10th U6+ Consortium of African Universities International Conference

Casualization has become the most prevalent and persistent issues in the Nigeria academic
industries existing in both federal and state tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The high rates of
casualization of Academic and Non-Academic staff in the Nigeria universities has raised a
serious concern about the employee wellbeing and productivity. Therefore, this study focus to x-
ray the casual employment and work-life imbalance among contract-based staff in Nigeria
public universities with the aim of examining the effect of job insecurity associated with contract
employment on work-life imbalance among contract-based staff in Nigerian public universities,
assess the effect of workload and working hours on work-life imbalance among contract-based
staff in Nigerian public universities, determine the effect of remuneration and employment
benefits on work-life imbalance among contract-based staff in Nigerian public universities and
to examine the influence of organizational support and employment flexibility on work-life
imbalance among contract-based staff in Nigerian public universities. This study anchored on
Work-Family Conflict Theory. The study used secondary sources of data. The findings of the
study reveal that job insecurity and employment uncertainty associated with contract
employment has potential effect on the well-being and productivity among the contract-based
staff in Nigeria public universities. However, the study recommended that Nigeria University
Commission and Nigeria public universities should as a matter of urgency design effective and
strategic policies that strengthening conversion of long-term serving contract staff to permanent
and pensionable employment after specific years of service, the study also recommend that
Nigeria public universities should harmonize the pay and benefits between the permanent and
contract-based staff performing the same duties in the universities and excessive workloads and
unnecessary after-hours assignments should be minimized. Recent Nigerian university research
supports effective workload management as an important component of staff effectiveness.