dc.description.abstract | Financial and non-financial incentives in the academic institutions are indispensable to the
continuance of job satisfaction, motivation, and retention. This research also intends to accord this
motive and examines employee perceptions with a view to focusing on cultivating a sustainable
workforce. Although there are several measurements of workforce sustainability but we have
considered satisfaction, motivation and retention to measure the sustainability. The study is
administered on the survey response of 100 respondents collected from 10 private universities of
Bangladesh. The survey questionnaires were encompassing several types of incentives (both
financial and non-financial) such as performance-based bonuses, research grants, retirement
benefits, recognition and awards, flexible working hours, and professional development programs
etc. Questions were structured in Likert scale along with mentioning some demographic
characteristics. From analyzing these data, this study constructed valuable insights about the
effectiveness and recommend actionable suggestion to enhance employee satisfaction and
institutional performance. Afterwards, statistical analysis has been assessed in SPSS 27.0 to find
the significance of the relationship between incentives and workforce sustainability. The result
drawn from this study is versatile. In regards to the financial incentives, these are perceived as
important yet moderate motivators. Most common type of incentive program in the financial
perspective is Retirement benefits. Performance-based bonuses, retirement benefits, grants and
perks enhance satisfaction level but the variability among the responses are slightly high, which
suggests that not all employees find these incentives equally effective. Overall, financial incentives
show a strong correlation with employee satisfaction that indicates their critical role in workforce
sustainability. As for the non-financial benefits, these are highly valued motivation factor by
academics. Recognition and awards, flexible working hours, and professional development
programs are contributing substantially to satisfaction, productivity, and mental well-being in the
employment setting. Among others particularly flexible working hours show high mean scores and
lower variance which indicates the widespread appreciation for this incentive program.
Nevertheless, when it comes to the overall satisfaction on the incentive structure provided by the
university, most of the respondents expressed moderate satisfaction with some exception. The high
variance in responses indicates the differing levels of satisfaction across the faculty of same
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university suggesting that not every type of incentives is not equally desirable to everyone. Non financial incentives, while impactful, have a weaker correlation with overall satisfaction compared
to financial incentives, suggesting that financial rewards remain a primary driver of employee
satisfaction. Moreover, the demographic characteristics the workforce is diverse with a slight male
majority and a significant proportion of younger employees and early-career professionals with 1-
5 years of experience. Most of the institutions provide both type of incentives but all are not equally
incentivizing efficiently to its faculty members. Most common type of financial incentive is
retirement benefits whereas recognition and awards are mostly provided in terms of non-monetary
benefits. Finally, the objective of this research is to recommend better initiatives that need to be
taken by the private universities of Bangladesh to develop a sustainable workforce. In this regard,
adjusting incentive structures incorporating both financial and non-financial benefits and
reviewing regularly to ensure alignment with employee expectations, addressing gaps in the
incentive programs by gathering feedbacks from employees and implementing targeted
improvement and tailoring packages to meet the unique needs of different employee groups can
build a sustainable workforce with enhanced satisfaction, motivation and long-term retention. This
research underscores significance of the holistic approach to employee incentive program that are
aligned with the need of the workforce. By addressing the necessity of the workforce and
improving incentive that caters to the employee needs can foster a satisfies, motivated and loyal
workforce who will eventually contribute to the institutions success. | en_US |