Assessing Incentives of Workers of Private and Public High Schools in Sunyani Municipality, Ghana

Available and preferred incentives of staff members of five public and five private Senior High schools in Sunyani Municipality, Ghana, West Africa, were compared in this study during the 2021/2022 academic year. A random sample of 214 out of 645 workers from the 10 schools selected from 19 responded to 55 Likert-type questionnaires which had been pretested and with the Cronbach score of 0.73. Inferential statistical analysis identified several and specific incentives offered to the two groups (private and public), as well as those they prefer. Respondents from private institutions favoured incentives that emphasized on their development to enhance their ability to excel and to support their remunerations with mid-day meals. However, public sector workers prioritized facilities like school busing, small classroom sizes, and improved retirement benefits. The revelation from the study suggests the need for educational institutions to continuously track workers' performance against the incentives and rewards granted. Public workers are remunerated from the public trust and assured of timely payments and promotions, but not necessarily satisfied. Future studies will need to assess the level of satisfaction against the performance of their schools.