Service Level Agreement and Training Provisions for Outsourced Staff in Nigerian Commercial Banks (Published)
This study investigated the extent to which training provisions for outsourced staff are contained in the Service Level Agreement (SLA) of Nigerian commercial banks. Commercial banks in Nigeria’s financial sub-sector are not exempted from training their workforce, notwithstanding the constraints and challenges posed by outsourcing practices. Effective outsourcing depends on strong collaboration and communication between the client (service user) and the service provider, particularly in the area of training, and the SLA serves as the formal contract that defines the scope, quality, and expectations of the services to be provided. A concurrent mixed-methods design (quantitative and qualitative) was adopted. The population comprised all outsourced security personnel and bank tellers in five selected Nigerian commercial banks operating in southwestern Nigeria, namely First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Union Bank Plc, Access Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, and First City Monument Bank. A total of 1,150 outsourced staff responded to the quantitative instrument, complemented by key informant and in-depth interviews. Findings showed that the SLA was perceived to include detailed provisions for training of outsourced bank tellers and security personnel (72% agreement, M = 2.96, SD = 1.71); that responsibility for training was clearly defined (73%, M = 2.99, SD = 1.97); that training was thoroughly addressed in the SLA (72%, M = 2.93, SD = 1.70); that the SLA contained mandatory training requirements (74%, M = 3.01, SD = 1.95); that it contained adequate training-related clauses (71%, M = 2.93, SD = 1.74); and that it provided for the maintenance of quality service (73%, M = 2.99, SD = 1.93), yielding an overall weighted mean of 2.97. Respondents further agreed that the SLA covered initial onboarding training (74%, M = 4.01, SD = 1.92), role-specific or technical training (71%, M = 3.98, SD = 1.71), ongoing or refresher training (73%, M = 4.01, SD = 1.90), and compliance and regulatory training (74%, M = 4.02, SD = 1.91). The study concluded that the SLA is perceived to be comprehensive and effective in addressing the training needs of outsourced bank tellers and security personnel, and recommended that commercial banks place greater emphasis on initial, specialised, and risk-management training clauses within their SLAs with outsourcing firms.
Keywords: Nigerian commercial banks, Outsourcing, Service Level Agreement, training provisions