Effect of Workplace Diversity on Employee Performance in DSIBS in Nigeria JOAN EKHOMEH EHILEBO, HAUWA LAMIDO - ABUBAKAR, DANIEL OGOHI CROSS Department of Business Administration Nile University of Nigeria NIGERIA Abstract: - The increase in diversity among employees has prompted organizations to begin to craft their human resource strategy towards better diversity management which in turn will lead to greater employee performance. This research seeks to investigate the effect of workforce diversity (age, gender and experience) on employee performance (employee engagement and employee satisfaction) in the five (5) Domestic Systemically Important Banks (DSIBs) in Nigeria. The study adopted survey research design as its methodology. Data was collected from 1881 employees in the 5 DSIBs from the six (6) geo-political zones in Nigeria using questionnaires. Regression analysis and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) – Maximum Likelihood was used for data analysis. The results showed a significant positive relationship between workforce diversity (age, gender and experience) and employee performance. The findings of this study will give guidelines on the management of workforce diversity in the Banking and financial sector towards improved employee performance. This study examines the effect of workforce diversity on employee performance in DSIBs in Nigeria which is a gap that the study sought to fill. Key-Words: - Workforce Diversity, Age Diversity, Experience Diversity, Gender Diversity, Employee satisfaction, Employee engagement and Employee performance Received: August 14, 2021. Revised: May 26, 2022. Accepted: June 11, 2022. Published: June 24, 2022. 1 Introduction Economic interdependency, immigration and globalization among others have heralded and unequivocally justified the continuous propensity of workplace diversity globally [1], [2]. Workforce Diversity (WD) refers to acknowledging, understanding, promoting, appreciating, and celebrating the multiplicity of workforce identity- based demographics [3]. According to [4] performance can be described as the execution of a task; how well a job is efficiently and effectively discharged to achieve the desired result. Employee performance therefore is the efficient and effective utilization of resources in a dynamic working environment [1]. It is the measure of output of an employee relative to inputs while efficiently and effectively utilizing available resources within the changing work environment. [5] deduces that an increase in employee performance will lead to organizational growth and profitability. Notwithstanding the inevitability and reality of workplace diversity globally, documented studies have longed been contending its significance on Employee Performance (EP). Some researchers have constantly stressed the existence of symbiotic relationship between WD and EP. According to these studies, recognizing and promoting mosaic of employees’ workplace visible, invisible and latent social identities/demographics presents an organization with a pool of skills, competencies and knowledgeable staff, promotes creativity, activates problem-solving, increases commitment, catalyzes employee satisfaction, reduces absenteeism, strengthens competitive-edge and engenders innovation, among others [4], [6]–[8]. The study highlights the impact of workforce diversity on employee performance in the selected five (5) domestic systemically important banks (DSIBs) in Nigeria. These DSIBs are Zenith Bank; Guaranty Trust Bank, Access Bank, First Bank and United Bank of Africa. The Nigerian financial sector which has been a major contributor to the growth of the economy, grew by 28.41% (in real terms) in Q2, 2020 despite the economy contracting by 6.1%. The DSIBs are defined as "financial institutions whose distress or disorderly failure, because of their size, complexity and systemic interconnectedness, can cause significant disruption to the wider financial system and economic activity" of the country. Several researchers have investigated the workforce diversity – employee performance linkage considering various combination of proxies WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on ENVIRONMENT and DEVELOPMENT DOI: 10.37394/232015.2022.18.86 Joan Ekhomeh Ehilebo, Hauwa Lamido-Abubakar, Daniel Ogohi Cross E-ISSN: 2224-3496 908 Volume 18, 2022