The need for organizations to use growth and development programmes to enhance employee productivity is incontestable. The contingency employment policies in Nigerian five-star hotels however, may not create the right atmosphere for growth and development prospects of the employees which may impair their levels of productivity. The study was prompted out of the desire to ascertain the extent to which growth on the job and development of human capabilities impact employee productivity in five-Star hotels in Nigeria. The survey design was adopted. Questionnaire was used for data collection. Regression analysis and Partial Correlation were used for data analysis. The study found that both growth on the job and development of human capabilities have significant impact employee productivity. However, employees’ productivity reduced by 12 percent when the development of human capabilities was not accompanied by growth on the job. Nevertheless, the difference was only two percent when growth on the job was provided in isolation of development of human capabilities. This means that although both growth and development have strong nexus with employee productivity, separately, employee growth enhances productivity more than development in Nigerian five-star hotels. The study recommended that Nigerian hotels, whether private or public, should stop its contingency employment policy and adopt an alternative policy of regular employment that based on permanency. Employee growth should be guided by Management by Objectives (MBO) so that recognition, reward and promotion of staff will be based strictly on level of employee productivity. Also, the hotel industry in Nigeria should train their staff at least once every year in core competences in line with global best practice.
Keywords: 5-Star Hotel, Employee Development, Growth on the Job, Productivity
