Reward preferences in South Africa's media industry

Abstract

Orientation: Organisations are faced with the challenge of surviving the concentrated competitive pressures in this continuously changing domain of the work place. As a result organisations require their employees to demonstrate energy, dedication and be fully engaged in their work as the quality of human resources is of vital importance to the success of organisations, specifically in uncertain working contexts organisation operate within. The attraction, motivation and retention of skilled workers is a key strategy that must be adopted by organisations in order to remain competitive. Employee remuneration as a psychology and employee engagement concept, calls for a thorough understanding of employee needs in order to enable management to develop equitable mix in reward strategy that will enhance the realisation of the overall objective of organisations in order to ensure competitive advantage. Research purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine context specific reward preferences in order to determine overall reward preferences of employees in the media industry in order to improve on existing reward strategies. Motivation for the study: The focus on reward preferences has emerged as a critical element in identifying what really motivates productive behaviour within the workplace, with the intention being on how to find ways to improve performance within the world of work. Research design approach and method: The research was a quantitative, empirical, and descriptive study of reward preferences in an industry-specific context. A self-administered survey was used as a measure and analysed using non-parametric tests to identify variances between dependent and independent groups, testing for internal consistency and non-parametric analysis of variance (ANOVA). Main findings: Respondents indicated base pay/salary, merit increase that is linked to personal performance, incentives & bonus, safety and security at the workplace, and market-related salary as the five most important reward components preferred by them. The results for reward preferences indicated that monthly salary (base pay) stood out as the most preferred reward category in attracting, retaining and motivating employees. Managerial implications: Managers in the South Africa's media industry need to investigate their organisations' rewards through the perspective of the total rewards concept used in this study in order to assess and develop equitable mix in reward strategy ensuring that they have considered all of the aspects required to attract, retain and motivate employees. Contribution: This study adds to the body of social science research, providing a deeper