Equitable Work Policies, Diversity Management, and Employee Productivity in Food Processing Organisations in South West Nigeria

This study investigates the influence of equitable employment practices (equitable work policies)and diversity management on employee productivity within food processing organizations locatedin South West Nigeria. The method used in this research was an explanatory cross-sectional surveymodel. Data collection occurred from a stratified sample of 400 production workers, qualitycontrol personnel, maintenance workers and first-line supervisors working in one of the five foodprocessing sub-sectors; data collection included equitable work policy measures (fair leave,consistent discipline, transparent workload), diversity management measures (diversity training,inclusive meetings and language assistance) and employee productivity measures (objectivemeasures of production per worker, absenteeism rates and error rates). Perceptual measures wereonly employed as substitutes when objective data did not exist. Due to a large number of foodprocessing companies and a highly diverse workforce, South West Nigeria provides a relevantanalytical setting to examine the impact of equity and inclusion on productivity among employees.Data were analysed using variance based structural equation modelling, and the findings indicatethat equitable work policies and diversity management exert positive and statistically significanteffects on employee productivity and jointly explain a meaningful proportion of productivityvariance. The results emphasise that productivity improvements in labour intensive manufacturingenvironments can be achieved not only through technological investments but also throughdeliberate attention to fairness and inclusive workforce management, with important implicationsfor managerial practice and industrial policy in Nigeria.