The purpose of the study was to evaluate and analyse the effects of the compensation structure on employees' commitment at the university in KwaZulu-Natal, a comprehensive tertiary institution. For this purpose, the researcher considered the views of authors who recently attempted to unravel the factors that could lead to job satisfaction and whether compensation was one of them. The study used a quantitative research approach and adopted self-administered questionnaires to collect data from respondents. The researcher conducted the study on the academics at a university in KwaZulu-Natal. The following issues were addressed: improved working conditions; lack of company policies; employee remuneration; employee benefits; academic workload; and lack of resources.