ASSESSING HUMAN CAPITAL POLICIES AS DRIVERS OF HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES OF MEGA BANKS IN THE SOUTH-EAST, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

The study was concerned with the assessment of Human Capital Policies as drivers of Human Capital Development Programme of Mega Banks in the South East of Nigeria. The broad objective of the study was to determine the implication of aligning human capital policies with the human capital development programmes of Mega Banks. In line with the main objective, the study sought to: ascertain the extent skill-development policy engendered acquisition of requisite skills through competency-based programmes; determine the extent on-the-job-training policy engendered acquisition and development of multi-skills and diverse talents through meticulously articulated job rotation programmes; establish the degree to which in-service training policy influenced building and sustaining of a critical mass of highly skilled and IT savvy workforce through proactive cognitive and ICT-based programmes; determine the extent Mega Banks’ training policies contend with the challenges of globalization; ascertain the extent to which in-house training policy influenced internalization of acceptable bank ethics and values through properly articulated orientation programmes and to assess the degree to which continuous professional development policy influenced building and development of flexible, adaptable and resilient workforce through capacity building programmes. Survey research design was adopted for the study. Both primary and secondary data were used. Data collected through questionnaire were presented and analysed using simple percentages and frequency distribution tables, while the formulated hypotheses were tested using simple regression analysis and pearson product moment correlation. The key findings from the study are as follows: Skill-development policy significantly engenders acquisition of requisite skills through competency based training programme ((r =0.917, p <  0.05); On-the-job training policy significantly enrgenders acquisition of diverse talents and multi-skills through job rotation programme (r= 0833, p<0.05); In service training policy significantly influences building and sustaining of highly skilled and IT savvy workforce through  cognitive and ICT-based Training Programme (r=0.587, p<0.05); Mega Banks’ Training Policies significantly contended with challenges of Globalization (p<0.05); In-house training policy significantly influences internalization of acceptable bank ethics and values through meticulously articulated orientation programme (r= 0.675, p< 0.05);Continuous professional development policy significantly influences building and developments of flexible, adaptable and resilient workforce through capacity building programme (r = 0.514, p < 0.05); In view of this it was recommended that Mega Banks’ human capital development programmes should be driven by robust and proactive human capital policies to institutionalize steady flow of globally competitive workforce needed to participate actively and contribute qualitatively in the knowledge-based economy. It was also recommended that the issue of skills-gap requires tripartite efforts of the Federal Government, Educational and Corporate Institutions to effectively address the issue with a view to enabling the Mega Banks (and other Corporate Institutions) to be globally competitive, and most importantly to impact positively on the critical sectors for the much desired sustainable development and vibrant economy to be actualized. Consequently, we conclude that proactive and robust human capital policies are sine-qua-non for building and sustaining critical mass of qualitative, highly skilled/technical and intellectually equipped bankers needed for Mega Banks to stay continually competitive, enabling them to perform their strategic role as drivers of the economy through positive impact on the critical sectors.