HR challenges in Nigeria are they’re draining productivity, driving talent away, and leaving managers stuck between policy and chaos. From clumsy recruitment pipelines to retention headaches, today’s HR terrain feels more like a battlefield than a department.
Nigeria is the most populous and largest economy in Africa, with a diverse and multicultural society. It also faces various political, social, economic, and environmental issues that affect its business sector and HR practices.
In this article, we will discuss these challenges in detail and provide some solutions or best practices that HR managers can adopt to overcome them. We will also provide some recommendations or action steps for HR managers to implement these solutions effectively.
Challenge 1: Staff Welfare and Quality of Work Life
The quality of work life (QWL) and employee welfare in Nigeria present a significant challenge to HR management. Staff welfare refers to the physical, mental, social, and emotional well-being of employees. Quality of work life refers to the degree to which employees are satisfied with their work environment, job content, rewards, and opportunities for growth and development.
Staff welfare and QWL are important for employee motivation, satisfaction, and performance. They also affect employee retention, loyalty, commitment, and productivity. However, staff welfare and QWL in Nigeria are generally low, due to various factors such as:
- Low wages: According to information from Nigerian and international recruitment agencies, the average salary in Nigeria in 2023 is ₦71,185 per month, which is about $94.75 as of the time of writing this. Many employees struggle to meet their basic needs and have little or no savings or investments. Low wages also create income inequality and social unrest among workers.
- Poor working conditions: Most employees in Nigeria work in unsafe, unhealthy, or stressful conditions. They face hazards such as accidents, injuries, diseases, violence, harassment, or discrimination. They also lack adequate facilities, equipment, tools, or resources to perform their tasks effectively.
- Lack of training: A lot of employees in Nigeria lack the skills, knowledge, or competencies required for their jobs. They also have limited access to training or development opportunities to improve their performance or career prospects. This leads to low self-esteem, frustration, or boredom among workers.
- Health and safety issues: Some employees in Nigeria suffer from poor health and well-being due to their work or lifestyle. They face issues such as fatigue, burnout, depression, anxiety, or substance abuse. They also lack access to quality health care services or insurance coverage to cope with their health problems.
- Work-life balance: Many employees in Nigeria have difficulty balancing their work and personal lives. They work long hours, have inflexible schedules, or face high demands or pressures from their employers or customers. They also have little or no time or support for their family, friends, hobbies, or leisure activities.
These factors have various implications for HR management in Nigeria, such as:
- High turnover: It is reported that many employees in Nigeria quit their jobs voluntarily or involuntarily due to dissatisfaction with their work or employer. This creates a loss of talent, knowledge, experience, or customer relationships for the organization. It also increases the costs of recruitment, selection, orientation, or training for new hires.
- Absenteeism: Many employees in Nigeria miss work frequently or regularly due to illness, injury, personal problems, or other reasons. This reduces the availability, reliability, or productivity of workers. It also affects the quality, quantity, or timeliness of work output or service delivery.
- Low productivity: Many Nigerian employees perform poorly or below their potential due to lack of motivation, engagement, or commitment. They also make more errors, mistakes, or complaints in their work. This affects the efficiency, effectiveness, or profitability of the organization.
To overcome these challenges, HR managers in Nigeria can adopt some solutions or best practices such as:
- Incentive schemes: As an HR manager, you can design and implement incentive schemes that reward employees for their performance, contribution, or achievement. These can include monetary incentives (such as bonuses, commissions, profit-sharing) or non-monetary incentives (such as recognition, praise, feedback, awards, certificates, or gifts).
- Flexible work arrangements: You can also offer flexible work arrangements that allow employees to choose when, where, or how they work. These can include flexible hours, remote jobs, job sharing, part-time work, or compressed workweek.
- Employee engagement programs: You can create and execute employee engagement programs that involve employees in decision-making, problem-solving, or innovation. These can include surveys, focus groups, suggestion boxes, brainstorming sessions, or quality circles.
- Career development programs: HR managers can provide and support career development programs that help employees acquire new skills, knowledge, or competencies for their current or future jobs. These can include training, coaching, mentoring, job rotation, or education assistance.
Challenge 2: Skills Gap and Talent Shortage
A second challenge of HR management in Nigeria is the skills gap and talent shortage in the country. Skills gap refers to the difference between the skills and competencies required by employers and those possessed by employees. Talent shortage refers to the insufficient supply of qualified and experienced workers to meet the demand of the labour market.
Skills gap and talent shortage are critical for organizational competitiveness and innovation. They also affect the economic growth and development of the country. However, skills gap and talent shortage in Nigeria are prevalent, due to various factors such as:
- Inadequate education system: The education system in Nigeria is often criticized for being outdated, irrelevant, or of poor quality. It does not equip students with the knowledge, skills, or attitudes needed for the modern workplace. It also suffers from low enrolment, high dropout, and low completion rates.
- Brain drain: Brain drain refers to the emigration of skilled and talented workers from Nigeria to other countries that offer better opportunities, rewards, or conditions. Brain drain is driven by factors such as political instability, economic hardship, insecurity, corruption, or lack of infrastructure.
- Mismatch between supply and demand: There is a mismatch between the supply and demand of skills and talent in Nigeria. On one hand, there is an oversupply of graduates in some fields (such as humanities or social sciences) that have low employability or relevance. On the other hand, there is an undersupply of graduates in some fields (such as science, technology, engineering, or mathematics) that have high demand or value.
These factors have various implications for HR management in Nigeria, such as:
- Difficulty in recruitment: Most HR managers face difficulty in finding and hiring suitable candidates for their vacancies. They have to compete with other employers (both local and foreign) for the limited pool of talent available. They also have to deal with high costs, delays, and risks involved in the recruitment process.
You can read on “Top AI tools for HRs” to ease your hiring process.
- Difficulty in retention: Some HRs face difficulty in keeping and motivating their existing employees. They have to cope with high turnover, absenteeism, or disengagement rates among their workers. They also have to offer attractive compensation, benefits, or incentives to retain their talent.
- Difficulty in development: HRs often face difficulty in training and developing their employees. They have to invest in continuous learning and upskilling programs to close the skills gap and enhance the performance of their workers. They also have to monitor and evaluate the impact and effectiveness of their training interventions.
To overcome these challenges as an HR manager in Nigeria, you can adopt some solutions or best practices, such as:
- Partnerships with educational institutions: Your company can collaborate with educational institutions (such as universities, colleges, or vocational schools) to align your curricula with the industry’s needs and standards. They can also provide input, feedback, or support to improve the quality and relevance of education.
- Talent management strategies: You can also implement talent management strategies that cover the entire employee lifecycle (from attraction to retention). You can adopt data, analytics, or tools to identify, assess, or develop their talent pool.
- Career development programs: Providing and facilitating career development programs that can help employees advance their careers within or outside the organization. You can also create opportunities for mentoring, coaching, networking, or mobility for their workers.
Challenge 3: Socio-Cultural and Ethno-Religious Issues
Nigeria is a diverse country with over 250 ethnic groups and various religious beliefs. According to the 2006 census, the three largest ethnic groups are the Hausa-Fulani (29%), the Yoruba (21%), and the Igbo (18%). The major religions are Islam (50%), Christianity (40%), and traditional African religions (10%)
This diversity poses significant challenges for most HR managers who have to deal with different cultural and religious values, norms, and practices among their employees. Some of these challenges include:
- Loyalty: Employees may have stronger loyalty to their ethnic or religious groups than to their organisations, which can affect their commitment, cooperation, and trust.
- Authority: They have different expectations and preferences for leadership styles, power distance, and decision making, which can affect their motivation, satisfaction, and performance.
- Motivation: Most employees may have different needs, goals, and incentives, which can affect their engagement, productivity, and retention.
- Performance appraisal: Due to coming from different backgrounds, they have different criteria and standards for evaluating their own and others’ work, which can affect their feedback, recognition, and promotion.
- Reward systems: Some employees may have different preferences and expectations for compensation, benefits, and rewards, which can affect their equity, fairness, and loyalty.
To overcome these challenges as an HR manager, you need to respect and accommodate the cultural and religious differences of their employees. Some of the strategies they can use are:
- Awareness: Every HR manager needs to educate themselves and their employees about the diversity of cultures and religions in Nigeria, and how they influence work behaviors and outcomes. They can use training programs, workshops, seminars, or online courses to increase awareness and understanding.
- Dialogue: HR managers need to facilitate communication and interaction among employees from different ethnic and religious backgrounds. They can use team-building activities, social events, or mentoring programs to foster dialogue and rapport. But with NotchHR, every manager can interact with all of the employees in their company within one app.
- Flexibility: HR managers need to adapt their policies and practices to suit the needs and preferences of their diverse employees. They can use flexible work arrangements, customized benefits packages, or alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to accommodate diversity.
- Collaboration: Also HR managers need to encourage cooperation and integration among employees from different ethnic and religious groups. They can use cross-functional teams, joint projects, or diversity committees to promote collaboration and synergy.
Challenge 4: Labour and Social Legislation
One of the biggest challenges of HR management in Nigeria is the legal framework that regulates labor relations and social protection in the country. According to the Statista, as of 2020, Nigeria’s ease of doing business ranked 131st worldwide, with a general score of 56.9. The highest scores were obtained in the fields of starting a business, dealing with construction permits, and getting credits. This means that it tends to be difficult for employers and employees to comply with and enforce the laws that govern their work relationship.
Some of the laws that affect HR management in Nigeria are:
- The Labour Act: This is the main law that covers the terms and conditions of employment, such as contracts, wages, hours, leave, termination, etc. However, this law only applies to workers who earn less than N2000 per month (about $5), which excludes most of the formal sector workers.
- The Trade Unions Act: This law regulates the formation and operation of trade unions and their federations. It also grants trade unions the right to collective bargaining and industrial action. However, this law also imposes some restrictions on trade union activities, such as requiring a minimum of 50 members to form a union, prohibiting some categories of workers from joining unions, and requiring a ballot before a strike.
- The Pension Reform Act: This law establishes a contributory pension scheme for both public and private sector workers. It requires employers to deduct 8% of the employee’s monthly salary and contribute another 10% to a pension fund administrator of the employee’s choice. However, this law also faces some challenges in implementation, such as low compliance, inadequate funding, poor regulation, and corruption.
These laws have various implications for HR management in Nigeria, such as:
- Compliance costs: Employers have to bear the costs of complying with the labour and social laws, such as paying taxes, social security contributions, minimum wages, etc. These costs can be high and reduce the profitability and competitiveness of businesses.
- Bureaucracy: Employers have to deal with a lot of bureaucracy and red tape when dealing with the government agencies that administer and enforce the labour and social laws, such as the Ministry of Labour, the National Industrial Court, the National Pension Commission, etc. These agencies can be slow, inefficient, corrupt, and inconsistent in their operations.
- Litigation: Employers have to face the risk of litigation from employees or trade unions who may sue them for breach of contract, unfair dismissal, discrimination, harassment, etc. The judicial system in Nigeria is often plagued by delays, backlogs, corruption, and lack of expertise in labour matters.
To overcome these challenges, HR managers in Nigeria can adopt some solutions or best practices, such as:
- Outsourcing: Employers can outsource some of their non-core functions to external service providers who can handle them more efficiently and effectively. For example, employers can outsource payroll administration, tax compliance, pension management, etc. to specialized firms that can reduce costs and risks for them.
- Automation: Employers can use technology to automate some of their HR processes and tasks that are repetitive, routine, or prone to errors. For example, employers can use software or online platforms to manage recruitment, performance appraisal, training, etc. This can save time and money and improve accuracy and quality for them.
- Negotiation: Employers can engage in constructive dialogue and negotiation with employees or trade unions to resolve disputes and grievances amicably. For example, employers can use mediation or arbitration services to settle conflicts without resorting to litigation or industrial action. This can create trust and cooperation between them.
Conclusion
HR managers in Nigeria are facing a multitude of challenges and overcoming these challenges requires a proactive and strategic approach, with a focus on innovative recruitment strategies, employee engagement initiatives, legal compliance, and fostering an inclusive work environment. By addressing these challenges head-on, HR managers can contribute to the success and growth of their organizations in Nigeria’s evolving business landscape.
