Reward and Engagement

Abstract

The authors contend that despite the popularity of the term and of corporate surveys to measure it, employee engagement is often an ill-defined concept, and the relationship of it with reward management is often even more unclear. In a wide-ranging analysis, they consider the impact of the difficult global economic climate on engagement levels and what we have learned about the relationship with rewards. They argue that engagement and its links with pay and rewards need to be defined and understood in each organization setting, rather than assuming that simplistic universal models can be adopted. They highlight the importance of a total rewards approach in engaging the diversity of the workforce and meeting the wide variety of employee needs. Third, they call for action on survey results, with the recession having widened the “say–do” gap on employee engagement. Finally, they highlight some outstanding questions for future research and practice to investigate in this field.