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Essay: What Does A Reward System Do For Employee Morale?

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What Does A Reward System Do For Employee Morale?

Abstract
My research was focused on studying the effects of an employee recognition and reward system on the morale of the employees. Since creating and implementing the staff awards program I wondered if it had an impact on the employees’ overall morale on the job. I developed a questionnaire and sent it to the awardees as well as the person who nominated someone. My findings suggest there is a positive relationship between recognizing the efforts and work product of an employee and the motivation that the employee has for doing the work.

What does a reward system do for employee morale?

Introduction
Employee reward and recognition programs are positive tools for morale building in any successful business today. The power of staff recognition should not be underestimated as a major avenue for improving performance. In 2012, Clemson Computing and Information Technology, known as CCIT, were the only large group on campus without a recognition program. Recognizing that employee morale was low, I developed and instituted a voluntary peer recognition program that has been accepted, instituted, and funded. It is now in its third season and will continue annually.
The need for recognition for the work an individual performs is universal. But not every individual seeks the same reward. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Craig & Rush, 1996,) addresses esteem and self-actualization.

Figure 1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Beardwell and Claydon,)

Esteem needs include the need to have internal factors such as self-respect, autonomy and achievement as well as the respect and esteem of others. Self-actualization needs are the drive to become the height of ones’ potential. (Craig & Rush, 1996) In my quest to start a recognition program, I surveyed several groups that were attending a leadership conference I was participating in. What I found was that ‘reward’ or ‘recognition’ meant very different things to people. What motivates one person to achieve may not be the motivator for another. What some participants defined as recognition was not satisfying to others. This revelation was enlightening for me. I had assumed that any good recognition was sought after, but hose in my group disagreed.
The needs of those surveyed varied from person to person. Since the group was attending a volunteer leadership summit, achievement was high on their list of motivation. What motivates me to pursue achievements not the same for all. Some want just a word of praise while others think recognition should be in another form, perhaps monetary. The purpose of my study is to analyze how the reward system put in place generates motivation. So, what does having a reward system in place do for employee motivation?

Literature Review
Studies have concluded that the United States rely more heavily on extrinsic motivators, so the fact that a majority of my groups surveyed wanted recognition in the form of money was not surprising. (Langton & Robbins, 2007, chap. 4) In contrast to most other motivators, recognizing an employee’s superior performance often costs little or no money. (Langton & Robbins, 2007, chap. 4) A simple email of appreciation can motivate an employee to continue good work and costs virtually nothing to send. Motivated employees are more productive employees which results in upward movement of a company’s bottom line.
My first thought was how can a business, in this case, a higher education technology center, develop a reward program that would satisfy the cultural diversity of the group? Some staff members’ motivation is related to whether they have a need for achievement, power or recognition. All of these motivators are intrinsically related to how well they perform their job duties. The recognition from performing their duties is an extrinsic result. David C. McClelland described ‘achievement’ and ‘motivation’ as ubiquitous concepts; they exist at the same time. (Craig, 1996)
An employee recognition program should include all levels of the organization.(Texas A&M, 2012) If we recognize achievement we engage the employee, who then becomes more productive thus resulting in a return on the investment of that employee. To better understand how recognition programs work one would have to define what makes them fail. Programs start with great enthusiasm but fizzle out as time and resources become thin.(Tamer, 2004) All too often goals or objectives that compete with instead of complement existing goals are rewarded.(Tamer)
To avoid the pitfall of the program only being provided to a few key contributors, I eliminated the senior staff from participating on my committee, but rather made several of them advisors. I strongly felt that the members of the group needed to be from the workers category versus the management category. Anyone familiar with politics at an institution of higher learning would agree with this decision.
In order for this to work, I knew I would need some enthusiastic participation from the participants for the upper leadership to buy-in to the program if I expected it to be an annual event. I also needed monetary commitment for the small marketing campaign as well as the awards themselves. Our CIO fully supported the concept and provided a small budget for our inaugural year. This was a win-win for the CIO. By endorsing an actual program, with members, rules, submissions and public recognition, we went from an informal to a formal recognition program. In supporting the effort, our CIO now has the platform to show his appreciation and give a big ‘thanks’ to some specific individuals who have gone above and beyond their job duties. This is also a forum to celebrate the success of individuals within the group, which builds the success of the group in totality. Recognition helps staff members feel that they matter.(Langton & Robbins, 2007) It builds self-esteem and drives improvement within the organization.
After creating and deploying the program, we got some initial, but small participation the first year. Our second year we more than doubled our participation over year one. It seemed that the first year of awards motivated, for whatever reason, more employees to participate the second year. This has brought me to my research question, what does a reward system do for employee motivation?

Design
Qualitative research answers to the question ‘why’ instead of ‘how’ through unstructured information analysis. This type of research includes many different methods of collecting information and I chose interviews, emails and questionnaires. Analyzing the collected data for a qualitative research project can be time consuming. My target group for the survey was past winners of an award and those employees who took the time to nominate their colleague(s). As the charter member of the committee, I have access to the lists of nominators and winners for the past two years.
The questionnaire itself was delivered to the list of recipients and nominators via electronic delivery; email. I kept the questions to simple yes/no and short answer as to minimize time needed to complete the survey. The first set of questions was a quick job data collection. It gathered information regarding recognition, what kind of rewards the respondent was in favor of and how likely it would influence them in the future.
The short answer section was intended for the respondent to more clarify their perspective in regards to reward and motivation. In addition to the emailed questionnaires, I also interviewed staff members I encountered in my division while meeting for other matters and asked them about CCIT Rewards. The interviews were more relaxed but still had some sense of structure. The interviews lasted approximately fifteen minutes and contained ranking based on level of agreement. I based the reliability for this survey on whether or not the same answers would be given if presented by another researcher. I feel that the answers given on the short answer may vary from the respondents due to my own personal working relationship with the respondent and/or their interest in my study. Also, some employees may give the company line when presented with a face to face interview, but may have differing views if answering on an anonymous level.

Data Collection and Evaluation
My research studied whether a reward system has an impact on employee morale. Having implemented the employee reward and recognition program, I wanted to gauge the morale level after such a program. The objective was to see if the program had a positive impact on the morale of the employees. I started with an email (Appendix 1) seeking input to the list of those who nominated someone. I chose to send the survey to this particular group because by virtue of them nominating someone, they were already participating and recognizing what was going on around them. I felt this would be the group to notice if there was a morale change in their area. The nominators received the Program Feedback survey (Appendix 2). The questions ranged from what recognition or feedback they currently get from their supervisors to what specific reward they would like to receive and how if in any way, did it raise their morale on the job. The results show that monetary reward is high on the respondents’ list for what the reward should be. Of the 93 separate individuals who were either nominators or award recipients, 36 returned my survey of Appendix 2, or approximately 41% decided to participate. This percentage almost directly correlates to the percentage of nominations we received versus the number of employee we have in our division.
The Short Answer Questions(Appendix 3) was sent out to the birthday group for February/March of employees. The list already existed and was random for employee selection, but biased as it was based on what month they were born. The short answer survey tried to gauge the motivation and participation willingness of the employees. Questions ranged from who should be responsible for motivating the staff to their beliefs on whether or not the awardees properly represented CCIT’s best. Of the cross section of employees, the return rate was lower with just 28% responding. In my opinion, this shows my expected apathy towards the unit in general, but still very useful when I present the findings to senior staff. The staff needs to be more engaged to take ownership of the unit in order to care about the motivation, recognition or reward that we give.
The CCIT Rewards questionnaire (Appendix 4) was asked to employees during my meeting outings. Since I only counted those I asked, I got 100% participation. Of those, the results were evenly split on the issue of the reward system having an impact on the morale in their area.

Limitations
One area of importance that I found lacking in my search was the lack of research on employee morale in regard to the diversity of an organization. For my purposes, things like longevity with the state, age of the employee, race, and gender could all impact the results of the survey. What motivates a thirty year state employee may not be the same as an employee just beginning his or her career. For higher education; whether or not the employee has tenure or is hired as a lecturer could influence the answers given. Therefore the morale factor tends to walk hand in hand with their motivational factors. During the personal interviews it was pointed out that unless I had a personal work relationship with whom I was asking the questions to that I may not get honest answers because of possible backlash from the employees’ department or supervisor. For future benchmarking on our program, I will create the study to be in the form of anonymous questionnaires to be sent via a script to randomly selected employees within the unit. I believe that’s the only true way to get unbiased data regarding the recognition and rewards program.

The implications of my research suggest that higher morale gives employees more confidence on the job and they are more likely to work as a team and not in silos. True collaboration is encouraged across units when the morale is high and the employees are feeling recognized. The senior staff of CCIT can see from this survey that it is crucial for the supervisors to recognize the employee as well as the employee’s work performed. Word spreads quickly, especially on a college campus. If a workplace is perceived as a great place to work by the employees they are less likely to seek greener pastures. This saves time and money for an organization. Lower turnover results in little to no cost for training new employees.

Conclusion
Employee motivation is essential to the development and success of any organization. The intrinsic motivation was strong in our responses. The employees wanted to have the feeling of achieving something. But the extrinsic factors were strong from our recipients as well. Our most overwhelming response was the need for cash compensation. I attribute some of this due to low pay for state employees compared with those at comparable jobs not in education.
CCIT’s first annual inaugural staff awards program was officially kicked off in the fall of 2012. We gave out 12 awards and had 36 nominations; but the important milestone was that the concept was visualized, organized and deployed. I said then that we wouldn’t know if our program was successful until we were able gauge the response, engagement and productivity of the results.(Hart, 2011) In 2013, we had 146 nominations in seven categories. Fourteen awards were given out in the fall of 2013. The number of nominations went from a meager 10% to over 40% of our staff eligible to nominate and receive.
The engagement of more than 30% of the staff over last year demonstrates the buy-in from the group. The need to be appreciated and show appreciation to others is the root of the increase of nominations but the reward is greatly prized as well. The extrinsic hope of a cash bonus is the morale booster of choice. The results show that there is a direct correlation between reward and recognition and the subsequent morale of employees. If more focus was put on the reward and recognition of the work of the employees and the employees themselves; then there would be a direct correspondence of change in their morale. I hope to present this research to our senior staff in order help them be more aware of the small amount of effort needed to engage their staff and the large reward gained in that the employees are engaged and happy.

References

Beardwell, Julie & Claydon, Tim. 1994, Human Resource Management, 5th edition, Great Brian: Pearson Education Limited, p. 694.
Craig, R. L. (1996). The Behavioral Sciences, Harold M.F. Rush. In The ASTD Training and Development Handbook (pp. 227-232). New York: McGraw Hill.
Hart, P. (2011). Benefits of Employee Recognition in the Workplace: Reduced Risk & Raised Revenues. EHS Today. Retrieved from http://ehstoday.com/safety/incentives/benefits-employee-recognition-3008
Langton, N., & Robbins, S. P. (2007). Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour (Third Canadian Edition ed.). Canada: Pearson Education.
QR Code. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2012, from QR code: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code
Smith, M. M. (2007). Engaging Employees. Chief Marketer, May 1. Retrieved from http://chiefmarketer.com/incentives/marketing_engaging_employees
Tamer, M. (2004). Reward and Recognition: A Key Component of Employee Retention. CP Contact Professional. Retrieved from http://www.contactprofessional.com/topics/managing-motivating/reward-and-recognition-a-key-component-employee-re-667
Texas A&M, H. (2012). Employee Recognition Program Guidelines. Texas A&M University, 616, 1-5. Retrieved from http://employees.tamu.edu/docs/employment/classComp/616RecognitionGuidelines.pdf

APPENDIX 1

APPENDIX 2

Program Feedback
Since we implemented the recognition and rewards program in our area, we’d like to get some feedback from the participants.
1. Do you receive positive feedback from your supervisor on a regular basis?

______Mostly yes _____No, or rarely

2. Does your supervisor thank you for the work you do?

______Mostly yes _____No, or rarely

3. Do you ever want to be able to recognize ‘over and above’ work done by co-workers?

4. _________Frequently __________ Seldom _________Always

5. Would you prefer to receive recognition initiated by supervisors and managers or by your peers? Or both? (check all that apply)

___ Managers ___ Supervisors ___ Peers

6. What kind of "rewards" would you like to see given?
______ University logo items
______ Flowers ______ Certificate of appreciation
______ Local bus. gift certificate ______ T-shirt
______ IT Equipment ______ Parking spot near your building
______ Football Tickets ______ Dinner gift certificate
______ CU Event Tickets ______ Cash
______ Other: (please list)_________________________________________________

7. Are you now more likely to try to go above and beyond your duties in hopes your peers will recognize your efforts since the inception of the staff awards program?

Yes ___ No ___

8. Do you find that you interact more with other groups in the organization since the implementation of the rewards program?

Yes ___ No ___

9. Do you do anything differently than you did before the program was implemented?

Yes ___ No ___

10. Have you found there was a spike in the morale in your area when someone from your area was recognized?

Yes ___ No ___

11. Are you now more personally motivated to earn the recognition from your peers?

Yes ___ No ___

12. Overall, are you pleased with the newly implemented program and what changes, if any, would you suggest?

 

 

Thank you for your time and opinion.

 

APPENDIX 3

Short Answer Questions

1. Do you think your supervisor is responsible for motivating the staff?

2. What kind of reward system do you believe most motivates your colleagues? Why?

3. Do you believe the recognition and rewards program has motivated you and/or your colleagues and why?

4. Have you participated in the nomination process?

5. Do you plan to participate in the nomination process this year?

6. Do you think the past awardees properly represented what this program was designed for and why?

7. What would motivate you personally?

8. Have you seen any changes in motivation and morale over the last two years?

Appendix 4

CCIT Rewards

Please select whether you strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree to the following statements regarding the reward system in CCIT.

 

1. The rewards in CCIT are distributed fairly.

I Strongly Agree ____ I Agree ____ I Disagree ___ I Strongly Disagree

 

2. The rewards in CCIT match the effort put forth by the employees.

I Strongly Agree ____ I Agree ____ I Disagree ___ I Strongly Disagree

 

3. Based on the reward, I have increased my effort to attain the reward.

I Strongly Agree ____ I Agree ____ I Disagree ___ I Strongly Disagree

 

4. The rewards given have had a positive impact on the team morale in my area.

I Strongly Agree ____ I Agree ____ I Disagree ___ I Strongly Disagree

 

5. The rewards are a strong incentive to be engaged and productive.

I Strongly Agree ____ I Agree ____ I Disagree ___ I Strongly Disagree

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