The legislation is designed to protect employees such as waiting staff

A NIGERIAN HR student at Leeds University Business School is celebrating after winning a prize for her study on how the relationship between customers and bank tellers in her home country influences the service offered.

Uchenna Aneto won the Abeceder prize as 2009's best performing international student on the Business School’s Masters course in Human Resource Management.

The dissertation showed differences between the attitudes and performance of male and female workers in jobs where there is the potential for tips.

Although all employees were expected to show empathy towards customers, men were more committed to such an expectation, and viewed tips as a symbol of appreciation. Female employees were more likely to conform to the requirement because of the potential for tips, the study found.

In conclusion, Ms Aneto's work suggests that for men, a tip is the confirmation of performance, whereas for women the potential to receive a tip motivates the performance.

Her supervisor, Michael Frise, said: “Uchenna demonstrated high levels of ability and drive, and has demonstrated a burgeoning ability for research and writing.”

The annual prize, now in its sixth year, is sponsored by Abeceder employee management.

Managing Director Michael Millward said: “There are many talented students in our universities, but in the current climate, the need for employers to be able to distinguish between the good and the excellent is more important than ever.

This prize offers a great way to identify those students who stand out from the crowd, by demonstrating their commercial application of their knowledge.”

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