Staffing and the Development of Small Scale Enterprises in Owo Local Government, Ondo State, Nigeria

Regardless of long list of responsibilities and functions that require sufficient number of employees of different professional background, enterprises most especially in developing countries are still manned by insufficient staff. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are now taken different steps to curb the situation and bridge the gap between the required staff and the existing ones. The study therefore seeks to investigate Staffing and the development of SMEs in Owo local government, Ondo State, Nigeria. The specific objective of the study is to determine the extent effect of recruitment and selection on productivity and examine the effect of Placement and orientation on the development of staff on the survival of selected SMEs in Owo local government. Survey research design which is quantitative approaches to the study was employed by the researcher. Questionnaire was used as means of selection of the respondents that included questions measuring perceptions of the respondent. The population of the study covers a total number of 1005 staff of twenty-three (23) Retails enterprises, ten (10) production small scale enterprise and eighty-one (81) agro allied enterprises, with a sample of six hundred and fifty (650) drawn from the population using Krejcie and Morgan (1970). The findings of the study revealed that recruitment and selection has significant impact on the survival of SMEs in Owo Local Government, Ondo State. The study also revealed that placement and orientation significantly affect SMEs productivity, most especially in the studied area, with R2 value of 0. 787, which indicate that placement which comprises of marching the right skill with the right job and familier staff with established rules and policies actually increase productivity. Therefore, it is recommended that SMEs should identify the need for adequate staff and recruit the right candidate for the job. It is also recommended that owners and/or management of SMEs should not just recruit for the recruitment sake but place them in the appropriate place within an organization to ensure and guarantee the continuity and the survival of the business. This is because, when employees when employees are placed where they are supposed to be or based on their profession, they will be able to demonstrate professionalism which bring about continuity SMEs in terms of development.