Reward System
Kayla Hull
HSM 220

For an organization to run effectively it is critical for leadership to promote motivation among employees. Motivation can be broken into two categories; intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is internal motivation, motivation on a personal level such as personal growth and learning new things. Extrinsic motivation is external motivation. This type of motivation can be influenced by a reward system within an organization. Extrinsic motivation influences employees to work harder with the benefit of rewards for their work. Examples of extrinsic motivation would be a pay raised or promotion based on merit or recognition and acknowledgement for an accomplishment. There are nine major factors of motivation, these include:
Respect for the individual
Competitive pay
Chance to turn out quality work
Chance for promotion
Opportunity to take part in interesting work
Feeling of importance
Praise for doing a good job
Opportunity for self-development and improvement
Freedom on the job
These factors all influence how well employees work, as well as their desire to get their tasks completed. On top of fulfilling these factors it is important to ensure that basic needs are being met, benefits are being equally distributed, and employees are being treated fairly as individuals. Respecting employees is a critical factor in motivation. If leadership is not treating their employees with respect they are not going to feel obligated, much less motivated, to do their job and do it well. When employees are respected by their management they work harder, better, and interact better with clients, leadership, and other employees. Respecting employees also promotes and influences employees to be more open with ideas and opinions. Overall respect helps to encourage a friendlier work environment, and more productive work. As a leader I would show respect to my employees by promoting creativity and including them in decision making processes. It is helpful to have many different ideas and then choosing the most effective. By including employees in this process it shows them that I respect their opinions and appreciate their efforts. It is also important to treat your employees like individuals. To me that means not treating everyone as just another employee, taking the time to say hello, never belittling or putting someone down. Taking others talents and feelings into consideration often goes a long way for respect. In a weak economy it is important to so many people to obtain a job that pays well. Offering competitive pay to employees can be difficult but necessary for organizations. Pay is a common deciding factor when looking for a career, if a company or organization cannot offer wages that are comparable to other similar organizations and companies they may have a hard time gaining or keeping employees. Competitive benefits can be equally important to employees as well. Offering competitive benefits can motivate current employees to work hard and to stay with a company for longer. Retirement plans, health benefits and vacation and sick pay are all very important to employees both current and prospective. It is important for companies to provide these benefits and pay to their employees. To stay competitive and to offer the best options for employees I think it is a good idea to use market raises. Market pay and raises are based on the current “market” salary for any given position. Paying employees market starting pay, and raising that as the market sees fit, helps to bring in new employees as well as keep older employees happy. Another way to keep pay competitive and to offer loyal employees competitive pay is to provide merit raises. Merit raises are based on the job an employee does and follows the same guidelines for all employees (CaAlbright, 2011). Offering these raises to employees will make sure they are getting paid a reasonable salary, as well as