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In its broadest sense, ‘reward’ is used to refer to the benefits which employees receive in return for working on behalf of an employing organization. Rewards can therefore assume a number of different forms, though there are two main forms: extrinsic rewards, which take the form of cash payments and employment benefits, like staff discounts, occupational pensions, health insurance, and company cars; and intrinsic rewards such as job satisfaction, recognition, personal development, and the social status which may be attached to particular job roles. There is increasing attention to the use of non-traditional or intrinsic rewards by management, and recognition or award schemes are now commonplace in many companies and are used to celebrate and reinforce high performance. Despite this shift, ‘reward’ is also commonly used in a narrower sense to refer to pay and benefits. In this respect, it is simply a fashionable term for an established aspect of HRM which has a more positive connotation than equivalent labels, such as compensation or remuneration.

Subjects: Human Resource Management.

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