By Dr. Sally Williams

When the words "employee rewards" are said, one may think of this expression in terms of monetary compensation such as raises or bonuses. Although these are important factors that can promote motivation and organization retention, long term stability is questionable. Many organizations that I have had the opportunity to work with over the years understand that provding employees with enough money to pay bills is good but it is not ALL that is necessary to keep people motivated to stay on a job over time. In reviewing research studies that examine job satisfaction, the consensus is employees desire more than just a paycheck, bonuses and perks to satisfy their intrinsic needs.

Employee empowerment involves the amount of power and control a person feels they have over their career and creative ideas. According to Foster-Fishman and Keys (1997) an organization’s culture provides the framework to understand a worker's need to be empowered by connecting individual attitudes, organizational practices and employee behaviors to organizational life. In other words, the way a person feels, believes or perceives his or her environment drive their behaviors. 

When I worked in the corporate world as an employee, I was a part of several exciting teams in which many talents were pooled together to create projects over several months. In each case, being able to contribute to team goals was important to me. Each day there was a sense of pride in being valued, respected and empowered to give my talents to a cause. However, depending on the organizational culture, it could be short lived if the boss would constantly criticize without cause or delay in responding to important ideas or suggestions because he or she exercised managual authority in a negative manner. Moral would quickly sink into the depths of the ocean and eventually, some team members would leave the organization even though the money and benefits may have been adequate. Katzell and Yankelovick (1975) indicate that workers and work must be matched to create an environment in which employees will be capable of meeting expectations.  Employees need the  resources to be successful. Therefore, job satisfaction requires more than fair monetary compensation. Organizations need to create job enriched environments where employees can participate in decision-making efforts on some level, and their creative efforts can be encouraged rather than stifled. These factors can create higher motivation and retention than money alone.

                                                            References

Foster-Fishman, P.G., & Keys, C.B. (1997). The person/environment dynamics of employee empowerment: an organizational culture analysis. American Journal of Community Psychology. 25(3), 345.

Katzell, R. A., & Yankelovick, D. (1975). Work, productivity, and job satisfaction: An evaluation of policy-related research. New York: Psychological Corporation.