An Examination of the Relationship Between Recruitment Freezes and the Workload of Academic Staff in Selected Federal Universities in the South-South Region of Nigeria
Rekiyat Inaingo Ebieteli *
Department of Sociology, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Samuel Kinikanwo-Chimenim
Department of Sociology, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Background: Recruitment covers the entire process from identifying a staffing requirement to filling it. Extreme understaffing is a common issue in Nigerian public and private institutions. The lack of employees has led to unfavourable and unhealthy working conditions.
Aim: The study aims to examine the relationship between recruitment freezes and the workload of academic staff in Federal Universities in the South-South region of Nigeria.
Methodology: The study was a cross-sectional survey research which utilised purposive sampling technique to select three universities (University of Benin, University of Port Harcourt and Federal University Otuoke) out of the eight federal universities in the study area. The sample size consists of 400 lecturers. Questionnaire was utilised in gathering data. Quantitative method of data analysis was adopted. For descriptive statistics, percentage and frequencies were used while chi square and Spearman’s correlation were used for hypothesis testing.
Result: Spearman’s correlation revealed no statistically significant relationship between recruitment freezes and teaching workload (r = 0.018, p = 0.752). The study found that recruitment freeze does not significantly impact academic staff's teaching workload. This finding points to the ability of lecturers in the study area to accommodate a heavy workload regardless of inconsistent recruitment and recommends continious investment in the support and well-being of academic staff.
Keywords: Recruitment freeze, employee workload and academic staff