertisement campaigns of the company promote all her products with a focus and emphasis on “after sales service and spares and support, which directly benefit the company.

It has a full fledged service centre and show room at 11A Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos with its own branch offices and service centre’s in Abuja, Kano, Port-Harcourt, Warri and Uyo.

1.6    DEFINITION OF TERMS

Real Wages: These are payments in cash, which the workers receive for their work. Workers are not interested in their pay in monetary value but in the goods and service they can buy with their wages.

Labour Cost: This is the total value in money terms of the wages, which an employer pays together with any other payments he makes in employing workers (e.g. social security payments and training expenditures), are his labour cost and are parts of his total costs of production.

Time Rate: This is a special wage paid to workers on an hourly, daily, weekly or monthly basis.

Piece rate: This is wage paid for d doing a definite quantity of work, for an example, laying 100 bricks, weaving 20 yards of cloth, extracting a ton of coal.

Organization: Any structured a system of roles and functional relationships designed to carry out a firm’s policies, or more precisely, the programmes such policies in spite.