Payroll Management Practices and Employee Productivity in Public Institutions in Enugu State

Irregular, erroneous, and delayed payroll processes in Nigerian public institutions have been frequently associated with low employee morale, reduced productivity, and heightened labor grievances, highlighting the need for more rigorous payroll management practices in the public sector. This study investigated the relationship between payroll management practices and employee productivity in selected public institutions in Enugu State, focusing on three government parastatals. The study was anchored on the expectancy theory of motivation, which posits that employees exert effort when they expect their performance to be accurately rewarded in a timely and predictable manner. A survey research design was adopted, with a population of 342 employees and human resource managers across the selected parastatals. A sample of 182 respondents was drawn using stratified random sampling. A structured questionnaire was administered and validated, and data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis. Findings showed that payroll accuracy, timeliness of salary disbursement, and integration of payroll with performance data were significant positive predictors of employee productivity measures including output quality and task completion rates. Ghost worker elimination was found to improve morale and perceived equity. The study concluded that effective payroll management is a non-trivial determinant of workforce productivity in public institutions. It was recommended that Enugu State public institutions should accelerate the integration of biometric verification into payroll processing systems to eliminate ghost workers and ensure payment accuracy.

Keywords: Payroll management, employee productivity, public institutions, expectancy theory, Enugu State